Dwight Poler

Dwight Poler is founder and CEO of AccelR8 Ventures, a fund investing in early stage climate change mitigation technologies. Before shifting his career to social impact investing, Dwight was a Partner at Bain Capital, where he opened and managed the European private equity business for 18 years, after becoming a Partner in Boston in 1999. From London, Dwight led the investment of four funds, deploying over $10 billion of equity capital at market-leading returns. Dwight remains a Senior Advisor to Bain Capital. Formerly, Dwight was a consultant at Bain & Company, and worked in Mergers and Acquisitions at Morgan Stanley & Co., in both New York and Tokyo.

Dwight has been active in philanthropic activities over a long period, having cofounded a social investment model in London called the Private Equity Foundation (now Impetus PEF) which, since 2004, invests funds and pro bono skills to build capacity in charities that help disadvantaged young people achieve education and employment. In addition to the Boston Foundation, he serves on the board at Amherst College, on the MIT Sloan Visiting Committee and the MediaLab Advisory Council. Dwight also served as an Adjunct Professor at London Business School where he taught private equity courses over 14 years.

Dwight received a BA degree in History and International Relations from Amherst College, and an MBA degree, with distinction, from the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College where he was named Tuck Scholar. Dwight and his wife Kirsten live in the Boston area and have 3 children.