William Blair Investment Management, LLC (Chicago)

Name: William Blair Investment Management, LLC
Address: 150 North Riverside Plaza, Chicago, IL, 60606 1598
Telephone: 312-236-1600

William Blair Investment Management, LLC is a large advisory firm based in Chicago. It manages $48.88 billion of regulatory assets for 513 client accounts. It has been registered with the SEC as an adviser since 2014 and has operated in the jurisdictions of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, and 49 other states.

William Blair Investment Management provides portfolio management for individuals and small businesses, portfolio management for investment companies, portfolio management for pooled investment vehicles, and portfolio management for businesses and institutional clients. It doesn't provide financial planning services to its clients. On top of advisory services, the firm doesn't engage in other business activities.

William Blair Investment Management: assets under management

The assets under management (AUM) of William Blair Investment Management, LLC is $48.88 billion, all of which is managed in discretionary accounts. The firm's AUM has grown by 41762% since the beginning of its operation, and $5.94 billion of the total AUM is attributable to clients outside of the United States.

The firm manages $48.88 billion in discretionary accounts. On average, the discretionary accounts where all decisions are made on behalf of the client hold $95.28 million each.

William Blair Investment Management has custody of $939.69 million in cash and securities for 12 clients in total but doesn’t act as a qualified custodian.

Investments

The firm invests in exchange traded securities the most. They account for 92% of the total AUM. The second-largest asset type is investment and business development companies, which make up 4% of the firm’s portfolio. Investments in cash and cash equivalents form 1% of the total invested assets.

Fees & Commissions

The advisory firm has several streams of revenue. Clients pay William Blair Investment Management, LLC for their services and products based on a percentage of assets under management and performance-based fees. The adviser charges an additional fee when a set benchmark is outperformed. These fees don’t include brokerage commissions, interest, taxes, and other account expenses.

What kind of clients William Blair Investment Management serves?

The firm provides services to insurance companies, investment companies, charitable organizations, other investment advisers, high net worth individuals, pooled investment vehicles, corporations or other businesses, pension and profit sharing plans, state or municipal government entities, and sovereign wealth funds and foreign official institutions. The largest group of clients of William Blair Investment Management is investment companies with 31 clients and $14.35 billion of assets under management. Among the 9 most similar advisory firms, William Blair Investment Management has the 3rd highest percentage of investment companies out of all clients.

The amount of regulatory assets under management is $48.83 billion for 369 clients that can include trusts, estates, and 401(k) plans and IRAs of individuals and their family members. 8% of the firm’s clients are foreign persons or businesses.

William Blair Investment Management also advises several private funds. Namely, five hedge funds and seven other private funds. The minimum investment commitment required of non-related persons ranges from $250,000 to $25,000,000.

Careers at William Blair Investment Management, LLC

The company employs 348 people that are either part- or full-time employees. 40 percent of the employees work as investment advisers or researchers. No employees are registered as investment adviser representatives with the state securities authorities.

There are 2 people with the role of looking for and bringing in new clients on behalf of the firm. The firm compensates employees in addition to the salary for bringing in new clients. Employees don’t receive compensation from other entities for client referrals.

Direct owners and executive officers

Name	Entity	Date acquired	Ownership	Employer ID
L.P. Wbc Holdings	Holding company	1 Oct 2014	75% - 100%	32-0268461
Edgar David Coolidge	Vice chairman	1 Oct 2014	Other	53342
Richard Paul Kiphart	Executive committee member	1 Oct 2014	Other	270452
John Roger Ettelson	President, ceo, executive committee member	1 Oct 2014	Other	1319236
Michelle Renae Seitz	Executive committee member	1 Oct 2014	Other	2721413
Arthur Joseph Simon	General counsel, executive committee member	1 Oct 2014	Other	4169626
John Carroll Moore	Executive committee member	1 Oct 2014	Other	719076
Brent Walker Gledhill	Executive committee member	1 Oct 2014	Other	2921069
Walter Ramsay Randall	Chief compliance officer	1 Oct 2014	Other	2379435
Richard William Smirl	Chief operating officer	1 Oct 2014	Other	4232829
Jon Walter Zindel	Chief financial officer, executive committee member	1 Oct 2014	Other	2792693
Jeffrey Alan Urbina	Executive committee member	1 Oct 2014	Other	2201007
Stephanie Grieser Braming	Executive committee member	1 Oct 2017	Other	4852455
Ryan Jacob Devore	Executive committee member	1 Nov 2017	Other	3049671
Lisa Dawn Anderson	Director of operations	1 Dec 2017	Other	2385233

Indirect Owners

The SEC currently registers 1 indirect owner.

Name	Entity	Date acquired	Ownership	Employer ID
Wbc Gp L.L.C.	General partner	1 Oct 2014	Other	30-0517722

Based in Chicago

The principal office where William Blair Investment Management, LLC performs its advisory services is located at 150 North Riverside Plaza, Chicago, IL 60606 1598, which is also the mailing address of the firm. It doesn’t run an office outside of the United States.

You can reach the main office by calling the phone number 312-236-1600 or by fax 312-551-4646. The normal business hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Monday - Friday. You can find more information about the New York firm at williamblair.com and its LinkedIn profile.