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Join William Blair, the Premier Global Boutique.
William Blair has delivered trusted advice for nearly nine decades, and we continue to deepen our expertise and relationships across regions, asset classes, and markets throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
We are committed to our people and culture, values, clients, and local communities.
What sets us apart is that we are an independent partnership, with employees who have unique experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds. We provide advisory services, strategies, and solutions to meet clients’ evolving needs amid dynamic market conditions and varying industries.
We strive to attract the most qualified, passionate candidates who specialize in investment banking, investment management, private wealth management, and a variety of other business functions.
We work tirelessly to create an inclusive culture and take pride in fostering employees’ professional and personal growth. We empower our people to bring their best thinking each day so we can deliver the tailored, thoughtful work and problem-solving abilities that our clients expect.
Equally, we are proud of our long-term partnerships with the communities in which we live and work, a legacy we inherited from our founder.
We invite you to learn about how we are seeking excellence in everything we do and empowering our clients’ success with passion, creativity, and rigor. For more information, visit williamblair.com.
William Blair Investment Management 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, emerging markets debt, and multi-asset. William Blair is based in Chicago with global resources providing expertise and solutions to meet our clients’ evolving needs.
Position Overview
- William Blair is seeking a Stewardship Specialist to support the firm’s active ownership efforts, including proxy voting and ESG-focused company engagement activities
- The successful candidate will report to the director of sustainable investing and play an integral role in advancing the firm’s active ownership practices
- The individual will have primary responsibility for the firm’s proxy voting activities, collaborating with the ESG and fundamental research analysts on the U.S. and non-U.S. equity teams, and the proxy administration team
Responsibilities May Include But Are Not Limited To
- Identify and analyze key proxy proposals and voting guideline recommendations for portfolio holdings
- Provide voting guidance to equity analysts and portfolio managers on key proposals
- Liaise with the proxy committee and proxy administration team to coordinate vote changes when William Blair’s analysis differs from guideline recommendations
- Support ESG and fundamental analysts with company engagements, including those related to corporate governance and proxy voting issues
- Document engagement activity to track progress and support reporting efforts
- Keep abreast of emerging trends in proxy voting and corporate governance, and communicate insights to colleagues
- Recommend and execute enhancements to voting policies, guidelines and procedures
- Actively participate on the proxy committee, liaise with the proxy administration team and William Blair’s external proxy advisor, ISS
Qualifications
- Asset management experience including analyzing proxy proposals and advising investment professionals on corporate governance, executive compensation, environmental and social issues
- Experience analyzing proxy advisor voting recommendations and effectively managing the high volume of company meetings and research during proxy season
- Experience engaging with company representatives on corporate governance, executive compensation, environmental and social issues
- Familiarity with corporate governance standards and practices in the U.S. and internationally including Europe, Japan and emerging markets
- Self-motivated individual with the ambition to succeed and work collaboratively in an environment that demands constant multi-tasking
- Effective writing and organization skills to support documentation of voting and engagement activity on internal systems, as well as the identification of relevant examples for inclusion in reporting materials
- Undergraduate degree and minimum of 5 years of relevant work experience
- Completion of ESG-focused credential or certificate program (e.g., CFA ESG Certificate, PRI Academy, IFRS FSA etc.)
William Blair is an equal opportunity employer. It complies with all laws and regulations that prohibit discrimination in employment practice because of race, color, religion, creed, ancestry, marital status, gender, age, national origin, sexual orientation, unfavorable discharge from the military service or on the basis of a physical or mental disability that is unrelated to the employee's ability to perform the duties of the job applied for. EOE m/f/d/v
Be aware of hiring scams: William Blair has clear processes and guidelines with regards to recruiting. We do not request personal financial information in connection with an employment application nor does William Blair extend any employment offers without first conducting an interview through one of its registered offices. William Blair does not use instant messaging services such as WhatsApp, Telegram, or iMessage as part of the recruiting or interviewing process.
Note to External Recruiters / Search Firms: William Blair does not accept unsolicited resumes and will not pay for any placement resulting from the receipt of an unsolicited resume. Any unsolicited resumes received will not be considered as a valid submission.
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