Category: Wealth Management
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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RIA Edge Podcast: The Power of Specialization with Andrew Leonard

RIA Edge Podcast: The Power of Specialization with Andrew Leonard

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In this episode of the RIA Edge Podcast, host David Armstrong chats with Andrew Leonard, founder and partner at Geometric Wealth Advisors, about how the firm has rapidly grown to over $1 billion in AUM since Leonard founded it by catering to a specific client niche: executives working inside large consulting firms like McKinsey, Bain, and BCG. 

In fact, many of its advisors, as well as the firm’s chief operating officer, come from those same firms. Geometric Wealth’s advantage is a deep understanding of the internal resources, career paths and investment plans available to its clients, as well as the professional trajectories and personalities of those who work there. By focusing on such a narrow pool of prospects, the firm ironically brings in twice as many referrals as it can onboard annually—a capacity problem, not a growth problem. 

Leonard talks about how the niche focus drives most strategic decisions at the firm. That includes a commitment to 100% remote work, the firm’s business development strategy (and how “marketing” looks very different when focusing on a specific niche) and the commitment to remaining an employee-owned partnership with no outside investor taking ownership.

Leonard also discusses:

  • The benefit of hiring career-changers from the same consulting firms where they prospect for clients, and the advantages that brings in terms of subject-matter expertise and new client referrals. 
  • Why he made the decision five years ago, as a much smaller firm, to bring not just tax planning, but tax preparation in-house and the difference that has made for his clients (many with unique tax situations that come with the partnership arrangements of the consulting firms).

Resources:

Connect With David Armstrong:

Connect With Andrew Leonard:

About Our Guest:

Andrew founded Geometric Wealth Advisors in 2015.  He spent the prior eight years as a Partner with Classic Capital, where he served as a Wealth Advisor for high net worth families and individuals.  He sold his stake in Classic to build a firm devoted entirely to serving his peers. Andrew lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife, Shelley, and daughters, Eve and Brooke.

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RIA Edge Podcast: Building Wealth Firms That Last with Mark DeLotto

RIA Edge Podcast: Building Wealth Firms That Last with Mark DeLotto

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What makes a financial advisory firm truly sustainable in the competitive world of wealth management?

Join David Armstrong as he engages with Mark DeLotto, partner and corporate development officer at Simon Quick Advisors, on the firm’s distinctive growth journey and his roadmap for future growth. Mark offers insights into cultivating a culture of broad ownership, team collaboration, and strategies for organic growth driven by deep expertise in trusts and estate planning, and his ambition for more dealmaking in the RIA space. 

David and Mark discuss:

  • The transformation of Simon Quick Advisors from an early focus as a family office, to advising a few institutions, to becoming a full-service wealth management firm for HNW and UHNW clients.  
  • How broadening the number of next-gen employee owners has aligned the team around the firm’s goals and incentives, and the impact that decision has had on the firm’s growth trajectory. 
  • Why the firm decided to bring estate planning intelligence in-house.
  • The firm’s first three M&A deals, and how Mark and his partner believed in the mission to the point where they made personal guarantees to the bank to raise the capital to pursue a deal. 

Resources:

Connect With David Armstrong:

Connect With Mark DeLotto:

About Our Guest:

Mr. DeLotto joined Simon Quick in April 2007 and currently serves as the Partner and Corporate Development Officer, with primary responsibility over the areas of finance and operations. He also oversees human resources, legal, compliance, technology, and infrastructure, and, as a member of the Management Committee, contributes to the firm’s strategic direction, business development, and business planning. He also sits on the firm’s Operating Committee. In early 2013, Mr. DeLotto became an equity partner of Simon Quick.

Mr. DeLotto began his career with Fleet/Quick & Reilly as a Financial Advisor. At the Bank of America Investment Services, he managed and serviced client assets. He earned Series 7, Series 66, and New Jersey Life and Health Insurance Producer Licenses and was selected to partner with a successful team of advisors in 2005.

