Tag: Client Experience
RIA Edge Podcast: How an Integrated, All-Digital RIA Looks at Growth with Alex Farman-Farmaian

RIA Edge Podcast: How an Integrated, All-Digital RIA Looks at Growth with Alex Farman-Farmaian

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Modern advisory firms are being reshaped by technology, changing client expectations and the need for deeper personalization.

How do firms scale while keeping the advisor-client relationship at the center? What role does technology really play in growth without replacing the human element?

In this episode, host David Armstrong speaks with Alex Farman-Farmaian, CEO of Compound Planning, about building an all-digital, integrated RIA—with human advisors at the center—that provides clients with a unified experience across multiple service offerings—including tax preparation. 

Alex explains how AI-powered workflows and integrations enable advisors to serve clients more efficiently as the human touchpoint, while providing a better experience for clients. He also shares how Compound recruits next-generation advisors, integrates tax services and drives growth by focusing on equity- and option-compensated executives of fast-growing tech firms approaching liquidity events.

Key takeaways:

  • How internal technology reduces advisor workload and increases client capacity
  • Why proactive advice across a client’s full balance sheet drives stronger relationships and accelerates organic growth
  • How the firm uses AI to support advisor work without replacing human judgment
  • How modern tech helps recruit growth-minded,  younger advisors.
  • How it partners with firms to educate execs with equity-based compensation plans on navigating liquidity events. 

Resources:

Connect With David Armstrong:

Connect With Alex Farman-Farmaian:

About Our Guest:

Alex Farman-Farmaian is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Compound Planning, responsible for growing the firm to 50+ advisors and over $4 billion in AUM since 2022, and guiding the strategic direction of the firm’s robust wealth management technology and advisory service offerings. Previously, Alex was the 20th employee at Carta, where he built numerous sales teams across the country as Carta scaled to 1,000 employees and a $7B+ valuation from Silver Lake. Alex is an expert in equity compensation and is passionate about tax-efficient equity strategies.

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RIA Edge Podcast: Scaling an RIA Through Talent and Ownership with Tom Orecchio

RIA Edge Podcast: Scaling an RIA Through Talent and Ownership with Tom Orecchio

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Growth can mean very different things depending on how a firm is built and who it is built for.

What does it really take to evolve from a small advisory practice into a professionally managed firm without losing culture, client focus or identity?

In this episode of the RIA Edge Podcast, host David Armstrong speaks with Tom Orecchio, CFA, CFP, ChFC, AIF, chief executive officer, wealth manager and principal at Modera Wealth Management, about building an employee-owned RIA designed for long-term growth. He shares how leadership, ownership alignment and disciplined M&A shape Modera’s growth approach. 

Tom also explains how service expansion, technology investments and organic growth planning support advisors while keeping clients at the center.

Key takeaways:

  • Identifying the growth trajectory inflection point where advisor principals need to become, or hire, professional managers
  • His firm’s experience with employee equity ownership
  • What Modera looks for in acquisition partners (beyond location or size)
  • Why a technology revamp set the firm up to support future growth, retain operational consistency and the client experience
  • His firm’s approach to organic growth

Resources:

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Connect With Tom Orecchio:

About Our Guest:

Tom’s career began at Heritage Financial where he worked as a financial planner. In 1995, he joined the firm Greenbaum and Associates where he later became a partner. His role as a principal and wealth manager continued as the firm grew and evolved into Greenbaum and Orecchio and then into its current entity, Modera Wealth Management, LLC.

Tom received his B.A. in government and law from Lafayette College and went on to earn some of the most recognized credentials in the industry. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation and is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER professional. He is also a Chartered Financial Consultant, a Chartered Life Underwriter® and an Accredited Investment Fiduciary.

Tom is a National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) registered financial advisor. He has demonstrated his leadership and commitment to fiduciary standards in the industry by serving as NAPFA Chairman (2007-08) and as a national board member (2004-08). In 2013, Tom was the recipient of the NAFPA Robert J. Underwood Distinguished Service Award. He is an active member of the CFA® Institute, the National CEO Study Group, and the 20/20 National Study Group.

Tom is actively involved in the community as director of the Modera Wealth Management Scholarship Fund and is on the board of directors for the Modera Charitable Foundation. He also sits on the Northeast Advisory Board for Lafayette College. Tom has served as a board member of the finance committee for the Cathedral of Saint John the Theologian and also Northvale PAL, Inc. In addition, he has served as NV Eagles Youth Football president, Bergen County Junior Football League treasurer, and has sat on the board of directors for the youth baseball league in his town. Tom loves spending time with his family and three sons and often can be found on the football or baseball field coaching his sons’ teams.

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RIA Edge Podcast: Carnegie’s Jordan Raniszeski on Managing for Future Growth

RIA Edge Podcast: Carnegie’s Jordan Raniszeski on Managing for Future Growth

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How do advisory firms continue growing once scale introduces complexity? What does it take to build a structure that supports independence, client experience, and long-term flexibility?

