Charles Smead
Managing Director
About Charles
Charles Smead is managing director of private shares trading at William Blair, which he joined in August 2025. Before joining the firm, Charles was managing director and co-head of marketplace at Forge Global and previously served as head of marketplace at SharesPost.
At Forge Global, Charles led strategic initiatives for a team of approximately 35 brokers and oversaw key relationships with issuers, C suite executives, and institutional investors. He has represented more than 1,000 venture capital secondary transactions over the course of his career. Charles also co-managed the integration of SharesPost and Forge and supported Forge Global’s initial public offering.
Prior to his time at SharesPost, Charles worked in institutional sales and trading at BMO Capital Markets and Macquarie, covering equity research, fixed income, and foreign exchange.
Charles holds Series 7, 24, and 63 licenses and has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (Finance major), with minors in Mathematics and Chinese, from the University of Richmond. He and his wife live in San Francisco.
About William Blair
William Blair is a premier global partnership with expertise in investment banking, investment management, and private wealth management. We provide advisory services, strategies, and solutions to meet our clients’ evolving needs. As an independent and employee-owned firm, together with our strategic partners, we operate in more than 20 offices worldwide.*
-
1935Year William Blair was founded
-
1,950+Employees worldwide
-
154 billion+Client assets
-
90+ YearsIndependent and employee-owned
-
20+Offices worldwide
-
650+Companies under coverage
As of December 31, 2025
*Includes strategic partnerships with Allier Capital, BDA Partners, and Poalim Equity.