Bio

With nearly two decades of strategic leadership across government and the private sector, Ellen-Blair is a finance executive who brings a unique holistic perspective rooted in her experience in public policy, operations, and client-oriented work on the buy and sell-side. At William Blair, she is responsible for high-level engagement with clients, including the development of a global client service platform to obtain insights and feedback from the firm’s clients on their individual and collective interactions. Ellen-Blair also developed and now leads William Blair’s CEO HUDDLE, an exclusive community for chief executives in the firm’s client network to share ideas, resources, and strategies through convenings and an online portal. In addition, she is a member of the firm’s Benefits Committee. Prior to joining William Blair in 2015, Ellen-Blair was Vice President and Chief of Staff to the Chairman and CEO at Ariel Investments. In that role, she was responsible for providing strategic and operational support, as well as translating the firm’s short and long-term vision into actionable strategies. She was also the CEO’s chief adviser on political & public policy issues and led key corporate governance initiatives. This included serving as the executive director of the Black Corporate Directors Conference, an annual gathering of Black directors serving on Fortune 500 boards. In addition, she was a registered representative of the firm and focused her business development efforts on the federal pension and foundation/endowment community.