Our People

Jonathan S. Lavine

Chair, Bain Capital
Boston
Jonathan S. Lavine
EXPERIENCE

Jonathan Lavine is Chair of Bain Capital, a leading global private investment firm with approximately $185 billion in assets under management. He founded Bain Capital Credit and Bain Capital Special Situations in 1998.

Mr. Lavine joined Bain Capital’s private equity team in 1993 and served as Co-Managing Partner of the firm from 2016 - 2024.

Bain Capital Credit invests across the full spectrum of credit strategies including leveraged loans, high-yield bonds, distressed securities and assets, private middle-market loans, bespoke capital solutions, structured products, non-performing loans, hard assets, and equities.

Before joining Bain Capital, Mr. Lavine was a consultant at McKinsey & Company. In 1988, he joined Drexel Burnham Lambert as an analyst.

PHILANTHROPY

In 2017, Mr. Lavine received the Alexander Hamilton Medal from Columbia College, its highest honor for distinguished services to the college community. He is Chair Emeritus at Columbia University and formerly chaired the Columbia College Board of Visitors. He is a past recipient of Columbia’s John Jay Award for professional achievement, Opportunity Nation’s American Dream Award, Voices for National Service Citizen Service Award and of the New England Anti-Defamation League’s Distinguished Community Service Award.

Mr. Lavine was appointed a Member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Council by President Obama and later re-appointed by President Biden.

Mr. Lavine is involved in several civic organizations and regularly supports philanthropic causes. He is Chairman Emeritus of the City Year Board of Trustees. He and his wife, Jeannie Lavine, have endowed the Lavine Family Professorship of Humanitarian Studies at the Harvard School of Public Health to promote the study of humanitarian issues, including relief, preparedness and public health.

The Lavines also founded the Crimson Lion Foundation, which provides financial support to numerous organizations. Through the Foundation, the Lavines made a record-breaking donation to Harvard Business School to support student fellowships, helped launch the Lavine Family Innovation Fund at LIFT Communities and created the Million Match Challenge with Cycle for Survival.

The Lavines also made gifts to The Better Angels Society to establish the Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize and to WBUR to launch CitySpace, a place for public conversation and civic engagement.

Alongside his philanthropic efforts, Mr. Lavine is a member of the ownership group and a director of the Boston Celtics.

EDUCATION

Mr. Lavine is an alum of Columbia College, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude. He also received an M.B.A. with Distinction from Harvard Business School.