BROWN ADVISORY ANNUAL REPORT
PARTNERSHIP
Bold & Disruptive Culture
We believe that “teaming” effectively maximizes the benefit we can create for our clients, our colleagues, and the communities where we work and live. A bold and disruptive culture encourages us to ask tough questions, challenge assumptions and support one another. Good thinking and intentional partnerships are two distinctive, and very human, ways that we strive to earn our clients’ trust. We are committed to creating an environment where colleagues feel empowered to think creatively, push boundaries and engage in constructive debate — all for the benefit of the clients we are privileged to serve.
"To create impactful outcomes for clients, every single one of us must be looking for ways to help our fellow colleagues meet their responsibilities head on. That’s the spirit of partnership for me — it is knowing what success means for each person and doing everything we can to make sure they achieve it."
Our Colleagues
We cannot achieve our mission — to make a material, positive difference for our clients — without investing in a world-class team of thoughtful, collaborative and exceptional colleagues.
We are privileged to now work as a team of over 1,000 colleagues around the world. It is important to us that every colleague pursues excellence, gets things done and cares about others. In 2025, we welcomed 146 new colleagues to the firm, including some exciting new partners who will help us grow in new regions, operate more effectively and expand the services we offer to clients.
It could be said that we are somewhat “obsessed” about sustaining what we consider to be our bold and disruptive culture as we grow. It starts with our ownership structure and our commitment to put clients first — always. It is reflected in the way we “team”; we believe that teams are the surest way to think through complex challenges, develop relevant and compelling solutions, and deliver optimal outcomes. It is fed by the enormous value we place on curiosity and continual learning — we celebrate humility and listening more than talking because we believe this produces the best results for clients. It is sparked by the entrepreneurial spirit that drives innovation. And it is founded on the way we respect and care for each other.
We think about colleague engagement broadly. As owners, we are accountable for each other’s success, experience and well-being — and we know that creating a culture where all colleagues feel connected is fundamental to our ability to deliver the highest level of performance, advice and service to our clients.
How we work together matters as much as what we do. From recruitment through onboarding, we work collaboratively to attract and support colleagues who share our long-term perspective and commitment to teamwork. Partnership is not only how we operate internally — it is central to how we present ourselves as a firm, and it is something we want candidates to experience from the outset.
That commitment is reflected in our hiring process, where candidates engage with a range of colleagues across the firm. This approach reinforces our emphasis on collaboration, shared values and a common understanding of what it means to be part of Brown Advisory. We seek colleagues who embrace a partnership-oriented culture from the beginning. As Rebecca Sugarman, Chief Human Resources Officer, reflects, “Candidates often tell us they’re struck by how aligned we are as a firm — how everyone speaks to the same values and culture. It’s a testament to the partnership mindset that drives our hiring decisions.”
"We strive to put ourselves in the shoes of every colleague so that we understand what matters most — their goals, aspirations, challenges and anxieties — and identify the best and quickest ways to support them."
Morning Meeting:
An Ownership Mindset
Four days a week, the firm gathers to hear our investment teams discuss topics that are influencing their investment thinking. Every colleague is invited and encouraged to attend. We all partner to support our clients; we all are in continual learning mode — curiosity and striving to understand the context in which we invest our clients’ assets are essential to our DNA. We come together physically — each office gathers in person, and we are all connected via video — and also emotionally and intellectually. The morning meeting is not mandatory, but colleagues join because they are owners; they want to know what is going on at their firm.
Investing in the Future
Summer Analyst Program
Our summer analyst program remains foundational to our investment in the future. Each summer, rising college seniors gain exposure to all aspects of our firm. Grouped into cohorts, the summer analysts experience our collaborative approach in a fundamental way. While the program is entrepreneurial and self-directed — which helps us understand who would thrive at the firm — the cohorts offer an important taste of ways in which we value partnership. When summer analysts become full-time colleagues, they reinforce our partnership culture even further.
"Senior leaders at the firm took a genuine interest in me and what I care about. They made me feel valued — which indicated to me that I would have the opportunity to make a real contribution at the firm. On top of that, the partnership among the summer analysts was — and continues to be — a great resource. Now that I’m a colleague, I’m excited to partner with the summer analyst leadership team so that I can give back to the program."
“When I was a college athlete, my teammates were my partners. At a deep level, we had each other’s backs, no matter what. I was looking for that kind of team culture in my professional career, and I have found it here. That sense of working toward a common goal is palpable; special things can happen when an entire team is aligned. As Research Institute analysts, we are partnered with some of the most experienced investors at the firm. That partnership keeps us accountable – to our mentors and to the firm.”
