James Allen is a senior partner in Bain & Company’s London office and is recognised as one of the leading experts in developing global corporate and business unit strategy. He is co-head of Bain’s Global Strategy practice and founder of our Customer practice.
With over 20 years of consulting experience, James has advised clients on the development of global growth strategies, emerging market entry strategies and turnaround strategies. He is the author of numerous articles on Growth, including Voice of the Customer (Harvard Management Update), Growth outside the Core and Growth Strategies that Work-Again and Again (both Harvard Business Review), Consumer of 2020 (Global Agenda), Russian Roulette: Winning Lessons from Survivors (European Business Journal) and co-author of “Profit from the Core” on growth strategy.
James earned his MBA from Harvard Business School, graduating in the top 5% of his class as a Baker Scholar. He also earned a Masters of International Economics from Johns Hopkins, graduating Summa Cum Laude. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Kenyon College.
James is married to Kathy who he met, aged 17, in Ohio. He married her in Washington DC, moved with her to Boston, then to Moscow in 1991, and arrived in London four years later with three children, all of whom have to put up with his other passion in life—music. He wrote his first song for his sister's wedding at 10 years old and his second during an algebra class when he was 14. In 2008, he started up an independent music studio, Abubilla Music—a community of artists passionate about making and sharing music. Most recently, he has founded the Abubilla Foundation which is supporting two major projects. The first, Singing Wells is a project working with Ketebul Music in Kenya to ensure that village music is preserved, promoted and brought into more contemporary music. The second is working with Meninos do Morumbi in Brazil to build their digital footprint.
