Social alumni

Countless Bain alumni have taken key leadership roles in the social and public sectors, and the Bain toolkit has helped them make an immediate impact. "The skills I learned during my time at Bain included tight project management and the capacity to quickly understand a company's financials and operations," says Mirjam Schöning, senior director of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship. "It allows me to manage the operations and team of the Schwab Foundation efficiently."


Schöning and other Bain alumni are changing what it means to be a leader in the social sector, thanks in part to their Bain experience. Take Adam Braun, founder of Pencils of Promise (PoP), a fast-moving organization that has built 50 schools in Laos, Nicaragua and Guatemala in just a little over three years, with a goal of doubling that number to 100 in 2012. Braun spent two years at Bain before founding PoP: "I realized that if I was going to start a successful nonprofit, I needed not only passion and high goals, but also the kind of business acumen and sophistication I could only get with Bain training."

Select Bain alumni leading notable organizations:

Roger Brown
President, Berklee College of Music

Daniel Etra
CEO, Rethink Autism

Katie Hood
Former CEO, The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research

Maggie McArthur-Davies
Deputy Director, Net Impact

Amy McIntosh
Senior Fellow, Regents Research Fund, New York State Education Department

David Nahmias
Justice, Supreme Court of Georgia

Marco Petruzzi
President & CEO, Green Dot Public Schools
Marc Rahlves
Chief Financial Officer and Chief Development Officer, Escuela Nueva Foundation

Kathy Ray
Senior Managing Director, Learning and Development, Teach for America

Jonathan Reckford
CEO, Habitat for Humanity

Vijay Talwar
Former CEO, William J. Clinton Foundation India

Graham Wrigley
Non-executive Chairman, Aureos Capital

Jeffrey Zients
Deputy Director for Management and Chief Performance Officer, Office of Management and Budget, Executive Office of the President of the United States

Read profiles of some of our alumni who continue to make social impact after leaving Bain.

  • Adam

  • Adam Braun

    Founder, Executive Director

    Pencils of Promise

    View profile
  • Mirjam

  • Mirjam Schöning

    Senior Director and Head

    Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship

    View profile
  • Margaret

  • Margaret Groover-Roos

    Founder/Executive Director

    Viva el Espanol

    View profile
  • Social Impact Report

    Bain Social Impact ReportDownload "A Passion for Social Change," Bain's Social Impact report


  • Whenever I am grappling with a difficult decision, I approach the problem as if I were at Bain, preparing for a meeting with a client CEO. I break the problem down and think about the answer first.double-quote-close

    - Scott Mackenzie, Bain alum, an advisor to Electro-Maxx, Uganda's first local independent power producer