Stephen A. Ellis
Worldwide Managing Director
Bain & Company
Steve Ellis is the worldwide managing director of Bain & Company. He is responsible for
overseeing all aspects of the firm’s strategy and operations across 39 offices in 25 countries
and has championed Bain’s commitment to delivering the best results track record in the
management consulting industry.
During his tenure at Bain, Mr. Ellis has advised leading multinational companies in a wide
range of industries, including telecommunications, computer hardware and software,
financial services, private equity, and real estate; and issues, including corporate strategy,
sales and marketing effectiveness, operational improvement, acquisition valuation, merger
integration, and complexity reduction. Mr. Ellis also specializes in tackling leadership
supply issues and harnessing the leadership tools that are essential to compete in a rapidly
changing and unpredictable global business environment.
Prior to his current role, he was the managing director of Bain’s San Francisco and Palo Alto
offices and a leader in the firm’s global telecommunications, media and technology, and
private equity practices. He has held several governance positions at Bain, including leading
the North American operating committee and the firm’s global nominating committee.
Before joining Bain, Mr. Ellis ran a Silicon Valley strategy consulting firm he co-founded
in 1989, and prior to that was a principal at Knowledge Edge Inc., where he gained
extensive experience working with leading high-technology companies.
Mr. Ellis serves on the board of The Bridgespan Group, an independent, nonprofit affiliate
of Bain & Company designed to provide high-quality consulting services to foundations
and nonprofit organizations, and is involved with a number of educational institutions
and charities.
He earned an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and received a BA
in economics and history, with honors, from the University of California, Berkeley.
Mr. Ellis and his wife, Karen, live in Piedmont, California, with their three children.