Harris Williams

Founded in Richmond in 1991, Harris Williams is an investment bank serving middle-market companies, financial sponsors, and other investors. It has built its platform around advisory work rather than broad-based lending or markets businesses, and today describes itself as specializing in M&A, private capital solutions, and primary fund placement.

The firm organizes coverage around eight industry groups, including technology, healthcare and life sciences, business services, consumer, industrials, and transportation and logistics. Its strongest fit is for students interested in execution-heavy advisory work, particularly sell-side processes and private-equity exits: Mergermarket ranked Harris Williams among the leading advisers by deal count for both global and U.S. private-equity exits in 2024.