Ward Sexton, CFA, partner, is a portfolio manager for the Small Cap Growth, SMID Growth, and SMID Core strategies at William Blair Investment Management. He leads the U.S. small- and small-mid cap growth team and is a member of Investment Management’s executive leadership team and the firm’s extended leadership group. Formerly, Ward was an associate portfolio manager for the Small Cap Growth strategy and a research analyst on the U.S. growth & core equity team covering resource, financial, and consumer companies. He joined the firm in 1999, initially working in the corporate finance group for two years before moving to the investment team. Ward is a member of the CFA Institute and the CFA Society Chicago. He received a B.S. in finance, with honors, from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and an M.B.A., with high honors, from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Mark Thompson, CFA, partner, is a portfolio manager on William Blair’s Small Cap Growth and All Cap Growth strategies. Previously, he was a research analyst and an associate portfolio manager on William Blair’s Small Cap Growth strategy. In Mark’s research role, he focused on U.S. small-cap stocks across sectors. Before joining the firm as a research analyst in 2006, he was a research generalist at Kidron Capital for three years. Before that, he was a research analyst covering healthcare at American Express for two years. Mark is a member of the CFA Institute and the CFA Society Chicago. He received a B.B.A. in finance (with an emphasis on accounting) and an M.B.A. (with an emphasis on finance) from the University of Iowa.