Orion, one of many main suppliers of wealth administration expertise to bigger RIAs, is buying Summit Wealth Programs, a next-generation portfolio administration and reporting platform and appointing Reed Colley, its co-founder and CEO, as President of Orion Advisor Expertise.
Colley will report back to Orion CEO Natalie Wolfsen and change Brian McLaughlin, who stepped down in August.
The deal’s monetary phrases weren’t disclosed, however the transaction is predicted to shut in early 2025. Summit’s 12 workers will be part of Orion, and the model will, for now, reside on inside Orion.
Regardless of the excellent news and notable business wins (for instance, Seattle-based RIA Brighton Jones signed an settlement with Summit in January), the atmosphere for gross sales of wealth administration platforms has been difficult, and Summit has not been immune to those headwinds, in response to business specialists.
This could particularly be the case for advisory companies that make portfolio accounting and administration platforms the core of their operations. The advantages of investing in a brand new and trendy platform incessantly don’t justify the price of changing current techniques.
Requested concerning the present local weather and the way Summit has been faring when it comes to gross sales, Colley declined to reply straight.
“It may be powerful if you find yourself constructing one thing—there’s a lot you propose for and so much you don’t—however on the finish of the day, in constructing Summit, my goal was to construct one thing that might have an ideal influence on the business,” mentioned Colley
Requested whether or not the acquisition duplicates a important quantity of the expertise Orion already sells, CEO Natalie Wolfsen, whom WealthManagement.com interviewed through an internet video name on the identical time, responded, “No.”
“I don’t consider it as duplicative,” she mentioned, noting that Orion has a really broad set of applied sciences that serve advisory companies and that these companies are extra selective when deciding on a platform.
“Like every expertise, for those who don’t innovate, you’ll fall behind,” Wolfsen mentioned. Buying the fashionable tech stack accessible inside Summit could be a approach to convey collectively the very best in portfolio accounting and reporting, she mentioned.
Summit Wealth Programs was based by Colley (who additionally based Black Diamond, later acquired by Creation) in 2020. It was constructed from scratch in Java Script to benefit from the most recent cloud-native applied sciences and make its consumer interface each extensible and interactive.
The platform combines a holistic visible stability sheet, wealth modeling, and monetary planning, as effectively as advisor-client collaboration instruments, portfolio administration and efficiency reporting.
A part of what has impressed advisors with the platform is its collaborative elements. One instance is its Wealth Journey module, which by default shows a protracted arc line graph of a consumer’s portfolio over time that is filled with interactive information. This permits an advisor to work with purchasers and intuitively illustrate their previous and current whereas reviewing or planning for the long run.
Summit gained WealthManagement.com Business Awards in 2022 and 2023 within the Business Disruptor and Revolutionary New Apps classes.
“Reed is a visionary, progressive, extremely skilled chief with a deep dedication to serving to wealth companies, monetary advisors and buyers thrive in at the moment’s dynamic atmosphere,” Wolfsen mentioned of Colley within the assertion saying the deal.
