William E. Ford (born June 18, 1961) is an American businessman. He is the Chairman and CEO of

General Atlantic General Atlantic (also known as "GA") is an American growth equity firm providing capital and strategic support for global growth companies, headquartered in New York, United States. The firm was founded in 1980 as the captive investment team for ...

, a global growth equity firm with $84 billion in assets under management as of November, 2021. He lives in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

Career and education

Ford has been the chief executive officer of General Atlantic, a leading growth equity firm, since his appointment in 2007. He was made chairman of the firm in 2021. Under his direction, the firm’s assets under management have increased from roughly $12 billion in 2007 to $34 billion as of March 2020. During his tenure as CEO, the firm has also continued its global expansion by opening new offices in Jakarta, Singapore, Beijing, Mexico City, and Shanghai. Additionally, General Atlantic has expanded its sector coverage through the launch of the global Consumer sector team as well as the expansion of the Healthcare sector to include Life Sciences. In addition to his roles as Chairman and CEO, Ford is chairman of General Atlantic’s Management Committee and is a member of the firm’s Investment and Portfolio Committees. Ford joined General Atlantic in 1991, having previously worked at Morgan Stanley & Co. as an investment banker. Ford has personally led a number of successful investments during his tenure as CEO of General Atlantic, including

First Republic Bank First Republic Bank is an American full-service bank and wealth management company offering personal banking, business banking, trust, and wealth management services, catering to low-risk, high net-worth clientele, and focusing on providing pe ...

(2010),

IHS Markit IHS Markit Ltd was an information services provider that completed a merger with S&P Global in 2022. Headquartered in London, it was formed in 2016 with the merger of IHS Inc. and Markit Ltd. History IHS Information Handling Services (IHS) "wa ...

(2010), NYMEX Holdings (2006),

Priceline Priceline may refer to: * Priceline.com, a commercial website which helps users obtain discount rates for travel-related items such as airline tickets and hotel stays * The Priceline Group, a provider of online travel & related services, and a pare ...

(1998), and E*Trade (1995). He serves on the board of General Atlantic portfolio companies

ByteDance ByteDance Ltd. () is a Chinese internet technology company headquartered in Beijing and incorporated in the Cayman Islands. Founded by Zhang Yiming, Liang Rubo and a team of others in 2012, ByteDance developed the video-sharing social network ...

and Royalty Pharma, in addition to

, a former portfolio company and global provider of independent financial data, tools, and infrastructure. He also serves on the board of

BlackRock BlackRock, Inc. is an American multi-national investment company based in New York City. Founded in 1988, initially as a risk management and fixed income institutional asset manager, BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager, with trill ...

. He has been a director of prior General Atlantic portfolio companies including

Tory Burch Tory Burch (née Robinson; born June 17, 1966) is an American fashion designer, businesswoman, and philanthropist. She is the Executive Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of her own brand, Tory Burch LLC. She was listed as the 88th most powerf ...

, First Republic Bank,

NYSE Euronext NYSE Euronext, Inc. was a transatlantic multinational financial services corporation that operated multiple securities exchanges, including the New York Stock Exchange, Euronext and NYSE Arca (formerly known as ArcaEx). NYSE merged with Archi ...

, E*Trade, Priceline, and NYMEX. Ford received his M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1987 and his B.A. in Economics from Amherst College in 1983.

Philanthropy and public positions

Ford serves as Chair of Rockefeller University and serves on the board of trustees of the

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK or MSKCC) is a cancer treatment and research institution in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, founded in 1884 as the New York Cancer Hospital. MSKCC is one of 52 National Cancer Institute– ...

. He also serves as Co-Chair of the

Partnership for New York City The Partnership for New York City, formerly called the New York City Partnership, is a nonprofit membership organization consisting of a select group of nearly three hundred CEOs ("Partners") from New York City's top corporate, investment and entre ...

and on the board of directors of the

National Committee on United States-China Relations National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

, Emerging Markets Private Equity Association (EMPEA), Endeavor, the McKinsey Advisory Council, and the New York State Life Science Advisory Board. Furthermore, he is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a member of the steering committee for The CEO Action for Diversity. Ford also serves on the advisory board of

Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (; abbr. THU) is a national public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. The university is a member of the C9 League, Double First Class University Plan, Projec ...

's School of Economics and Management. He served as a trustee of Amherst College from 2001-2013 and is a member of the Investment Committee for the College's endowment. In July 2022, Ford helped found a group of U.S. business and policy leaders who share the goal of constructively engaging with China in order to improve U.S.-China relations.

Awards and recognition

* Ford was ranked #5 on Forbes Midas List in 2009 * Ford was ranked #6 on Forbes Midas List in 2008 Ford has been interviewed by several publications such as ''

Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to: People * Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer * Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian * Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician and m ...

'', the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Ni ...

'', '' Fortune Magazine'', ''

American Banker ''American Banker'' is a Manhattan-based trade publication covering the financial services industry. Originally a daily newspaper, the print edition ceased publication in 2016, with an online edition continuing to be updated. The first issue of ...

'', ''

The Economic Times ''The Economic Times'' is an Indian English-language business-focused daily newspaper. It is owned by The Times Group. ''The Economic Times'' began publication in 1961. As of 2012, it is the world's second-most widely read English-language bu ...

'', ''British American Business'', ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

'', ''Expansion'', ''

Private Equity International ''Private Equity International'' (PEI) is a global insight, analysis and data provider for the private equity industry, with a core focus on the relationship between investors and fund managers: the LP-GP nexus. Launched in December 2001, the tit ...

'', the ''Silicon Valley Business Journal'', and ''LEADERS Magazine''. Ford has also appeared on

CNBC CNBC (formerly Consumer News and Business Channel) is an American basic cable business news channel. It provides business news programming on weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time, while broadcasting talk sho ...

with David Faber.

Notes

External links

The Rockefeller University homepage

Partnership for New York City leadership page

Endeavor board profile

National Committee on United States-China Relations board page

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (board of Overseers and Managers page)

The New York Genome Center (supporters page)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, William E. 1961 births Amherst College alumni Private equity and venture capital investors American philanthropists American investors Living people