In this episode of the RIA Edge Podcast, host David Armstrong speaks with Jordan Raniszeski, CFP, CPA,  senior managing partner at Carnegie Private Wealth, about the strategic decisions behind the firm’s rapid growth after its transition to independence.

He talks about early investments in human capital and junior advisors, an evolving executive management structure, and how flexible marketing strategies all resulted in expanded capacity and growth, and prepared the firm for its next phase.

Key takeaways:

  • The decision to leave a bank model in order to build brand control and internal flexibility
  • How associate advisors expanded capacity without sacrificing client experience
  • Why early investments in people created momentum for organic growth
  • The role of management structure in supporting long-term scale
  • How marketing, referrals, and community presence contributed to new client flow

Resources:

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Connect With Jordan Raniszeski:

About Our Guest:

Jordan Raniszeski is a leader in the Wealth Management industry and Senior Managing Partner at Carnegie Private Wealth where he’s helped build a team of well-regarded and experienced advisors. The advisors of Carnegie Private Wealth collectively serve more than 519 households with over $2,000,000,000 in brokerage assets as of August 29, 2025.

In his more than 20 years of experience as an advisor working with high-net-worth individuals and families, Jordan developed expertise in helping corporate executives, professionals and business owners. As a business owner and organizational leader himself, Jordan intimately understands the time constraints and complexities facing these clients and helps them build a plan to pursue their goals while balancing many different priorities.

Jordan’s career path showcases his leadership and commitment to client service. He began at Deloitte’s individual tax practice, honing his skills in tax and estate planning strategies. Later, at Wachovia Bank (now Wells Fargo), Jordan helped build the Executive Financial Planning practice. Partnering with Angie Ostendarp, he then grew one of Wells Fargo Advisors’ largest brokerage practices. Throughout his journey, Jordan has remained a devoted student of the industry, constantly seeking innovative ways to serve clients.

Leadership has been a constant theme in Jordan’s life. From roles in student government and charitable organizations to positions on sports teams, he has consistently stepped up to guide others. Jordan’s experience made him a natural fit to lead Carnegie’s formation. He now guides the Carnegie team, focusing on a shared vision for wealth management’s future.

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RIA Edge: Building a Future-Ready Firm with Brandywine Oak CEO Michael Henley

RIA Edge: Building a Future-Ready Firm with Brandywine Oak CEO Michael Henley

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Join host David Armstrong, fresh off the Wealth Management Edge Conference in Boca Raton, Fla., as he interviews Michael Henley, founder and chief executive officer of Brandywine Oak Private Wealth. Michael talks about the firm’s rapid growth since leaving Merrill Lynch in 2018 with the help of Dynasty Financial Partners and the focus that helped the firm double its AUM to $1.5 billion since breaking away. 

Like many serving HNW and UHNW clients, Henley’s firm takes a tax-centric approach to planning; unlike many similarly sized firms, Brandywine has brought tax preparation in-house, a service enthusiastically embraced by their clients. Henley talks about the conference panel he saw that led him and his firm to dive deep into crypto, educating clients on the technology and, for those who want it, adding a small sleeve to their portfolios. 

A culturally young firm of advisors mostly in their 30s and 40s, Henley and his team believe growing the business is important not just for the principals, but for the clients, arguing scale is needed to bring HNW and UHNW families the range of services they will come to expect. The team is grappling with the best way to make that happen and whether or not to look for a partner or a source of capital to fuel their next chapter. 

David and Michael discuss:

  • Why he and his team left the wirehouse, and how opening their own firm unlocked an ability to serve clients with fewer conflicts and more opportunities.
  • How the firm is “obsessed” with taxes, arguing proper tax planning moves the needle for HNW and UHNW clients like few other strategies.
  • Why bringing tax preparation in-house (unique for a firm of their size) ensures advisors maintain control of the financial plan’s implementation.
  • How the barriers have fallen around alternatives and structured products, and the role illiquid investments can play for clients.
  • The decision to add a sleeve of cryptocurrency to their portfolios, and how clients reacted.
  • He and his partner’s thinking around M&A, “acquihires,” and the possibility of bringing on a capital partner to accelerate the next phase of growth. 

Resources:

Connect With David Armstrong:

Connect With Michael Henley:

About Our Guest:

Michael Henley is the Founder and CEO of Brandywine Oak Private Wealth, a distinguished private wealth management firm headquartered in Kennett Square, Pa. Over the course of his 20-year career, Michael has partnered with wealthy individuals and families to help streamline the complexity associated with significant wealth. Michael built his team with a singular purpose: to provide a preeminent private wealth management experience to executives, retirees, and their family members, founded on exceptional service, transparency, and consistency. A skilled leader, he surrounds each client with a dedicated team of credentialed professionals who are sensitive to that family’s unique needs, values, and goals. Michael resides in Chadds Ford, PA, with his two children and their dogs. He holds the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERTM certification, the Certified Private Wealth Advisor® (CPWA®) designation, the Chartered Retirement Planning CounselorSM (CRPC®) designation, and the Retirement Management Advisor® (RMA®) designation.

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