Robert F. White

Bob White is a Senior Lecturer in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at the Harvard Business School where he teaches courses in the MBA program (Required and Elective curricula) and the Executive Education program. Courses taught include Entrepreneurial Finance, Starting a Private Investment Firm, Road to the White House, Elections and Campaigns, and Field Global Immersion.

Bob was one of the founding partners of Bain Capital in 1984. He served for 20 years as a partner and Managing Director of the firm and is currently a Special Limited Partner. From an initial fund of $38 million, Bain Capital, and its affiliated advisors, currently manage over $160 billion in seven asset classes (private equity, venture capital, public equity, leveraged debt, and absolute return, real estate, and life sciences) in eight countries.

Prior to joining the faculty, Bob was a Resident Fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics, following his role in national politics. He served as Chairman of the 2012 and 2008 Romney Presidential Committees, and had previously served as Chairman of the Romney Senatorial Campaign, and Chairman of Governor Romney’s Gubernatorial Transition Committee.

Bob started his career at Price Waterhouse & Co. where he earned a C.P.A, and Bain & Company consulting.

Bob has served on numerous non-profit, private and public company boards of directors. He served 29 years as a Trustee of Bowdoin College including Chairing the Board from 2019 to 2022. He has also served on the Board of Deans Advisors at the Harvard Business School, and the Board of Governors of the London Business School. He currently serves on the board of the Boston Celtics and was a founding Director of Celtics United for social justice.

Bob received an A.B. degree in Mathematics and Economics from Bowdoin College and an M.B.A from Harvard Business School.

Cases and Teaching Materials

• White, Robert F., Carla Larangeira, and Pedro Levindo. "MAYA Capital." Harvard Business School Case 822-038, September 2021. (Revised November 2022.) View Details
• Wing, Christina R., Robert F. White, and Michael Norris. "Bill Cummings: The Cummings Way." Harvard Business School Case 619-038, May 2019. (Revised February 2020.) View Details
• Bussgang, Jeffrey J., Ramana Nanda, Robert F. White, and Nathaniel Schwalb. "Initial Coin Offerings in 2018." Harvard Business School Technical Note 819-057, November 2018. (Revised December 2020.) View Details
• Sahlman, William A., Ramana Nanda, and Robert F. White. "Evaluating Start Ups." Harvard Business School Technical Note 819-039, August 2018. View Details
• Nanda, Ramana, Robert F. White, Shai Bernstein, and James Barnett. "CleanWater, Inc.: Running Dry & Out of Time." Harvard Business School Case 819-016, November 2018. (Revised June 2019.) View Details
• Nanda, Ramana, William A. Sahlman, and Robert White. "Venture Capital Term Sheets." Harvard Business School Exercise 818-137, June 2018. View Details
• White, Robert F., William A. Sahlman, and Ramana Nanda. "Discover Capital: Closing an Acquisition." Harvard Business School Case 818-043, September 2017. (Revised October 2017.) View Details
• White, Robert, Jeffrey J. Bussgang, and Christine Snively. "Bootstrapping at Lightricks." Harvard Business School Case 817-051, October 2016. (Revised November 2020.) View Details
• Sahlman, William A., Robert F. White, Ruth Page, and Hunter Ashmore. "BionX." Harvard Business School Multimedia/Video Case 816-702, May 2016. View Details
• Sahlman, William, Robert White, and Hunter Ashmore. "BionX." Harvard Business School Teaching Plan 816-096, May 2016. View Details
• Sahlman, William, and Robert White. "Coupa." Harvard Business School Teaching Plan 816-044, December 2015. View Details
• Nanda, Ramana, William A. Sahlman, Robert White, and Hunter Ashmore. "Business Models Problem Set." Harvard Business School Exercise 816-016, August 2015. (Revised May 2021.) View Details
• Sahlman, William, and Robert White. "Athleta." Harvard Business School Teaching Plan 816-043, September 2015. (Revised December 2015.) View Details
• Sahlman, William, Robert White, and Stephanie Puzio. "West Coast Chill." Harvard Business School Teaching Plan 815-139, May 2015. View Details
• Sahlman, William A., Robert F. White, and Stephanie Puzio. "West Coast Chill." Harvard Business School Multimedia/Video Case 815-704, March 2015. View Details
• Sahlman, William, and Robert White. "BOLT: Seed Venture Capital Firm." Harvard Business School Teaching Plan 815-121, May 2015. (Revised December 2015.) View Details
• Nanda, Ramana, and Robert White. "Fast Ion Battery." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 815-106, March 2015. View Details
• Sahlman, William A., and Robert F. White. "BOLT: Seed Venture Capital Firm." Harvard Business School Multimedia/Video Case 815-702, March 2015. View Details
• Sahlman, William, Robert White, and Stephanie Puzio. "Discover Capital." Harvard Business School Case 815-097, March 2015. View Details
• Nanda, Ramana, Robert White, and Stephanie Puzio. "Equity Compensation in Startup Ventures." Harvard Business School Background Note 815-074, March 2015. View Details
• Nanda, Ramana, Robert F. White, and Stephanie Puzio. "Fast Ion Battery." Harvard Business School Case 815-025, September 2014. (Revised March 2015.) View Details

Areas of Interest

• entrepreneurial finance
• entrepreneurship
• private equity
• venture capital