Discover the Baird Difference
If you ask our clients “What makes Baird different?” – whether they’re planning for their family’s financial future, an investor in the Baird Funds, the head of a corporation growing their business globally, or one of many municipalities and school districts we advise across the nation – each answer would reflect the personalized service and bespoke experience of working with Baird.
There are four foundational attributes of our firm that make these uniquely positive experiences possible.
Independence
Drives Unwavering Focus
Being privately held and employee-owned aligns our interests with what's best for our clients and associates. Because it's our firm, we are free to think, plan and invest for the long term, without unnecessary distractions or short-term pressures from outside shareholders. It’s how we keep clients first – always.
Approximately 80% of our more than 5300 associates at all levels of the firm are shareholders while our executive committee collectively owns less than 10% of shares. This makes us truly employee-owned and gives all of us a meaningful voice in the way we do business. We prioritize consistent reinvestment in the people, expertise and technology we need to serve clients best because we know our success depends on theirs. And we act like our own resources and reputation are on the line every day – because we value our clients’ and associates’ trust above all else.
Exceptional People Bound by Shared Values
Consistent recognition as a great workplace – including 22 consecutive years among the FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For® – helps us attract some of the most talented people in our industry and enables us to be selective, prioritizing candidates we know will be compatible with our core cultural beliefs. This ensures the best advice and service is provided with our clients’ best interests in mind.
Because we value all associates’ complementary backgrounds, perspectives and skills, Baird experiences exceptionally low turnover compared to the rest of our industry. Many associates stay their entire careers, helping to ensure the quality and continuity of the advice our clients rely on and the service they deserve.
Expertise Enhanced by Extraordinary Teamwork
Each of Baird’s businesses has earned national and industry recognition for the quality of our advice and expertise. Our uniquely collaborative culture fosters extraordinary teamwork, including sharing insights, ideas and resources to the benefit of clients around the world. Because, as employee owners, we all have a meaningful stake in ensuring the best possible outcomes for our clients. Recent highlights include:
Gold Morningstar Medalist Ratings for four of the Baird Funds.1
Analyst Driven: 100%
Data Driven: 100%
Aggregate Bond Fund (2/5/2025)
Core Plus Bond Fund (2/4/2025)
Short-Term Bond Fund (2/5/2025)
Ultra Short Bond Fund (2/5/2025)
Top 5% rankings for 16 Senior Equity Research Analysts from TipRanks, with an additional six analysts among the top 10% 2
No.1 Municipal Bond Underwriter in the U.S. by number of issues since 2009 3
Financial Strength and Long-Term Stability
As one of the largest employee-owned financial services companies in the United States, we believe our true strength is in our resilience and ability to advise clients through challenging and uncertain times. Since our founding in 1919, we have grown our capabilities to meet their needs. Today a strategic mix of cyclical and countercyclical businesses diversifies our revenues, ensuring stability, consistency and financial strength across changing market environments.
This business model and conservative management has served our clients well and driven 40 consecutive years of growth and profitability for Baird. We can consistently reinvest in the people, expertise and technology they currently rely on. And we can grow strategically in areas where we know our they want our advice and that we can serve them well – even in times when other firms are forced to scale back. Most importantly, all of this ensures we will be there for clients over the long term to provide the advice they want when they need it most, whatever the future brings.
A Measure of Trust: Nearly
$ 500
BILLION
in Client Assets4
More Than
$ 3.5
BILLION
in Annual Revenues
Consistently Profitable for Over
40
CONSECUTIVE
YEARS
1Morningstar Medalist Ratings™ as of February 2025. Morningstar individual fund ratings are as of December 31, 2024. All ratings are representative of the Institutional share class.
For each fund with at least a three-year history, Morningstar calculates a Morningstar Rating based on a Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return measure that accounts for variation in a fund's monthly performance (including the effects of sales charges, loads and redemption fees), placing more emphasis on downward variations and rewarding consistent performance. The top 10% of funds in each category receive 5 stars, the next 22.5% receive 4 stars, the next 35% receive 3 stars, the next 22.5% receive 2 stars and the bottom 10% receive 1 star. Each share class is counted as a fraction of one fund within this scale and rated separately, which may cause slight variations in the distribution percentages. The Overall Morningstar Rating for a fund is derived from a weighted average of the performance figures associated with its three-, five- and ten-year (if applicable) Morningstar Rating metrics
Analyst Rating is the summary expression of Morningstar's forward-looking analysis of a fund. Morningstar analysts assign the ratings on a five-tier scale with three positive ratings of Gold, Silver, and Bronze, a Neutral rating, and a Negative rating. The Analyst Rating is based on the analyst's conviction in the fund's ability to outperform its peer group and/or relevant benchmark on a risk-adjusted basis over the long term. If a fund receives a positive rating of Gold, Silver, or Bronze, it means Morningstar analysts think highly of the fund and expect it to outperform over a full market cycle of at least five years. The Analyst Rating is not a market call, and it is not meant to replace investors' due-diligence process. It cannot assess whether a fund is the right fit for a particular portfolio and risk tolerance. Morningstar evaluates funds based on five key pillars--Process, Performance, People, Parent, and Price. Analysts assign a rating of Positive, Neutral, or Negative to each pillar. Analyst Rating Scale - Gold: Best-of-breed fund that distinguishes itself across the five pillars and has garnered the analysts' highest level of conviction. Silver: Fund with advantages that outweigh the disadvantages across the five pillars and with sufficient level of analyst conviction to warrant a positive rating. Bronze: Fund with notable advantages across several, but perhaps not all, of the five pillars. Analyst Ratings are reevaluated at least every 14 months.
Past Performance is no guarantee of future results.
©2025 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information.
2As of 1/7/25
3Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence Muni Deal Query as of December 31, 2024. Does not include Private Placements or Notes
4Client assets include brokerage and advisory client assets