Top Financial Professionals in the US | Hot List

 

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Aces in the pack

If not a rollercoaster ride, this year has certainly delivered its fair share of sharp twists and turns.

While pundits continue to debate the political, economic, and social forces, they are immaterial to investors. The leading wealth professionals know that what truly matters is how they respond and not why the ride is bumpy.

By rising to the challenge, the industry’s standout leaders and difference makers have thrown open new doors for investors, guiding them through disruption and meeting the growing trend of the heighted expectations from clients.

Those on InvestmentNews’ Hot List 2025 are quite simply the movers and shakers who have stepped up, enabling diversification for investors and providing access to more sophisticated investments.

Mary Mock, senior vice president and head of distribution for Touchstone Investments, highlights how challenging it has been for top professionals to chart an engaging path for clients.

“The expansion in the RIA space is redefining the competitive dynamics between traditional broker-dealers, wirehouses, and independent advisors because the need for scale and consolidation continues to grow. And we see RIAs leading the charge in aligning compensation with advice-driven relationships instead of product sales.”

And she adds, “The ETF wrapper continues to be a preferred vehicle for those who want low-cost, tax-efficient exposure, and we believe the move to having ETFs as a share class alongside mutual funds will be monumental, as it enables firms to serve different client segments without fragmenting strategies.”

 

Private investments are a growing area being explored, and, according to BlackRock, represents roughly 10 percent of the US$16.4-trillion alternative investment universe.  One driver is that companies are also relying more on private lenders as they stay private for longer.

With the rise of robo-advisors and financial information of debatable quality available online, Carina Diamond, CEO of GFP Private Wealth, suggests that private and alternative investments have become an increasingly vital component of portfolios. This strategy has been a key part of how her firm has guarded clients’ wealth, with private investments making up 20 percent of AUM.

 

 

“A lot of our work has become commoditized, particularly on the investment side. But we have a real specialty in private investments, so that is definitely a differentiator,” explains the 2025 Hot Lister. “Clients as a group have become more sophisticated, just having stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and ETFs, that’s not cutting it anymore.”

The widening public access to financial information has also contributed to the need to focus on client-advisor relationships.

Diamond says, “More things have stayed the same than they have changed, and the biggest thing that has stayed the same is that clients want connection. They want to be understood.”

Similarly, another member of the 2025 Hot List, Thomas Ruggie, CEO of Destiny Wealth Partners, is also providing clients with more options. He has forged strategic relationships with firms that have opened the door to limited-access hedge fund and private equity opportunities, as well as curated and differentiated direct investments.

Specifically, his fund has provided eligible qualified persons with access to direct investment offerings in Elon Musk’s post-merger X.AI, payment processor Stripe, AI-based defense-industry disruptor Anduril, and pre-IPO Reddit.

“It is my belief that we are in a once-in-a-generation moment with the AI revolution. We’ve been fortunate, through our relationships, to gain access to many of the biggest names in AI within the private sector,” says Ruggie. “We are generally investing alongside the private equity firm on their cap table. This is typically advantageous compared to where these same holdings are trading in the secondary market, most at a premium and many at a significant premium.”

Some wealthy investors with profits in taxable accounts are being offered a solution by Erik Lehr, another of the Hot List 2025.

The Empirical Wealth Management CIO has spearheaded the development of the firm’s comprehensive suite of tools for high-net-worth individuals dealing with single stock concentration. This includes strategies such as exchange funds, collars, and other option-related techniques, long/short overlays, and 351 exchanges.

“With the strong performance of the US stock market over the past 15 years, we have had more and more clients coming to us with large amounts of concentration in highly appreciated stocks. They are stuck with a difficult choice: either continue to face the risk of an undiversified portfolio or realize capital gains and end up with a large tax bill,” Lehr says.

“By developing a wide range of potential solutions to help clients reduce stock concentration in a tax-efficient manner, we have been able to give clients a third option, which helps to set them up for long-term success.”

 

Last year, Warren Buffett explained how, after his death, his children would have a decade to allocate his billions to charity. While few have the resources of the Sage of Omaha, there is a rise in the demand for philanthropic services.

“With the generational wealth transfer, you’re seeing a lot of patriarchs and matriarchs who are opening foundations at 85 or 90 years old,” says Joseph Mrak III.

 

 

The 2025 Hot Lister is CEO of Foundation Source, which offers a suite of technology and consulting services to philanthropists. Its platform enables advisors to control their clients’ philanthropic contributions. By understanding the needs of advisors, Mrak provides a variety of solutions such as foundations, donor-advised funds (DAFs), and planned gifts.

“Advisors like to keep things in their box,” he says. “It goes back to education, helping them understand how they can help their clients be philanthropic. They don’t have to be afraid that they’re giving that money away. They still get to manage and oversee it.”

Mrak has also taken advantage of the growing popularity of DAFs, as they deliver greater flexibility. This was the rationale for Foundation Source to acquire fintech Vennfi to offer a better user experience.

“With foundations, you’re selling Ferraris, but lot of people want Hondas. If you think about it that way, the DAFs are a much more mainstream product. You can start a donor-advised fund for $5, or I’ve seen ones with $50 million.”

 

Another lever available to wealth management firms is to build scale by acquiring other companies. PwC’s US Deals 2025 midyear outlook reported that “declining to 70 and 63 deals in the second and third quarters of 2024, respectively, deal volume jumped to 80 and 85 deals in the fourth quarter of 2024 and first quarter of 2025”. This was the highest level of AWM deal volume since the fourth quarter of 2022 and first quarter of 2023.

The dynamic is being driven by those on the frontlines.