Prior to joining Simon Quick, Mr. DeLotto supervised, mentored, and coached over forty financial advisors and sales assistants as a licensed market principal at Bank of America Investment Services, Inc.

Mr. DeLotto has a BS in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from Villanova University School of Business. He is an active member in the Morris/Somerset Chapter of the Villanova Alumni Association and was an active member of The Villanova School of Business and served as a mentor in the Commerce and Finance Counselor program. A graduate of the Delbarton School in Morristown, NJ, he currently serves on the Board of the Alumni Association and is the Co-Chair of the school’s annual fundraising effort. Mark currently sits on the Technology Advisory Board for both Pershing LLC (an affiliate of BNY Mellon) and Fortigent LLC (an affiliate of LPL Financial). Mark sits on the Board of Directors for the ARC of Morris County, an organization dedicated to people affected by intellectual and related developmental disabilities and their families in Morris County.

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RIA Edge Podcast: CEO Rob Mooney On Snowden Lane’s Pivot to a ‘New Chapter’ in 2025

RIA Edge Podcast: CEO Rob Mooney On Snowden Lane’s Pivot to a ‘New Chapter’ in 2025

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Snowden Lane entered 2025 on a high note. The firm had an active recruiting year, expanding its national footprint and posting record profitability and revenue with approximately $12 billion in AUM. 

Yet the highlight for CEO Robert Mooney was the decision to buy back a significant portion of the firm’s equity from its original financial backer, Estancia Capital. The firm also broadened ownership to more employees and managers while letting longer-tenured advisor partners cash in some vested chips at “an attractive valuation.” 

Now, 75% of firm ownership is in the hands of managers and employees. Mooney sees the pivot away from outside capital as something to celebrate, particularly as more competitors run toward private equity.  

In this episode of the RIA Edge Podcast, host David Armstrong talks with Mooney about the recent changes at Snowden Lane and how his firm is navigating the shifting dynamics in wealth management. 

Rob shares insights on:

  • Why the wirehouses are still Snowden Lane’s best hunting grounds for talent, though he is starting to see serious opportunities to recruit from other RIAs; the firm recently added Charles Schwab as a custodian alongside its traditional partner Pershing.
  • A new proprietary retirement transition plan that offers advisors eyeing the exits an early payout.
  • The growing role of alternative investments, where the demand is coming from and how advisors are integrating them.
  • Why firm executives are bringing more practicing advisors from the field offices into managing director roles to help with strategic growth decisions.
  • The sustainability of current RIA valuations and what firms might be getting wrong. 
  • The firm’s recent recapitalization and the benefits of broadening ownership in the firm to advisors and home-office employees. 

Resources:

Connect With David Armstrong:

Connect With Rob Mooney:

About Our Guest:

Rob is the Managing Partner and Chief Executive Officer of Snowden Lane. Rob spent 22 years at Merrill Lynch, in New York, Singapore, Hong Kong, and London. He was General Counsel and Chief Business Risk Officer of Global Wealth Management and a member of the GWM Executive and Operating Committees. He previously held senior executive positions in International Private Client and the Asia Pacific Region. Rob started at Merrill Lynch in London (Europe, Middle East, and Africa Region) and before that worked at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He has a BA from Franklin and Marshall College and a JD from George Washington University. He is Chairman of the Board of Centurion, the oldest organization in the U.S. dedicated to freeing the wrongly convicted, and a founding Board member of the Christina Seix Academy, a residential school for underprivileged inner-city children. He is a former Board Chairman and Board member of the American Red Cross of Central New Jersey

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RIA Edge Podcast: Wescott’s Commitment to Community, Client Retention with Grant Rawdin

RIA Edge Podcast: Wescott’s Commitment to Community, Client Retention with Grant Rawdin

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In this episode of the RIA Edge Podcast, host David Armstrong interviews Grant Rawdin, founder and CEO of Wescott Financial Advisory Group, which manages $4 billion in AUM. Grant shares the story of founding his firm in 1987 as an offshoot of a law firm, his passion for client advocacy, and how the firm grew through strategic networking and a commitment to professional management. He emphasizes Wescott’s unique culture, including its B-Corp certification and involvement in the Net Positive Consortium for Wealth Management, as essential elements of its identity, and most important, talent retention.

