Ep. 7 Kelly Williams, Founding Chair & Co-CEO, PEWIN

It’s not often that you meet someone who is truly a center of influence, a powerbroker, and a pioneer in their industry. Kelly Williams is that individual.

TOPICS

• At 8 years old, she wrote her first contract with her mom...for a lunchbox
• The “Teflon Associate” and working in Japan doing project finance
• How focusing on the hard work that others didn’t want to led to co-founding the Customized Fund Investment Group (CFIG), which managed $30B+ for clients
• Founding PEWIN, the largest global network of senior women in private equity with over 700 members

BIO

Kelly Williams is the Founding Chair and Co-CEO of the Private Equity Women Investor Network (PEWIN). Ms. Williams was a founder of the Customized Fund Investment Group (CFIG) at Prudential Insurance Company in 1999. CFIG was a market leader in providing customized solutions in private equity, real estate and infrastructure, with more than $30 billion managed on behalf of clients. The business was moved to DLJ in 2000 (subsequently acquired by Credit Suisse AG) and Ms. Williams served as its Managing Director and Group Head until 2014, when the business was sold to GCM Grosvenor. At GCM Grosvenor she served as President of Private Markets until June of 2015, and a Senior Advisor from 2015 to 2019. Prior to the founding of CFIG, she was an Executive Director with Prudential's private equity group, where she specialized in product development. Prior to joining Prudential in 1993, Ms. Williams was an associate with Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy specializing in project finance.

Ms. Williams is a member of the board of the Robert Toigo Foundation, the Olana Partnership, and the National Philanthropic Trust and is the founding board chair of the Private Equity Women Investor Network. She serves as President of the Board of the Nantucket Historical Association. She also serves on the board of trustees and executive committees of Union College and the NY School of Interior Design. She is the Vice Chair of the Board of Commissioners of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. She is an investment committee member of Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. She also serves as the chair of the Limited Partner Advisory Council to the Sponsors for Educational Opportunity. Ms. Williams was appointed in 2015 to the Board of Directors of The Greenbrier Companies (GBX). Ms. Williams has received many awards throughout her career in the financial services industry and was recognized by the National Organization for Women in 2012 with its Women of Power and Influence Award and was named in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 as one of The Most Powerful Women in Finance by American Banker Magazine. She graduated magna cum laude from Union College in 1986 and received her Juris Doctor from New York University School of Law in 1989.