Dwight Poler

Senior Advisor, Bain Capital LLC; Advanced Leadership Initiative Fellow, Harvard University

Dwight Poler spent twenty four years as a private equity investor at Bain Capital LLC, including 18 years based in London where he opened and managed, from 2000 through 2017, Bain Capital’s European private equity business.   In Europe, Dwight led Bain Capital Europe Funds I, II, III and IV.  These funds invested in mature companies, from Norway to South Africa and Spain to Eastern Europe, with market leading returns.  Dwight recently moved back to the United States where he will focus his time on personal and philanthropic investing, while currently serving as a Fellow at Harvard’s Advanced Leadership Initiative.  Prior to Bain Capital, Dwight worked at Bain & Company in Boston and London, and Morgan Stanley in New York and Tokyo.    

Education: Dwight received his BA from Amherst College, studying history and international relations.  He received his MBA, with distinction, from the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College where he was a Tuck Scholar.  Dwight is also an Adjunct Professor of Accounting at the London Business School, where he has taught Private Equity and Venture Capital courses over 13 years.  

Boards: Dwight has served as a Director of BlueCoat Systems, BlueRidge Pharmaceuticals, Boart Longyear, Brakes Group, Cerved/Lince, Edcon, EWOS, Jack Wolfskin, Team System, Toys R Us, Walco and Waters Corp., among others.  Dwight is a Trustee of Amherst College, and a member of its investment committee, and chairs both the Amos Tuck School of Business European Advisory Council and the Camp Dudley Foundation. He also serves on the board of The Boston Foundation and on the investment committee of Alta Advisers in Europe.  He is a founding member of the Private Equity Foundation (now Impetus PEF) and the Advisory Board of the Private Equity Institute at London Business School.

Personal: Dwight is married to Kirsten Poler; they have one son and two daughters.  Dwight enjoys skiing, sailing and cold-water swimming in his free time, and immersing himself in a good book while traveling.