LONDON—February 18, 2026—Bain & Company today announced that Tom De Waele has been appointed as the firm’s new regional managing partner for Europe, the Middle East & Africa (EMEA), effective January 26.

De Waele takes over as Bain’s leader in EMEA at a time when the firm’s business in the region is expanding strongly across the full range of its practices and capabilities, with robust, double-digit growth for EMEA overall.

In his new role, De Waele will bring his wealth of experience from 22 years’ service with Bain to further driving the firm’s ongoing expansion across EMEA markets. He will also continue to extend and enhance Bain’s capabilities to deliver transformational client results while fostering the firm’s unique, collaborative culture that has won it numerous accolades as one the world’s best places to work. A key focus for De Waele in his new position will be further scaling the firm’s work in AI, digital and data, deepening crucial capabilities in this area as Bain continues to experience high and rising demand for AI-related client programs.

“For more than twenty years, Tom has helped build our business in EMEA. He combines real client expertise, strong people leadership, and sharp business judgment. That has strengthened our position in the region and raised both the results we deliver for our clients, as well as the experience for our teams. Our EMEA business is in a very strong position from which to further expand and develop in its next phase of growth. With Tom leading the region, I’m confident we will take both our client impact and our business in EMEA to the next level,” said Christophe De Vusser, Bain’s CEO and worldwide managing partner.

De Waele takes on his new leadership role having served for the past six years as Bain’s managing partner in the Middle East region, based in Dubai, UAE, from where he has steered the firm’s business in the market through a multi-year period of expansion while securing its reputation among clients for delivery of transformational results.  Prior to this, De Waele was based in Europe where he worked extensively with major multinational clients across Germany, France, Belgium and the UK.

De Waele’s two decades service in Bain – across Europe, as well as most recently in the Middle East – spans a wide-ranging career in the firm’s practices covering Financial Services, Private Equity, AI and Digital and M&A. His experience includes extensive client advisory work for multinationals and financial investors in dealmaking, post-merger integrations and full potential transformation programs, including scale AI programs.

Over the past years, he has advised leading institutions across all major Middle Eastern markets on topics such as growth strategy, M&A and digital transformation, and supported global PE and other investors on market entry, growth and partnership strategies. Prior to joining Bain’s Dubai office, De Waele played a key role in several large post-acquisition transformations of PE owned companies across Europe, and advised a leading European telecommunications player. He holds a Master’s degree in Engineering from the University of Antwerp in Belgium (magna cum laude) and an MBA from INSEAD, France.

De Waele succeeds Domenico Azzarello, who served as Bain’s regional managing partner for EMEA for the past seven years during a multi-year run of double-digit growth that has seen Bain’s business in the region double in revenue under his leadership. Azzarello will now return to working with Bain clients worldwide under the firm’s normal practice of rotational leadership.

Azzarello’s tenure leading Bain in EMEA has also seen the firm open multiple new offices in the region in recent years, in Athens, Lisbon and Vienna. Under Azzarello’s leadership, Bain has also significantly expanded its capabilities in the region through multiple acquisitions, as well as through further expansion of its ecosystem of partner organizations. In 2020, Bain acquired and successfully integrated the QVARTZ consulting business in the Nordics (Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland), with more than 450 employees. In 2021, Bain acquired  Pangea, a leading Italian data science consultancy, integrating it with its Italian operations based in Milan. Also in 2021, the firm acquired Tech Economy, a specialist consultancy providing expertise for Private Equity clients in due diligence of technology infrastructure, processes and businesses – and which now operates at Bain’s Technology Insights Group within Bain’s global PE practice. More recently, Bain acquired London-based Proxima, a global leader in procurement and supply chain consulting services, in May 2022; Enterprise Blueprints, a leading provider of technology solution architecture, also London-based, in January 2023; and Piper Labs, a Madrid-based European provider of AI and machine learning solutions, in May 2024.

During Azzarello’s period as regional managing partner, Bain’s EMEA business has also been in the forefront of the firm’s development across a breadth of capabilities to fulfil the fast-evolving needs of its clients, with particularly extensive deepening of its expertise and talent in digital and AI.

“Domenico has an extraordinary record leading Bain in EMEA during the past seven, highly successful years. Our business in the region has doubled in this time while maintaining outstanding results in meeting clients’ needs and greatly strengthening the depth and range of our capabilities,” said Christophe De Vusser. “Domenico has led from the front in each and every corner of the region, embracing the collective regional spirit as well as the strength and uniqueness of the individual markets, fostering our firm culture and nurturing our deep bench of talent in the region.”

As he takes over as Bain’s EMEA managing partner, De Waele will be based in London along with his family. He added: “I am hugely excited to be succeeding Domenico and by the enormous potential to build on the outstanding performance of Bain’s business in EMEA over the past seven years under his leadership. We are in a time of far-reaching and fast-paced change for businesses across every industry and sector and I am energized to partner and work with our teams across EMEA as we help clients to meet this moment and secure exceptional future results.”

Media contacts

Dan Pinkney (Boston) — Email: dan.pinkney@bain.com

Gary Duncan (London) — Email: gary.duncan@bain.com