Welcome to William Blair & Company

Individual Investment Counseling

Investment Management Services has been managing assets on a discretionary, fee-only basis since the 1940s. Portfolios are customized and structured to accomplish each client's objective. Investment Counselors work together as a team but clients typically build a primary relationship with a single counselor. The department has a defined investment philosophy and process for managing portfolios and draws heavily upon its own research effort as well as the firm's research expertise. Counselors routinely incorporate the broader aspects of managing clients' wealth and have full access to the resources within Wealth Management Services. Investment Management Services currently manages $26.2 billion, as of December 31, 2004.

For accounts less than $100,000, William Blair & Company offers a family of nine mutual funds.

Wealth Management Services brings together a team of financial and investment professionals whose mission is to design, coordinate, and implement customized programs to meet each client's financial goals. Our professionals work with you to develop a platform from which you can effectively meet your objectives. We provide expertise and experience in the following areas: comprehensive financial planning, investment consulting, asset management, and corporate and executive services.

Our goal is to become your key advisor, working as a team with your attorney, accountant, and other advisors to efficiently and effectively implement a customized and coordinated financial and investment program for you. Understanding your needs and objectives is vital and serves as the starting point to assess your current and prospective financial situation. As a coordinated team, we are able to utilize our expertise across many disciplines to address your entire spectrum of financial concerns and to devise solutions and strategies to enable you to most efficiently meet your goals and objectives. Our investment management professionals work with you to build portfolios and implement the recommendations made via the financial planning and investment consulting processes, resulting in a comprehensive, integrated wealth management strategy.

Our clients call on us for a range of services:

Financial Planning professionals understand that your long-term financial success is based upon multiple inter-related factors and is the result of complicated wealth management decisions. Our comprehensive, fee-based financial plans are predicated upon your goals and objectives and are built through detailed analysis and research. Your Financial Planning professional acts as your key advisor, coordinating the efforts of your other trusted professionals, including accountants, investment managers, and legal counsel. We assist you in making informed decisions about, and taking an active role in, the management of your financial affairs.

All financial plans that are developed at William Blair & Company are custom-designed and tailored to each individual's needs. Components of a plan may include the following:

Consolidated financial statement & cash flow analysis
Investment planning
Insurance & risk management
Estate planning
Retirement planning
Income tax planning

For more information on any component of Wealth Management Services program, please contact Renee Duba at 312-364-8469.

Corporate & Executive Services (CES) assembles teams of financial experts to work with our clients' other professional advisors (attorneys, accountants, etc.) as needed in building, managing and preserving financial assets through comprehensive investment services tailored to their individual needs. We offer expertise in guiding clients through the maze of regulatory issues and financial choices facing them today. We offer our clients strategic advice that is incisive, comprehensive and objective.

William Blair & Company's competitive advantage in CES is the ability to build long-term financial advisory relationships with individuals, families and businesses. The basic business of CES is not the sale of financial products, but rather devising customized solutions based on detailed knowledge of the client's needs. We help clients sift through the many choices and structure complex portfolios to maximize value. When we connect with our clients in this way, we strengthen our level of understanding and our long-term ties to them.

Our CES clients call upon us for a range of services:

Corporate Services:

Corporate Cash Management

Customized short- and intermediate-term portfolio management
Six AAA-rated institutional money market funds

Corporate Share Repurchases
Coordination and execution of corporate buyback programs

Directed Share Programs
Coordination and execution of the purchase of securities for directors and friends of the company

Employee Stock Option Exercising & Stock Purchase Plans
Establishment, coordination, and execution of trading programs for company employees

Retirement Plan Services
Provide consultative, technical, educational, and marketing support

Investment Banking Services

Equity and Debt Underwriting
Mergers and Acquisitions
Initial Public Offerings
Private Placements
Fairness Opinions
Private Investment in Public Equity Securities (PIPES)
Credit Tenant Lease Securities
Convertible Securities

Executive Services:

Cashless Stock Option Exercise
Coordination and execution of cashless stock option exercising

Restricted Stock Coordination & Sales
Coordination and execution of Rule 144/145 transactions

Officer & Affiliate Trading Programs (Rule 10b5-1)
Execution of securities transactions and trading programs for corporate insiders

Single Stock Risk Management
Analysis, strategy development, and execution of transactions of concentrated single stock positions

Custom Portfolio Management
Customized investment portfolios designed to meet the particular needs of high-net-worth individuals, trusts, retirement plans, and institutional investors on a fee or commission basis.

For more information on any component of Corporate & Executive Services, please contact Mike Glascott at 312-364-8961.