A. General Description of the Advisory Firm. Brown Advisory was founded in 1994 in
Norfolk, Virginia. Brown Advisory is a wholly owned subsidiary of Brown Advisory
Incorporated (“BAI”), a Maryland corporation, and an affiliate of Brown Advisory LLC
(“Brown Advisory LLC”), a Maryland limited liability company (Brown Advisory, BAI, Brown
Advisory LLC, collectively, and together with their affiliates, “Brown Advisory” or the “firm”).
Additional information about Brown Advisory LLC is available on the SEC’s website at
www.adviserinfo.sec.gov.
B. Description of Advisory Services. Brown Advisory provides integrated wealth
management services to high net worth individuals and their families, and to a small number of
charitable trusts and foundations. These services are designed to assist our clients in identifying
and realizing their investment objectives in coordination with their other professional advisors.
Our offerings include the following:
Investment Management
Brown Advisory’s approach to investing is long-term, generally defined as a full market cycle,
lasting 7 to more than 10 years. We invest globally in both active and passive strategies. We
invest in active strategies with managers we believe have an identifiable edge in their
investment process. Investments in passive strategies generally include ETFs and index funds,
capturing market exposure with lower fees. We focus on risk as well as return, managing risk
primarily by diversification and attention to valuation and we are willing to sacrifice on the
upside in order to protect the downside. Across all strategies, Brown Advisory seeks to manage
fees and taxes as part of our investment process.
In addition to investment advisory services, we provide other services, including:
Strategic Planning and Family Governance
Brown Advisory assists clients in developing a strategic plan with measurable outcomes. This
plan often includes documenting goals for future generations, outlining a process and
implementing a plan for business succession, organizing family meetings, and educating
children about financial matters.
Cash Management
Our cash management services include developing and tracking
budgets, providing bill-paying
services and expense summaries, funding trusts and monitoring their distributions, and
administering the processes around minimum required distributions and charitable giving.
Income Tax Organization
We assist in aggregating data for both individual and entity tax preparation by client CPAs and
participate in tax planning with CPAs and other advisors.
Risk Management
Brown Advisory reviews certain security needs, analyzes insurance policies, assists in
developing risk reduction strategies, and coordinates the details of insurance titling with estate
plan and asset protection in mind.
Estate and Wealth Transfer Planning
We coordinate estate planning with other advisors and integrate a strategy of investments
consistent with that plan, prepare illustrations and summaries of documents for grantors,
trustees, and beneficiaries, and assist in estate settlement.
Household Administration
We assist in household administration, including employee confidentiality agreements,
regulatory compliance, payroll processing, and health and retirement plan implementation for
staff.
Philanthropic Planning
Brown Advisory advises on various charitable strategies, organizes and implements impactful
giving plans, and coordinates execution tactics with legal and accounting advisors.
C. Availability of Tailored Services for Individual Clients. Because each client’s
planning needs are different, Brown Advisory tailors its services to the needs of each individual
client. We design client portfolios to reflect different levels of risk and return, as well as a
client’s need for liquidity, tolerance for concentrated positions in illiquid investments, and time
horizon. Clients may impose restrictions on investing in certain securities or types of securities.
We offer to meet with each client as often as necessary for the client to feel comfortable with
the investment process and call each client to meet at least annually.
D. Wrap Fee Program. Brown Advisory does not participate in wrap fee programs.
E. Assets Under Management. As of December 31, 2023, Brown Advisory had
approximately $6.9 billion in assets under management, of which approximately $6.8 billion is
discretionary, and $32.6 million is non-discretionary.