James D. Bamford

About James D. Bamford

James is co-founder of Water Street Partners, which was acquired by Ankura in July 2020. He serves a global client base on joint venture and partnership transactions, governance, and restructurings. Over his three decade career, he has advised clients on more than 200 venture transactions, and on the governance and optimization of many of the largest joint ventures in the world. Prior to Water Street and Ankura, he co-led the Joint Venture Practice at McKinsey & Company.James is author of more than 100 articles on joint ventures, including those published in Harvard Business Review, McKinsey Quarterly, McKinsey on Finance, Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, Journal of World Energy Law and Business, Corporate Directors, and Corporate Dealmaker. He is also the co-author of two books: Mastering Alliance Strategy and Water Street on Joint Venture Dealmaking. He has led more than 20 seminal research initiatives on joint venture performance and governance, and was the principal author of the CalPERS Joint Venture Governance Guidelines. Along with his Water Street and Ankura colleagues, he annually hosts the JV Portfolio Governance Roundtable and the JV CEO Roundtable. James was a Research Fellow at Harvard Business School, holds graduate degrees from Harvard University (MA-East Asian Studies) and the London School of Economics (MSc-Economics), and graduated from Tufts University (BA-Economics and History). When not traveling, he enjoys time in Washington with his wife, two daughters, and three dogs.

Experience

1. Senior Advisor - Joint Ventures & Partnerships

   Ankura

   Jan 2023 — Present · Washington, DC, US

Education

• Harvard University

  MA, Asian Studies

• Tufts University

  Bachelor of Arts - BA, Economics and History

• The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)

  MSc (Economics)

• Harvard Business School

  Research Fellow