Month: May 2025
RIA Edge Podcast: Cresset’s Susie Cranston on How an ‘Industrial Scale’ RIA Benefits Clients, the Firm

RIA Edge Podcast: Cresset’s Susie Cranston on How an ‘Industrial Scale’ RIA Benefits Clients, the Firm

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In this episode of the RIA Edge Podcast, join host David Armstrong for an insightful conversation with Susie Cranston, president and COO of Cresset, as they explore how the firm rapidly scaled to $65 billion. 

David and Susie discuss:

  • How Cresset grew out of a family office for the founders, and how the firm defines “family office” services. 
  • How the firm made the decision to source and offer clients private market investments via affiliate Cresset Capital Partners.
  • How Cranston views the tension between growth via acquisitions and maintaining the integrity of the service model. “When you have to integrate multiple systems, when you have to be the one building those integrations, it really, really slows down your ability to grow and scale.”
  • How crossing the $40B mark in AUM brings benefits to the firm and the clients by opening up “industrial scale” options for tech and service: “That is a real advantage when you can cross there because then you don’t have to change out your infrastructure, you can just scale on what you have.”
  • Insights on evolving advisory models and the future of the RIA. 

Resources:

Connect With David Armstrong:

Connect With Susie Cranston:

About Our Guest:

Susie Cranston is President and Chief Operating Officer of Cresset, an award-winning multi-family office and private investment firm. In this role, Susie oversees Cresset’s Wealth Advisors, Client Service, Operations, and Compliance.

Susie most recently served as the Chief Operating Officer at First Republic Bank, where she was responsible for the sales, client service, operations, strategic planning, and administrative management of the First Republic Investment Management business. After the firm’s acquisition by JP Morgan Chase, Susie served as the COO and Head of Integration.

Susie originally joined First Republic in 2013 as EVP of Private Wealth Management, moving on to build one of the most successful wealth management businesses in the industry. She started her career at McKinsey & Company, where she spent 12 years consulting in various roles of increasing seniority and focused on strategy, risk management, and transformational change for financial services companies.

Active in the San Francisco business community, Susie is a “Forever Influential” honoree and three-time recipient of the San Francisco Business Times “Most Influential Women in Business” designation and a member of C200. Susie is also a board member of the Commonwealth Club. She has authored several published articles and a book on women and leadership, “How Remarkable Women Lead.”

Susie earned a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering and an MBA in business from Stanford University.

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RIA Edge Podcast: Chris Erblich on TFO’s Response to Client Needs

RIA Edge Podcast: Chris Erblich on TFO’s Response to Client Needs

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How can a firm truly put families first in wealth management?

Join host David Armstrong as he interviews Chris Erblich, co-founder of TFO Family Office Partners. Chris shares the origin story and evolution of TFO’s three distinct but interconnected entities: a full-service multifamily office in Phoenix, a wealth management firm in Ohio and a South Dakota-based public trust company. He explains how each was built in response to real client needs rather than a grand business plan.

It all started with a family office sparked by a gap in legal-client relationships, expanded into wealth management and ultimately the firm formed a trust company to address trustee challenges for ultra-high-net-worth families. Throughout the conversation, Chris emphasizes TFO’s purpose-driven mission: to help families, however and wherever they need it.

David and Chris discuss:

  • What prompted estate attorney Elbrich to first convince his law firm to back an in-house multi-family office, and why he and his partners eventually bought it outright.
  • How an opportunistic meeting with a Genspring advisor looking for a new home led him to build a separate MFO in Phoenix.
  • The firm’s approach to client services, tax preparation and estate planning.
  • Building an in-house South Dakota Trust company that was, at first, seen as an accommodation, but soon became a profitable business service highly valued by clients. 
  • Elbrich’s mission statement and the one question that helps him decide where to focus his efforts growing the business. 
  • Future growth plans, and how he feels about mergers and acquisitions in the RIA space. 

Resources:

 Connect With David Armstrong:

Connect With Chris Erblich:

About Our Guest:

Chris is a nationally recognized estate planning attorney, business owner, and speaker focusing on helping individuals and families connect their wealth and purpose. His clients are those who have truly lived the American dream, and Chris values the opportunity to work with and learn from them. In addition to Chris’ role as Partner at Husch Blackwell, Chris is the CEO and Chairman of TFO Family Office Partners (based in Phoenix, Arizona), CEO of TFO Wealth Partners (based in Maumee, Ohio), and President and Director of TFO Trust Company (based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota). Chris also has multiple real estate investments. It is this experience that enables him to understand firsthand the challenges and complexities of managing both companies and properties, and he readily identifies with clients’ goals and desires for their own businesses. In addition to the services he provides to clients, Chris is a highly sought-after speaker in the world of high-net-worth estate planning and has delivered more than 200 presentations nationwide to attorneys, accountants, financial service professionals, and business owners.

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