Key takeaways from this episode include:

  • Rawdin’s belief that net organic growth starts with client retention, and how the firm achieves its high numbers with multi-generational clients.
  • Beyond retention, the other activities that help the firm create “rivers of referrals,” the core of Wescott’s growth engine.
  • The firm’s commitment to social justice and positive community involvement, including what its coveted “B-Corp” designation means, and why it became a founding member of the Net Positive Coalition for Wealth Management, a growing group of RIAs committed to sustainability.
  • The mindful approach he takes to acquisitions, and the importance of integrating the right talented professionals into the firm culture to the benefit of employees and clients.
  • What data Rawdin follows to make growth-oriented business decisions and track ROI
  • The firm’s unique inclusion of an organizational psychologist to support clients and staff through transitions

Resources:

Connect With David Armstrong:

Connect With Grant Rawdin:

About Our Guest:

Grant Rawdin is the founder and CEO of Wescott.  Wescott grew from the tax, business and estate services he provided to clients at Duane Morris LLP, a venerable AMLaw 100 law firm; Wescott was founded in 1987.  Grant is an attorney, an accountant and a Certified Financial Planner® professional and has served as advisor to many businesses and families.  He is admitted to both the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Bars.

Grant is a graduate of Temple University Beasley School of Law and Temple University, where he received his B.A. in English Literature.  He is the very proud father of four children and resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with his wife, Laura Rawdin.

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RIA Edge Podcast: Building Out the ‘Anti-Aggregator’ RIA, with David Hefty

RIA Edge Podcast: Building Out the ‘Anti-Aggregator’ RIA, with David Hefty

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In this episode of the RIA Edge Podcast, host David Armstrong interviews David Hefty, founder and CEO of $3.4 billion AUM Credent Wealth Management. Hefty narrowly escaped pursuing a career trading commodities on the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade, and instead started an independent wealth management firm shortly after college. But it wasn’t until the past few years that he and his team implemented an aggressive growth strategy, doing over a dozen deals in short order and uniquely being fueled by a relationship with a private credit firm (keeping the undiluted equity in the hands of the advisors). Hefty and his team put the client experience at the forefront of all decisions, and for them, that means full assimilation of onboarded teams into the Credent brand and the workflows. 

Top takeaways from this episode include:

  • Credent’s assimilation strategy when it comes to M&A and what it means to be an “anti-aggregator.”
  • Why most acquisitive RIAs are building out an “advisor-centric” model of a wealth management firm, and why that’s not always good for the client. 
  • What motivated the decision to access private credit instead of equity funding to fuel Credent’s growth strategy, and the firm’s relationship with lending shop Crestline Investors.
  • The detailed onboarding process that every one of Credent’s 13 recent acquisitions underwent when they joined the firm. 
  • With a dozen more deals in various stages of pursuit, Hefty reveals his future ambitions for the firm and what it will take to become truly “unbuyable” by all but a few national firms. 

Resources:

Connect With David Armstrong:

Connect With David Hefty:

About Our Guest:

There are few people more passionate about changing financial lives than David Hefty. As Chief Executive Officer, his vision and leadership have built Credent into a firm dedicated to doing what’s best for hardworking Americans, all with the highest standards of transparency.

Believing all Americans should have access to high-quality, independent advice, David is committed to fee-only financial partnerships. He co-founded Hefty Wealth Partners in 2000 and joined Oak Point Financial Group in 2018 to form Credent Wealth Management.