"Partnership requires that all parties respect each other — something I continue to experience at the firm. During the summer analyst program, we were encouraged to ask questions, respected for our views and pushed to step outside our comfort zones. As a colleague, that mutual respect plays a big role in the work we do for clients; for example, on the ISG team, we partner closely with the Reporting and Business Intelligence and Operations teams — they are integral to our manager research platform."
"One of the ways I feel partnership has shown up most clearly is through mentorship. As a summer analyst, I had the privilege of learning directly from one of our portfolio managers, Emily Dwyer MacLellan, who co-manages the Sustainable Small-Cap Core strategy. By working with her and other colleagues, I came to understand the long‑term value of generous mentorship and saw firsthand how genuine partnership creates a culture of development — shaping how colleagues grow, contribute and collaborate across the firm."
The Research Institute
We launched our Research Institute to seed the next generation of skilled, thoughtful investors. At a time when fewer investment firms maintain formal training programs, we recognized that the traditional expectation for early-career analysts to “learn by osmosis” no longer served our colleagues or our clients. The Research Institute is a two-year training program that provides a select group of returning summer analysts with an accelerated pathway to develop investment acumen and prepare for roles across Brown Advisory’s research teams.
The Research Institute reflects a deliberate choice to invest meaningfully in early-career talent and to demonstrate a true partnership in development. If colleagues commit the time, energy and discipline required by the program, Brown Advisory commits to them — providing structure, mentorship and clear expectations for growth. Rooted in the firm’s client-first ethos and entrepreneurial culture, the Research Institute represents Brown Advisory’s commitment to nurture talent and build a robust pipeline of excellent thinkers.
The program is also designed with an eye toward the rapidly evolving role of the investment analyst, particularly in an environment increasingly shaped by AI. As technology automates certain tasks, the Institute emphasizes judgment, curiosity, pattern recognition and disciplined decisionmaking — the human skills that will define long-term investment value. The program is also structured to address the evolving complexities of financial markets while fostering the skills and mindset required for long-term success as investors and stewards of our clients’ assets.
One of the Research Institute’s defining features is its emphasis on habit-building. As Dan Mooney, Director of Equity Research, explains, “Successful investing is as much about developing the right habits as it is about technical skills. Analysts must learn to focus on what matters and push aside distractions. Our goal is to create a program that becomes integral to the firm’s future investment leadership.”
The Management Institute
A hallmark of Brown Advisory is our commitment to investing in and promoting talent from within. We believe in challenging our colleagues with new opportunities and providing them with the support they need to thrive. As a firm built around deep client relationships, many of our leaders advance because of their investment expertise and client experience — strengths that do not always come with formal management training. In 2025, we launched the Management Institute to ensure that we were effectively elevating and training the leaders and managers of our future.
The Institute’s first project was partnering with the businesses to define what being a “great manager” means in the context of Brown Advisory’s culture and mission: to make a material and positive difference in the lives of our clients. Recognizing that we could not rely on external or ad hoc training to meet our needs, we made a deliberate decision to build a firmwide program tailored to Brown Advisory. Today, the Institute is delivering a structured curriculum to equip colleagues with the tools to lead effectively, foster collaboration, drive innovation and be good partners.
“ We are focused on developing a cohort of managers who embody the firm’s values and can inspire colleagues to achieve their best. The Institute is a direct investment in our future.”
2025 Promotions
Partner
Allison Brill | Courtney Brust | Yacine El-Mohri | Elizabeth Hiss | Jill Landefeld | Susanne Linhardt Jake Lubel | Christopher Moran | Joshua Morehouse | Frank O’Donnell | Victoria Schlotterback | Jillian Seifert | Roddy Seymour-Williams | Tom Simunovic | Stephanie Song | Christian Ventimiglia | Doug Williams
Principal
Jasmine Allen | Colin Chandler | Ryan Coddington | Malorie D’Anniballe | Julia Dembowski | Andrew Esslinger | Jonathan Garrett | Boris Getselman | Michael Greenbaum | Stephanie Herring | Brian Larkin | Jennifer McClintock | Tanika McNair | Peter Murphy | Justin Pickering | Daniel Prosser | Emily Roy | Tyler Sanders | Sydney Shapiro | Jack Weatherby | Lara Wigan | Cassandra Wright
Community
Partnering with the communities in which we live and work is fundamental to the Brown Advisory DNA — it reflects our belief that thriving, healthy and safe communities are central to our ability to serve clients. Indeed, colleagues often share that this recognition and value of community is what attracted them to the firm — and demonstrated leadership in the community is one of the criteria for promotion to Principal and Partner. Colleagues across our offices passionately contribute financially, intellectually and through hands-on partnership to local organizations of their choice.
