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Investment Management

William Blair Investment Management employs disciplined, analytical research processes across a wide range of strategies, including U.S. equity, non-U.S. equity, and emerging markets debt.

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Recent Insights

Nick Zimmerman

Embracing the Qualitative

Friday, June 28, 2024

We believe cashflow, financial returns, and other traditional quantitative markers of performance provide a good picture of present-day quality, but more difficult-to-quantify qualitative attributes indicate a company’s enduring quality.

Watch the video

Meticulous Bottom-Up Analysis

Friday, June 28, 2024

While we account for macroeconomic factors in our analysis, we believe we add the greatest value for clients through our rigorous approach to fundamental analysis—delving into business models and industry economics.

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Danny Goode

Entrepreneurial Environment

Friday, June 28, 2024

Just as we believe in giving everyone on the team a voice, we create an environment where everyone has the opportunity to take on real responsibilities, regardless of tenure, and colleagues feel a sense of ownership because they’ve grown with the team.

Watch the video

About Us

At William Blair, we are passionate about the profession of investment management. We are an independent, 100% active employee-owned firm with no distractions from our sole priority: creating strong, risk-adjusted returns for our clients.

William Blair is committed to building enduring relationships with our clients. We work closely with private and public pension funds, insurance companies, endowments, foundations, and sovereign wealth funds, as well as financial advisors. We are 100% active-employee-owned with broad-based ownership. Our investment teams are solely focused on active management and employ disciplined, analytical research processes across a wide range of strategies, including U.S. equity, non-U.S. equity, and emerging markets debt. William Blair is based in Chicago with global resources providing expertise and solutions to meet our clients’ evolving needs.

We provide investment solutions to corporations, pension funds, governments and public agencies, endowments, foundations, Taft-Hartley plans, and other leading institutional investors across the globe.

  • Consultants

    Our senior relationship managers—who average more than 29 years of experience*—are committed to providing the highest quality service to the investment consultant community.

  • Foundations and Endowments

    Building on our long tradition of serving not-for-profit organizations and their boards, we provide a broad range of investment strategies to 145 endowments and foundations*.

  • Public Funds

    We have deep experience working with government-sponsored plans and their consultants to help them meet participants’ needs, and oversee more than $20.8 billion* in assets for public pension plans.

  • Corporations

    Through customized investment strategies for corporations and their defined-contribution and defined-benefit plans, we oversee more than $14.5 billion* in assets for corporations across numerous industries.

  • Taft-Hartley

    We are dedicated to providing customized investment strategies for our Taft-Hartley clients, and oversee more than $3.0 billion* of Taft-Hartley assets via separate accounts and commingled funds.

    Download Taft-Hartley brochure

  • Financial Institutions

    Based on a philosophy of building enduring partnerships, we have a long history of working with financial institutions.

  • Financial Advisors

    We offer actively managed mutual funds across a wide range of strategies, including U.S. equity, global equity, emerging markets debt, fixed income, and global macro.

*As of June 30, 2024

William Blair Investment Management, LLC offers a number of investment vehicles, including separate accounts, mutual funds, CITs, and SICAVs.

  • Separate Accounts

    William Blair provides customized management of separate accounts across U.S. and non-U.S. strategies.

  • Collective Investment Trusts

    CITs are pooled investing vehicles through which assets of qualified clients (which include only employee benefit plans governed by ERISA and certain government-sponsored entities) are commingled for investment purposes. CITs offer qualified retirement plan sponsors help controlling costs due to increased regulatory scrutiny of fees and costs.

  • Mutual Funds

    By drawing on the firm’s deep investment talent and research capabilities, William Blair mutual funds are designed to meet a variety of investment objectives, from current income to capital appreciation.

    Go to the William Blair Funds website

  • SICAV Funds

    For non-U.S. citizens or residents, William Blair offers a series of Luxembourg-domiciled SICAV products that provide active management and quality growth investment expertise in U.S., global, and emerging markets.

    Go to the William Blair SICAV website

See how our deep-conviction strategies can help you meet your investment needs.

Why We Invest Shapes How We Invest

Culture is more than the ethos that characterizes our organization; it’s the engine that guides our practices. Our people are defined by their shared values and curiosity. Our approach is defined by teamwork; a disciplined, proven methodology; and technology-enhanced collaboration. Our purpose is defined by a focus on our clients and communities. But don’t take our word for it. See what culture means to our colleagues.

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$72.4+

billion in client assets

340+

Investment Management employees

25

average years of experience for portfolio managers

As of June 30, 2024
Client asset disclosures

Our Active Approach

At William Blair, clients turn to us for an enhanced approach to active management. This approach consists of autonomous teams with shared values operating in an environment in which investment professionals can thrive. A strong foundation gives each team the freedom and resources to engage in high-conviction investing in the pursuit of long-term alpha.

Learn more about our active approach
Street in Chicago

William Blair Funds

William Blair Funds manages $13.3 billion in assets (as of June 30, 2024) through actively managed mutual funds across a wide range of strategies, including U.S. equity, non-U.S. equity, and emerging markets debt.

Learn about the William Blair Funds

SICAV Funds

For non-U.S. citizens or residents, William Blair offers a series of Luxembourg-domiciled SICAV products that provide active management and quality growth investment expertise across markets and asset classes.

Learn about our SICAV Funds

Awards and Recognition

Dan Crowe and Ward Sexton

Ward Sexton and Dan Crowe Named to Euro Stars 2024

Thursday, September 5, 2024

Ward Sexton, CFA, partner, portfolio manager on William Blair’s Small Cap Growth and Small-Mid Cap Core strategies, and Dan Crowe, CFA, partner, portfolio manager on William Blair’s Small-Mid Cap Growth and Small-Mid Cap Core strategies, have been listed among Europe’s top fund managers in Citywire’s Euro Stars 2024 list.

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See more awards and recognition

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ESG Integration

We consider environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors to be among the many considerations that inform our investment decisions.

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Earn CE Credits and Gain Actionable Insights
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For disclosure information, please visit www.williamblair.com/disclosures