Philip M. Bilden is a private equity investor who retired in 2016 as a co-founding member of the private equity firm HarbourVest Partners, a leading global private equity investment management firm with institutional assets under management in excess of $42 billion.
He began his career in Boston in 1991 and relocated to Hong Kong in 1996 to establish the firm’s Asian subsidiary. Bilden was responsible for the firm’s investment strategy and execution, capital-raising, and client service activities throughout the Asia Pacific region, managing personnel and partnerships in multiple countries and cultures. Throughout his 25-year tenure at HarbourVest Partners, he served in senior leadership roles in the firm’s global management, including the firm’s six-person executive committee responsible for governance.
Bilden served on the advisory boards of several international private equity partnerships, including funds managed by Archer Capital (Australia), Bain Capital Asia, Brait Capital Partners (South Africa), Castle Harlan Australian Mezzanine Partners (CHAMP), KKR Asia, Latin American Enterprise Fund, Olympus Capital (Asia), Pacific Equity Partners (Australia), TPG Asia and Unitas Capital (Asia). He served as inaugural chairman of the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association from 2011-2012 and presently serves on the advisory board of Contrast Capital Management, LLC.
Bilden also serves on the Chief of Naval Operations Executive Panel; the Asia Pacific Advisory Board and the Dean’s Board of Advisors of Harvard Business School; the Board of Visitors of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service; the Board of Directors of the United States Naval Academy Foundation; the Board of Trustees and executive committee as vice chairman of the Naval War College Foundation; and the Board of Directors of the U.S. Naval Institute. He also serves as the inaugural chairman of the Center for Cyber Conflict Studies Task Force at the Naval War College Foundation.
A 1986 graduate of Georgetown University, Bilden holds a Bachelor of Science degree in foreign service (magna cum laude). He is a Distinguished Military Graduate of Georgetown’s Army Reserve Officer Training Corps and served in the U.S. Army Reserve as a military intelligence officer from 1986-1996. He received an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1991.