Tag: Trust Services
RIA Edge Podcast: Building a Multigenerational Wealth Firm with Kristen Bauer

RIA Edge Podcast: Building a Multigenerational Wealth Firm with Kristen Bauer

By |

In this episode of the RIA Edge Podcast, host David Armstrong speaks with Kristen Bauer, CEO of Laird Norton Wetherby, about the firm’s approach to serving multigenerational families while managing about $18 billion in assets across six offices and two trust companies.

Kristen explains how the firm evaluates growth based on its impact on clients, employees and owners, rather than pursuing scale alone. She also shares how trust services, impact investing, advisor development, employee ownership and artificial intelligence continue to shape LNW’s long-term direction.

Kristen discusses:

  • How Bauer measures growth and its impact on the firm and client service
  • Why the firm moved back to using an in-house trust company, after outsourcing for many years
  • How the business development process works when targeting prospects with multigenerational wealth
  • The qualities LNW looks for when hiring advisors serving families across generations
  • How the firm is thinking about artificial intelligence and its impact on the business

Resources:

Connect With David Armstrong:

Connect With Kristen Bauer:

About Our Guest:

Kristen Bauer is the CEO of LNW, leading by example of analytical rigor and a passion for helping successful individuals and families use their resources to have the greatest positive impact. With more than two decades of leadership experience in private wealth management, family office services and business operations, Kristen was instrumental in shaping the vision for, and structure of, what is now LNW.

In May 2020, Kristen was named CEO of Laird Norton Wealth Management. In the next three years, she led the firm as it joined forces with two like-minded wealth advisories long committed to fostering clients’ financial and personal well-being above all else (Filament LLC and Wetherby Asset Management). The result is LNW.

Prior to LNW, Kristen was a senior leader at Tiedemann Advisors serving as Managing Director for the Pacific Northwest and leading Tiedemann’s national family office practice. Previously, Kristen served in leadership roles, including CFO and President, at Threshold Group, which began as the family office for a prominent Northwest family and was acquired by Tiedemann in 2017. At the start of her career, Kristen was Director of Finance at Medalia Healthcare and Manager-Assurance at Arthur Andersen LLP.

Kristen’s upbringing in Bend, Oregon instilled in her a deep appreciation for nature and the importance of working to leave a healthy world for generations to come. She is actively involved in supporting environmental nonprofits and causes.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

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

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

By |

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.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: RSS

Archives

Categories