Joshua Bekenstein is an American businessman and co-chairman of

Bain Capital Bain Capital is an American private investment firm based in Boston. It specializes in private equity, venture capital, credit, public equity, impact investing, life sciences, and real estate. Bain Capital invests across a range of industry se ...

Education and personal life

Bekenstein graduated from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

in 1980 with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.). He then graduated from

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

with a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree in 1984. Since earning his degrees, Bekenstein has stayed active with Yale, serving on the Board of Advisors of the Yale School of Management, the Yale Investment Committee, an at-large member of the University Council, the co-chair of the Yale Tomorrow Campaign, and a member of the Yale Development Council. He was also appointed as a new successor trustee of the

Yale Corporation The Yale Corporation, officially The President and Fellows of Yale College, is the governing body of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Assembly of corporation The Corporation comprises 19 members: * Three ex officio members: the Presiden ...

in 2013.

Career

Bekenstein worked at

Bain & Company Bain & Company is an American management consulting company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. The firm provides advice to public, private, and non-profit organizations. One of the Big Three management consultancies, Bain & Company was fou ...

following his graduation from Yale where he worked with companies in a variety of industries. He joined

at its founding in 1984 and became a managing director in 1986. He was named co-chairman of the firm in 2016. Bekenstein serves as a board member of Gymboree Corporation,

Dollarama Dollarama is a Canadian dollar store retail chain headquartered in Montreal. Since 2009 it is Canada's largest retailer of items for five dollars or less. Dollarama has over 1400 stores and has a presence in every province of Canada; Ontario has ...

Toys "R" Us Toys "R" Us is an American toy, clothing, and baby product retailer owned by Tru Kids (doing business as Tru Kids Brands) and various others. The company was founded in 1957; its first store was built in April 1948, with its headquarters loc ...

Bombardier Recreational Products BRP Inc. is the holding company for Bombardier Recreational Products Inc., operating as BRP, a Canadian manufacturer of snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles, side by sides, motorcycles, and personal watercraft. It was founded in 2003, when the Recr ...

Michaels Stores Michaels Stores, Inc., more commonly known as Michaels, is a privately held chain of 1,252 American and Canadian arts and crafts stores, as of January 2021. It is one of North America's largest providers of arts, crafts, framing, floral and wall ...

Burlington Coat Factory Burlington, formerly known as Burlington Coat Factory, is an American national off-price department store retailer, and a division of Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corporation with more than 1,000 stores in 40 states and Puerto Rico, with it ...

Waters Corporation Waters Corporation is a publicly traded Analytical Laboratory instrument and software company headquartered in Milford, Massachusetts. The company employs more than 7,800 people, with manufacturing facilities located in Milford, Taunton, Massachu ...

and

Bright Horizons Family Solutions Bright Horizons is a United States–based child-care provider and is the largest provider of employer-sponsored child care. It also provides back-up child care and elder care, tuition program management, education advising, and student loan repay ...

Philanthropy

Bekenstein currently serves as a co-chair on the Board of Directors of New Profit Inc., a Boston-based

venture philanthropy Venture philanthropy is a type of impact investment that takes concepts and techniques from venture capital finance and business management and applies them to achieving philanthropic goals. The term was first used in 1969 by John D. Rockefeller I ...

fund and as a member on the Board of Trustees of the

Pan-Mass Challenge The Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC) is a fundraising bike-a-thon started in 1980 by Billy Starr to benefit the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute via the Jimmy Fund. It raises more money than any other single athletic fundraiser in the country. History S ...

, an annual bike-athon that crosses the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to raise money for the

Dana–Farber Cancer Institute Dana–Farber Cancer Institute is a comprehensive cancer treatment and research institution in Boston, Massachusetts. Dana–Farber is the founding member of Dana–Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, Harvard's Comprehensive Cancer Center designated b ...

, where Bekenstein serves as chairman of the Board of Trustees. Bekenstein co-chaired Dana-Farbers “Mission Possible” campaign that hit its goal to raise $1 billion a year early in September 2009. Bekenstein also chairs the board of Be The Change, is a board member of

City Year City Year is an American education nonprofit organization founded in 1988. The organization partners with public schools in 29 high-need communities across the US and through international affiliates in the UK and Johannesburg, South Africa. Ci ...

, Opportunity Nation, and New Leaders. He also contributes to Horizons for Homeless Children, Year Up, Teach for America, Kipp Schools, and Boston Children’s Hospital. In 2010, the National Association of Corporate Directors named Bekenstein Nonprofit Director of the Year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bekenstein, Joshua American financial businesspeople Harvard Business School alumni Living people Yale University alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Bain Capital people Bain & Company employees American chief executives of financial services companies People from Wayland, Massachusetts