Tag: Sustainable Growth
RIA Edge Podcast: Cresset’s Eric Becker on the Power of Purpose-Driven Growth

RIA Edge Podcast: Cresset’s Eric Becker on the Power of Purpose-Driven Growth

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Cresset’s rise from a family-led vision to one of the nation’s leading multifamily offices shows how purpose and culture can shape enduring organizations.

In this episode of the RIA Edge Podcast, host David Armstrong speaks with Eric Becker, co-founder and co-chairman of Cresset, about the firm’s mission to build a 100-year wealth management business focused on families, not just finances. Eric shares how Cresset was designed by clients, for clients, to combine investment excellence with family governance, education and community.

David and Eric explore how RIA principals and executives can avoid short-term thinking, especially amid the frenzy of day-to-day operational planning and the quest for the elusive “personalization with scale” client service model. Eric suggests lessons other RIA leaders can learn from his study of the world’s longest-surviving companies, which he captured in his recently published book The Long Game: A Playbook of the World’s Most Enduring Companies. 

David and Eric discuss:

  • How Becker and his co-founder started Cresset because they couldn’t find a wealth management platform that met their own family’s needs, making them their own first two clients and fundamentally shaping their client-centric approach
  • The goal to put the “family back into family office,” moving beyond investment management to include governance, education, health resources, concierge services and community
  • Becker’s belief in pursuing “just the right amount of growth” and his four-pillar framework for managing expansion without sacrificing service quality or burning out teams—that includes culture, people, numbers and business model.
  • Cresset’s unique employee-ownership model (60% employee-owned, 30% client-owned, 10% strategic investor) and how this structure aligns incentives for long-term thinking
  • 100-Year Business Thinking: Drawing from his book The Long Game, Becker explains why building for longevity actually creates more valuable, attractive businesses and better serves clients who are also thinking generationally about their wealth.

Resources:

Connect With David Armstrong:

Connect With Eric Becker:

About Our Guest:

Eric Becker is the Founder and Co-Chairman of Cresset, an award-winning multi-family office with more than $70 billion in assets under management. Alongside Founder and Co-Chairman, Avy Stein, Eric was one of Cresset’s first two clients. He and his team designed the firm to meet a specific need, and also for growth and sustainability; His desire to build a “100-year-old” firm led him to study some of the longest-running companies across different industries, and recently published The Long Game: A Playbook of the World’s Most Enduring Companies, which captures his observations on what they all have in common. 

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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: Sustainable Wealth Management Firms with Jennifer des Groseilliers

RIA Edge Podcast: Sustainable Wealth Management Firms with Jennifer des Groseilliers

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In this episode of the RIA Edge Podcast, David Armstrong, editorial director at Informa Connect’s Wealth Management Group, speaks with Jennifer des Groseilliers, CEO of The Mather Group. The conversation took place live during Schwab’s recent IMPACT Conference in San Francisco. 

Jennifer was recently appointed head of the $14 billion AUM firm, though she is a veteran in financial services, having worked across advisory channels, first at Ameriprise and later at MetLife and MassMutual. She came to The Mather Group just a few years after the firm was acquired by private equity investor the Vistria Group.  

She is leading a firm that has grown rapidly through a number of acquisitions in recent years, with Vistria’s financial backing. The firm currently has some 14 offices around the country, 175 employees and about 4,000 clients. It focuses on financial planning for affluent and HNW individuals, with a minimum account size of $1 million and a family office service model for clients with more than $25 million. 

David and Jennifer discuss:

  • The balanced approach to growth that includes scaling responsibly through both internal development and strategic acquisitions
  • The Mather Group’s meticulous process that ensures new acquisitions align with their corporate values and culture
  • How a recent acquisition brings an alternative investment specialist into the organization, and how alts are incorporated into client portfolios. 
  • The firm’s strategy for attracting and retaining top talent in the competitive RIA space, including a popular employee equity plan and a “robust” summer internship program that feeds new talent into many of its offices. 
  • Why “emotional intelligence” is a key focus for leadership at The Mather Group and how it benefits both client relations and team dynamics.

Resources:

 Connect With David Armstrong:

Connect With Jennifer des Groseilliers:

About Our Guest:

Jennifer des Groseilliers is the Chief Executive Officer of The Mather Group. Jen cultivates a collaborative culture through inclusive and supportive leadership. Her unwavering commitment to keeping clients at the center of all efforts drives her approach.

Jen’s extensive professional experience includes joining the MetLife Premier Client Group as a Managing Partner in 2013, leading an advisor force of over 160 financial advisors. She later became the CEO of MassMutual Illinois in 2016, and in 2020, after a merger with WestPoint Financial Group, she assumed the role of Partner and Chief Experience Officer, leading various departments including Investments, Compliance, Practice Development, and Financial Planning.

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RIA Edge Podcast: Turning Clients into Fans, and Designing Sustainable Growth, with Wealthstream Advisors’ Michael Goodman

RIA Edge Podcast: Turning Clients into Fans, and Designing Sustainable Growth, with Wealthstream Advisors’ Michael Goodman

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Recorded live at the Schwab Impact Conference in San Francisco, David Armstrong, editorial director at Informa Connect’s Wealth Management Group, sits down with Michael Goodman, founder, and leader of RIA Wealthstream Advisors, an RIA Edge 100 firm, to explore how he thinks about sustainable growth and client service in wealth management. 

They delve into Goodman’s philosophy and approach behind managing a successful wealth advisory firm and serving clients with meaningful wealth and complex financial needs. Goodman emphasizes the importance of tailored support, from working with full delegators to knowledgeable individuals within financial services.

They discuss:

  • What Goodman saw was missing from his accounting client relationships, which prompted him to take the leap and launch his own RIA.
  • The process Wealthstream Advisors uses to decide to take on certain clients that may not always meet their minimum AUM requirement.
  • How a deep understanding of certain corporate compensation plans helps Wealthstream turn executive clients at those companies into fans of the firm, fueling their referrals.
  • Why Goodman encourages his advisors to dump the jargon around the sophisticated planning strategies the firm employs and simply ask the client one pertinent question. 
  • How the 100% employee-owned firm approaches M&A
  • Why Goodman believes that it’s important to sacrifice maximized firm profitability in order to keep some excess capacity in the organization—to accommodate future growth or cushion the inevitable sustained market downturn. 
  • The key KPIs Goodman tracks to help make decisions on staffing and resources.  

Resources:

 Connect With David Armstrong:

Connect With Michael Goodman:

About Our Guest:

Michael Goodman, founder of Wealthstream Advisors, is dedicated to fostering lifelong partnerships and helping clients achieve greater financial clarity and peace of mind. Wealthstream Advisors, an independent boutique wealth management firm in New York City, operates as a Registered Investment Advisory firm, providing objective and personalized financial planning and evidence-based investment management while adhering to a fiduciary standard.

Michael emphasizes the importance of tailored financial plans and investment strategies. Through collaboration with Wealthstream Advisors, clients gain enhanced financial knowledge and confidence, empowering them to make informed decisions about managing and growing their wealth.

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