In 2025, Brown Advisory contributed over $3 million to a range of nonprofits and charities across the communities in which we work and live. We particularly support organizations that are important to our colleagues, in addition to strategic giving focused on education, health and the environment.
“ Community involvement is an important part of the Brown Advisory colleague experience. It’s a reflection of how much we care.”
Emissions
As an investment firm, we view climate issues through the lens of our fiduciary duty to generate attractive investment returns that help our clients achieve their goals over the long term. This long-term perspective requires an analysis of how climate and other sustainability challenges may strengthen or weaken an investment case. Given our role as an investment advisor, we have a responsibility to evaluate all relevant data – which, for us, includes potential climate-related risks, costs, and opportunities – in driving investment performance.
From an operational perspective, our focus is on monitoring and reducing emissions, as well as contributing financially to climate-positive projects that help address emissions that are currently unavoidable in the course of serving our clients. We aim for all newly developed office space to achieve the highest standards of LEED and BREEAM certifications.
Our operational carbon emissions in 2025 were approximately 6,285 metric tons of CO₂e. This total includes approximately 1,415 mt CO₂e of Scope 2 emissions related to electricity use in our offices and 4,870 mt CO₂e of Scope 1 and 3 emissions, primarily from air travel to connect with clients and colleagues. Consistent with prior years, we purchased Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) to match electricity use associated with Scope 2 emissions and pursued offset and reduction projects to address Scope 3 emissions.
In addressing these emissions, we prioritize a diversified portfolio of high-quality projects that are supported by rigorous science and monitoring, while also delivering additional benefits such as enhanced biodiversity, improved human health, and stronger local economies.
Nature-Based Solutions
Our portfolio includes nature-based solutions that remove carbon from the atmosphere while supporting ecosystems and communities. For example, Sea of Change, a mangrove reforestation (blue carbon) initiative, plays a critical role in carbon sequestration while strengthening coastal resilience and protecting biodiversity. Mangroves are among the most effective natural carbon sinks, and this project also supports local communities that depend on coastal ecosystems for their livelihoods.
Technology-Based Reductions
We also support innovative projects that reduce emissions while delivering meaningful social impact. One of which is A Bright Idea, a renewable energy initiative in India that deploys direct current solar technology to bring clean, affordable electricity to rural households that are not connected to the power grid. By replacing inefficient fossil fuel sources, the project reduces greenhouse gas emissions while improving quality of life, expanding energy access, and supporting economic development across participating communities.
“We Need to Practice Passionate Curiosity to Do the Best Job for Clients.”
We are long-term investors — on behalf of our clients and our colleagues. There is no better manifestation than the numerous former summer analysts who hold leadership positions across the firm. Blake Sheehan and James Stierhoff were in the same summer analyst cohort in 2008, and today they are co-heads of Baltimore Private Client. They have demonstrated themselves as investors, advising on significant portfolios, and serving as investment and culture mentors and leaders. Their partnership has elevated each of their capacities to lead while still maintaining their important and primary role in looking after clients.
Colleague of the Year
Each year, Brown Advisory continues a long-standing tradition of recognizing one exceptional colleague through the Colleague of the Year program. A hallmark of the firm is investing in, developing and recognizing colleagues who embody our values through their actions and impact. For 28 years, Brown Advisory has awarded the Hopkins Cup trophy, along with a check, to the individual selected by their peers as Colleague of the Year. The most recent winner, Marvin Williams, is our AV Engineer Team Lead and an outstanding example of a Brown Advisory colleague. He brings a positive attitude, an intensity and a tremendous work ethic to all he does at the firm and in the wider community.
Marvin's colleagues noted:
“Marvin is the glue that keeps Brown Advisory connected. He is not only outstanding at his job of managing all the AV technology for the firm globally, but he is helpful and patient with individual colleagues’ needs. He forms relationships across the firm well, is excellent with board meetings, is a critical member of the Colleague Resource Group leadership and serves on the Baltimore leadership team. He is the epitome of a humble leader who leads by example.”
“Marvin’s calm nature, consistency and great work ethic mean we can always expect the morning meeting to run smoothly around the world — which allows us all to stay connected and share investment ideas. I think the morning meeting is one of the defining elements of our culture, and Marvin is largely to thank for facilitating it.”
“Marvin was one of the first people I met when I visited the Baltimore office for the first time as a new hire, and he welcomed me instantly. I quickly came to realize that he not only plays a huge role in keeping the entire firm connected but also keeps colleagues connected through his Colleague Resource Group leadership.”