“Advisors are under more pressure than ever to demonstrate the tangible impact they deliver to clients and they’re looking to partners to help them do that, not just with products, but with insights and tools that create capacity in their business,” comments Mock. “The 2025 financial industry is about choice, scale, and proof of value.”

Hot List 2025 winner Natalie Wolfsen, CEO of Orion Advisor Solutions, has prioritized acquisitions that deliver scalability while improving the firm’s capabilities.

 

 

“Orion is the collection of several acquired companies. We’re constantly making sure that we’re all aligned with the mission of creating a wealth community where every advisor and investor can thrive,” she says. “That trend of consolidation means that everyone in the industry needs to understand how to be an attractive acquiree and how to effectively acquire.”

An example of this strategic mindset was behind the decision to purchase Summit Wealth Systems in January 2025.

“We had built an extremely flexible, scalable data infrastructure that allows advisors to bring in information from all of the technologies that they engage with. They also had an incredible investor experience and advisor user experience, so by purchasing Summit, we accelerated our work in both of those areas by over a year,” explains Wolfsen.

The same pressures are felt in more localized situations, where many individuals fear for their pensions. This concern has also affected Hot Lister 2025 Drew Boyer.

 

 

His firm, Boyer Financial Group, has a niche client base among pre-retiree public servants, such as firefighters and police officers in Ohio, and has seen annual growth rates of around 20 percent over the past five years. Boyer works diligently to help clients focus on long-term financial strategies rather than knee-jerk reactions to shocks.

“I try to keep them based on a financial plan, but it’s become more and more difficult,” he says.

One of the hallmarks of Boyer’s offerings that has come into focus recently is his expertise around retirement.

“We’re able to not only do their investment management and planning, but all these people who are still in the first responder community, they’re all lucky enough to have defined benefit plans. They all have pensions and there’s some irrevocable decisions that have to be made when you retire. And we help plan out their pension options.”

David Goldman, part of the Hot List 2025, is another winner making an impact for retirees. As chief business officer at Pontera, a secure platform for advisors to manage 401(k) accounts, he has played an integral role in launching the company’s second integration with Orion. It has enabled advisors to holistically manage held-away retirement accounts at scale, optimizing for asset location, improving quality of service, and boosting productivity.

 

 

“The past 12 months have been about collaboration and integration, making sure advisors can see and manage the full financial picture for their clients. For Pontera, that means enabling retirement accounts to sit alongside other assets in a way that feels seamless, secure, and valuable for both clients and firms,” says Goldman.

 

Naturally, all of the Hot Listers have explored AI and are using it where it brings benefit.

Diamond notes the importance of utilizing tech that is efficient and tailored to her firm’s needs. By using the Advyzon platform, GFP Private Wealth has introduced time-saving solutions such as a note taker and new tax software.

“It’s not good enough to have a tech stack. You’ve got to have penetration and utilization of it,” she says.

Understanding her team’s needs when it comes to issues like tech is a priority for Diamond as a leader.

“If you listen to your team – and I’m talking about every last person – they will tell you what’s going well and what’s not going well. Sometimes, no one’s ever asked them.”

Underlining the need to give clients what they want, Boyer built his client base by visiting fire halls and police stations. Though now much of his business comes through referrals, his initial in-person interactions set the tone.

Still, Boyer has adopted tech for the obvious benefit of giving him back more time for clients.

“We’re using as many AI tools as we possibly can use right now. I’m a hybrid advisor, but I’m mainly fee-based,” he says. “I work through LPL as my broker-dealer. We’re allowed to use Jump, which gets rid of some pain points, so I’ve leaned heavily on that.”

There’s also the significant impact that AI can have when it comes to determining patterns.

Wolfsen is positive about the amount of preparation work that AI has taken off advisors’ plates.

She explains, “We’re very focused on building agents on behalf of our advisors, so they don’t have to do that. It’s leveraging their data in a very privacy-aware way, so they get insights across their client base, and making sure that information is available in their CRM, so they don’t have to go looking for it. Most important to me is making sure it’s very easy for them to get these insights.”

 

JoAnn Seagren, partner at Chicago Capital LLC, feels the wealth professionals who have proven themselves in the recent turbulence, like those on IN’s Hot List 2025, are now in a place of strength.

She explains, “Geopolitical events have played a large and more direct role in economic activity. This has led many businesses and investors to adapt and adjust their approach. Significant value is placed on advisors who have had experience in highly volatile markets and are comfortable and calm dealing with various market cycles.”

While Mock urges more professionals to follow in the footsteps of the Hot Listers, as they have tapped into their true selves to explore and create new pathways forward for their clients.

“In order to continually deepen client relationships, you need to be your authentic self. People recognize and respond to that, and when you have a rock-solid relationship at a personal level, people naturally want to continue to do business with you.”

Importantly, those on the Hot List 2025 have not only enabled diversification and access to more sophisticated investments to clients in choppy waters, but have also used the period to pass on their knowledge.

Mike Bisaro, CEO of StraightLine, has devoted the last 12 months to mentoring the next generation.

Ironically, he was presenting to the Michigan State University Wealth Management Association on April 8, the day that capped the S&P 500’s steepest four days of losses since the index was created in the 1950s, following the tariff fallout.

“Over the past year, the mentoring aspect of what we’re doing has really defined our corner of the industry. It’s become central to how we grow, not just as a firm, but as individual professionals,” explains Bisaro. “Mentorship allows us to expand our capabilities beyond ourselves and ensures that knowledge and experience are carried forward. I see it as a responsibility to the broader industry.”

 

Top Financial Professionals in the US | Hot List