Web3 expert Richard Walker joins Bain as partner

Richard Walker has joined Bain & Company’s New York office as a financial services practice partner and co-leader of global web3 and metaverse services.

Walker brings nearly 30 years of experience in technology consulting, with a focus on supporting major financial institutions with technology and operations strategies. A leading practitioner in the emerging technology space, Walker has recently led web3 projects for global and regional banks, hedge funds, payments companies, and digital asset natives.

Web3 is a buzzword referring to the “next generation” of the internet – vaguely decentralized from historical tech powerhouses like Google and built on blockchain technologies such as cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens. In a December blog post, software engineer Stephen Diehl described web3 as a “vapid marketing campaign that attempts to reframe the public’s negative associations of crypto assets into a false narrative about disruption of legacy tech company hegemony.”

The metaverse, meanwhile, combines the internet with augmented and virtual reality and seeks to make work meetings more immersive and bring digital apparel purchasing to markets outside of video games.

“Web3 is a priority for our clients and has broad implications across sectors,” said Thomas Olsen, global co-lead of Bain & Company‘s web3 and metaverse practice. “Richard’s experience working with blockchain, digital assets, and leading web3 projects for multiple financial institutions will help us scale our support to clients as they navigate the opportunities and challenges that web3 can present.”

Bain’s web3/metaverse practice has completed more than 100 cases for clients ranging from financial institutions and private equity firms to retailers and video game companies. The practice helps companies understand how web3 could impact their industry, assess opportunities and threats, create new digital experiences, and support product launches.

“We are enthusiastic about helping our clients unpack the implications that web3 and the metaverse have on their industry and business,” said Gene Rapoport, global co-lead of the web3 and metaverse practice. “Richard has a long track record of helping financial institutions evaluate ways web3 technology could present opportunities and threats, and chart a course for long-term value generation.”

Walker spent the last 12 years at Deloitte US, where he was a senior partner and head of blockchain for financial services. Before that he spent four years at IBM Consulting, where he was a partner leading strategy consulting and change management for the banking sector in North America.

Earlier in his career, Walker spent 12 years at KPMG/BearingPoint, where was latterly a managing director leading technology consulting in the UK for financial services clients.

He has a bachelor’s degree in computer information systems from Chapman University.