David Coolidge is Vice Chairman of William Blair & Company, a private investment banking and money management firm. In addition to serving as the firm’s CEO from 1995 to 2004, he has dedicated his 50+ year career to financing and building prosperous companies. Through a unique combination of financial, operational, and investment insight, Coolidge has established long-term relationships with small to medium-sized companies, and guided executive teams through evolutionary business cycles to sustained financial and market success.
As a senior executive of William Blair & Company for more than 50 years, Coolidge traversed strong and weak industry, investment and economic climates by focusing on core business philosophies instead of fleeting market trends. He provided financial guidance to support start-up ventures, mergers and acquisitions, corporate and financial restructuring, and public/private debt and equity financing. He has also leveraged the firm’s employee-owned private structure to recruit & retain key professionals.
Coolidge has served on numerous boards of directors including Kmart Holding Co., Coverall of North America, Duluth Trading Co., the Securities Industry Association, and the National Association of Securities Dealers. He is a Trustee Emeritus of Williams College and the University of Chicago and currently serves as a Trustee of Rush University Medical Center and the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation.
Coolidge holds a BA from Williams College and MBA from the Harvard Graduate Business School of Administration.