William "Bill" Ford is the Chairman and CEO of General Atlantic, a leading global growth equity firm. He has three decades of experience investing in and helping build leading growth companies. Under Ford's leadership, General Atlantic has expanded its global presence, increased its capital base, and deepened its capabilities to identify and partner with high-potential growth companies across multiple business sectors and geographies.
Ford joined General Atlantic in 1991 and became CEO in 2007. He is currently on the boards of BlackRock, ByteDance, and Sierra Space. Ford has also previously served on the boards of Axel Springer, IHS Markit, Royalty Pharma, e*Trade, First Republic Bank, Priceline, and Tory Burch, among others.
He is involved with a number of educational and not-for-profit organizations. He is Chairman of The Rockefeller University, a Trustee of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a member of the Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management Advisory Board. He serves on the board of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the National Committee on US-China Relations (NCUSC). He is a former Trustee of Amherst College and the Stanford Graduate School of Business Advisory Council, where he was Vice Chairman.
Prior to joining General Atlantic, Ford was an investment banker at Morgan Stanley & Company.
Bill received his BA from Amherst College and his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.