Global Head
It was March 2020 and Stephanie Braming’s firm had just switched to remote work because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, the global head of William Blair Investment Management had a decision to make.
“We were getting ready to launch our emerging-markets debt [team] and the market at that time was extremely volatile — and by volatile I mean negative,” Braming said. “So the question was do you pause or do you go — and we decided to go.”
Braming continued to lean into strategic initiatives throughout the worldwide lockdown, such as expanding distribution in Europe and Asia and, in 2021, spearheading William Blair’s first major acquisition of an institutional U.S. value equity investment firm, ICM, which closed in July.
She joined William Blair, which currently has $69.7 billion of assets under management, in 2004 after stints at Mercer and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Braming was promoted to her current role in 2017 and currently oversees 326 employees in 20 cities. She reports to John Ettelson, the CEO of William Blair & Co.
Looking back, Braming credits an existing communications infrastructure at William Blair for the firm’s success in getting information quickly to its clients, staff and other constituents in the early stages of the pandemic. The firm has garnered industry awards for doing so: one for a podcast for financial advisors on investing during the pandemic and another for its COVID-19 communications plan.
Braming is equally results-driven when it comes to diversity efforts and the promotion of women.
“My biggest accomplishment, and it’s not sexy or exciting … includes revamping every aspect of our recruiting process,” she said. It’s one that involves instituting diverse candidate and interviewer slates and working with groups like Girls Who Invest to scout for employee prospects and interns.
“It is not a badge of honor to be the only woman at the table,” Braming said. “Rather, it is a call to action.”
