William Donaldson Cofounder DLJ

The Honorable William “Bill” Donaldson (Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette), HBS 1958, was one of the founders of DLJ.

He saw that a new breed of institutional fund manager was emerging who would need higher quality research on firms’ projected stock price performance than was being offered on Wall Street at the time. DLJ was set up to meet that need. Bill also made sure the firm had a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, and he later helped overturn regulations so DLJ could be the first investment bank to go public on the NYSE.

Bill went on to co-found Yale’s School of Management, to head the NYSE, and, among other leadership roles in business, philanthropy and academia, he was selected in 2001 to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission under President George W. Bush.

Bill described his experiences in a video interview in his office in Manhattan, March 2002.

Interviewer: Amy Blitz, HBS Director of Media Development for Entrepreneurial Management.

Download, watch or read the interview from

http://www.hbs.edu/entrepreneurs/williamdonaldson.html