Gerson Lehrman Group

Gerson Lehrman Group

Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG) was co-founded in 1998 by Mark Gerson and Thomas Lehrman, emerging from a partnership between a lawyer and a former McKinsey consultant. The firm's initial model bridged institutional investors with niche experts, and it grew into a global platform serving asset managers, corporations, and law firms. Wealth origin traces to the founding pair's prior careers — Gerson in law and Lehrman in strategy consulting — though the firm itself is a for-profit enterprise, not a family office. GLG does not disclose AUM or a conventional investment deployment number because it operates as a fee-for-service and subscription-based expert network rather than a capital allocator. The firm organizes its offering around three tiers: GLG Surveys, GLG Teleconferences, and GLG Councils, each providing different access depths to its expert pool. Clients range from hedge funds conducting due diligence to pharmaceutical companies scoping clinical trials. The platform covers over 130 sectors including healthcare, financial services, enterprise software, and technology. Geographic reach spans North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, with offices in New York and Santa Monica as primary hubs. The firm's scale is notable: it claims connections to over one million professionals globally, though exact headcount for internal employees is not publicly disclosed. A recent operational milestone includes the launch of GLG Insights in 2023, a product designed to deliver structured data and analytics from expert conversations (per the firm's communications). GLG also maintains a cultural advisory arm and a charitable foundation, the GLG Foundation, which supports education and public health initiatives. The firm does not publish financial performance figures. GLG's structural differentiator is its market-making role between demand for specialized knowledge and supply of expert availability — a business model that operates outside traditional asset management frameworks. The firm does not invest capital but rather sells access, creating a recurring revenue stream distinct from advisory or management fees. Its governance remains founder-led, with Mark Gerson as Chairman and Thomas Lehrman as a board member, though day-to-day operations now include professional management hired from consulting and data analytics firms.