William Mason, III founded Mason in 1982 after an 18-year career at Connecticut General. There, he built a national practice advising corporations and families on executive compensation and estate planning, and served on the Corporate Advisory Committee.

From the beginning, he operated by a single conviction: that an advisory firm should have one obligation, and one only—to the people it serves. No proprietary products to sell. Just the full weight of the firm’s expertise applied in service of the client.

That principle shaped everything. Over more than 40 years, Bill grew Mason from two employees to a deeply credentialed team of almost 80, large enough to compete with the country’s largest institutions and small enough to know every client by name. The culture he built—independent, rigorous, and dedicated—remains the defining feature of Mason today.