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RIA Edge Podcast: Redefining Growth in Wealth Management

RIA Edge Podcast: Redefining Growth in Wealth Management

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David Armstrong talks with Jim Gold, CEO of Steward Partners, about the firm’s growth trajectory. Steward Partners, originally founded by wirehouse breakaways, has cultivated a unique approach by tapping experienced advisors with the independence of RIAs. With over $40 billion in assets, Jim shares insights into their robust M&A strategy and the importance of succession planning in an aging industry.

The main takeaways include:

  • Steward Partners’ M&A philosophy and its pivotal role in addressing the “succession crisis.”
  • The changing mix of advisor recruits and firm acquisitions as growth levers.
  • How Steward designs equity and partnership structures to attract and retain advisors.
  • Future growth ambitions and potential needs for additional capital.
  • Strategies for organic growth and how they differentiate Steward.
  • The importance of keeping advisors happy and well-resourced for their own success.

Resources:

Connect With David Armstrong:

Connect With Jim Gold:

About Our Guest:

Jim Gold serves as CEO, is a Founding Partner, a Board Member, and a member of the Executive leadership team at Steward Partners Global Advisory. He has extensive experience in the Financial Services industry, having held several senior-level roles, most recently as Executive Director at Morgan Stanley. Prior to assuming his current role, Mr. Gold ran the Southern Connecticut Complex, headquartered in Greenwich, Conn. Mr. Gold spent 18 years with Smith Barney, beginning in 1995 as a financial advisor. He went on to hold numerous management positions at the firm, including National Training Officer, Assistant Branch Manager, Branch Manager, and Complex Manager. Mr. Gold received numerous accolades from the firm during his tenure, most recently, he was recognized for his accomplishments in Diversity.

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RIA Edge Podcast: CEO Michael Nathanson Pulls It Together, Putting Focus Back on Fast Growth Track

RIA Edge Podcast: CEO Michael Nathanson Pulls It Together, Putting Focus Back on Fast Growth Track

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In this episode, host David Armstrong, managing director of editorial and content strategies for the Wealth Management Group at Informa, sits down with Michael Nathanson, CEO of Focus Financial Partners, to discuss Focus’ pulling out of the public markets in favor of private equity partners, their recent rebranding and the team’s hub consolidation strategy. 

Michael reveals how Focus is evolving its approach from a consortium of 90 independent firms into efforts to bring at least some of them together under one roof, which, he bets, will pay off in greater efficiencies, a wider set of services for clients and accelerated organic growth. 

Highlights include:

  • The rationale behind Focus’ recent rebranding, its “hub” organization strategy and the continuing consolidation among firms
  • What “interdependence” means for Focus advisors, and how Nathanson’s team thinks about balancing efficiencies against advisor autonomy
  • Focus’ experience as a publicly traded company and the bet that the firm’s private equity backers are making.
  • How the firm plans to drive organic growth.
  • What he looks for when hiring executive leaders or partnering with RIAs.
  • What to expect from Focus now when it comes to M&A.  

Resources:

Connect With David Armstrong:

Connect With Michael Nathanson:

About Our Guest:

Michael is a highly respected and experienced leader in the wealth management industry. As Chief Executive Officer, he plays a pivotal role in driving organizational change and spearheading a range of firm-wide initiatives. He is relentlessly dedicated to bringing meaning and joy to the lives of clients, his team, and throughout the Focus Partnership, by fostering a culture that values lifelong learning, cultivates innovation, and offers opportunities to live lives full of passion and purpose.

Michael’s passion is reflected in the recognition he has received, having been selected ten times by Barron’s magazine as one of the top 100 independent financial advisors in the nation, included in Worth magazine’s list of the country’s top 250 wealth advisors and recognized as one of ThinkAdvisor’s 2022 LUMINARIES winners for Executive Leadership. He also was selected six times as a “Super Lawyer,” as published in Massachusetts Super Lawyers. During his tenure as Chief Executive Officer and Chair of The Colony Group, he is most proud of the firm being named one of 50 firms as a Best Place To Work for Financial Advisors by InvestmentNews.

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