William Jefferson Black is a Managing Director at Finance Information Group, which provides perspective and information on M&A, financing, and corporate strategy through educational conferences, transaction databases, books, and unique financial publications including TelecomFinance, Transaction Advisors, and SatelliteFinance. Mr. Black was previously with Stout Risius Ross (SRR), a fast-growing transaction advisory firm, where he served as both a Director in the Valuation & Financial Opinions group and as the firm’s head of Marketing and Business Development. In that role, Mr. Black led the rollout of SRR’s market segmentation strategy, which integrated go-to-market approaches across the firm’s three practices. Within this strategy, he oversaw a significant expansion of the SRR Journal, a print and online publication recognized for enhancing the technical reputation of the firm.

Before joining SRR, Mr. Black spent three years negotiating complex commercial agreements in the global business development group at an enterprise software company, now a division of HP. Prior to that, he led the economic analysis and industry research practice at a middle market investment banking and business valuation firm. Earlier in his career, Mr. Black founded a 20-person competitive intelligence and marketing analysis group that advised global companies on product strategy, brand differentiation, and market segmentation.

Mr. Black studied economic theory, economic history, and applied economics in the James Madison College at Michigan State University. He also studied monetary policy and British economic history at St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge University in the UK; and financial accounting at the University of California, Berkeley.