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Podcast Intro
Here at Ezra Group, we’re experts on everything wealthtech, including CRM, portfolio management, trading, rebalancing, performance reporting, just to name a few. When we start working with an RIA or broker dealer, the first thing we do is a comprehensive tech stack assessment. This provides a top to bottom view of all systems and processes, and it’s a critical part of the firm’s growth plan, since the tech stack is the foundation for building towards the future.
So if you’d like to see your tech stack converted from a liability into an asset you need to run not walk to our website, EzraGroup.com, and click on the golden Contact Us button at the top of the homepage, the experienced team at Ezra Group will conduct a detailed tech stack assessment for you, delivering targeted recommendations that will optimize your existing software platforms. Or we can run an RFP process and help you select and then implement a new solution to help take your firm to the next level. You can schedule a free consultation by going to EzraGroup.com.
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Now let’s kick this thing off!
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Episode Transcript
Craig: I’m excited to introduce our next guest. This is Stan Gregor, Chairman and CEO of Summit Financial Holdings. Stan, welcome to the program.
Stan: Thank you, Craig. Thank you. Thanks for having me.
Craig: I’m glad you could be here. We’re recording this quickly. This is going out Thanksgiving week and recording Thanksgiving week. We’re turning it around in a day, so this is going to be out immediately. Very topical. Where are you headed for Thanksgiving?
Summit’s Role in the High-Net-Worth Wealth Management Space
Stan: I’ll be in New York City. Looking forward to it. That sounds excellent.
Craig: I’m headed to Maryland. We’re going in opposite directions, but we managed to meet before that for this podcast recording. I appreciate that. So let’s get it kicked off. Can you please give us a 30-second elevator pitch for Summit?
Stan: For Summit, yes. Summit is a 43-year-old wealth management company that services advisors with clients that are high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth families. It’s a family office service model.
Stan: There are five companies under Summit. There’s an RIA that does traditional investment management work. We have a financial planning company, we have an insurance general agency. We have a technology company. And we have a global marketing company.
Stan: So all five under one chassis, catering to helping advisors serve their clients and grow their practice.
Craig: That’s excellent. What made you see the need to create those five separate companies?
Stan: Craig, I’ve been around this industry for quite a while, and every one of the larger firms I worked with had departments rather than companies, and I think there’s a difference. Many departments were less experienced, younger, and lacked the breadth and depth their specialty should have.
Stan: So we made a conscious decision to work with some of the smartest people out there, and the best partners in technology, investment management, and marketing. We teamed up and acquired a stake in a global marketing company to have those resources. Bringing those resources in-house made a big difference in controlling the experience and quality. The numbers in the last five or six years speak for themselves. They’ve been explosive.
Craig: That’s what I was thinking. Most firms have departments rather than separate companies, and it makes sense to do it your way. Clearly the results speak for themselves. Thank you.
Stan: All right, so let’s jump to tech.
Designing Summit’s Integrated Tech Stack
Craig: Give us a quick overview of Summit’s tech stack.
Stan: About eight or nine years ago, we looked at the industry and how advisors service their clients. What information do they get at their fingertips? Everywhere, there seemed to be a very bifurcated approach. At traditional bulge-bracket firms, which I spent decades working at, we had technology put together with legacy systems, not streamlined, not innovative, and user experience was lacking.
Stan: We didn’t want legacy issues. So we started with a clean campus. We were not going to become the next Microsoft or Salesforce. So we created a technology company that works with the best technologies in the industry and built an internal team. That’s where resources and capital are spent — bringing in internal software engineers to make technology synchronize.
Stan: In the independent space, there are many technologies an advisor can access, but they act like desktop icons — moving from application to application, separate logins, and information rarely syncing. You’re cutting and pasting or repeating work. So we built an internal ecosystem where all technologies bridge into one system.
Stan: Every quarter we add more technology companies. Probably 30+ today are speaking to each other — custodians, trading tools, performance reporting tools, rebalancing, financial planning, and more. It’s one ecosystem, single sign-on, and synchronizes with custodians and with each other.
Craig: Having all that together is the goal for any wealth firm. Certainly firms we work with want exactly that, and you’ve already built it. Give us the rundown. What tools and technologies are in the stack?
Stan: There are probably 30+ tools. We added a new set this last quarter. CRM is one of the most important areas. We use Salesforce and Redtail for performance reporting, we have Addepar, for trading tools, Tamarac, for financial planning, MoneyGuidePro and eMoney.
Stan: We constantly look for different players. Who’s doing what? Who’s doing it well? Is there a better way? And it’s all integrated. As an advisor, you have the whole ecosystem at your fingertips — document management, AI tools for documentation, call recording, retirement planning tools, lead generation, and more.
Craig: That’s a powerful tech stack. We’ve built some of those connections for firms ourselves. What made you pick those specifically — like choosing Addepar for reporting and Tamarac for trading?
Stan: Each has a different story. Addepar, to me, was the Ferrari with the rocket ship. It can be a simple five-page report or a complex 200-page multi-family office report. We went through each technology and looked at their specialties. We have an in-house team that researches functionality, capabilities, APIs, and cyber.
Stan: When we like something, we put it through the Summit Lab. Engineers kick the tires and make sure everything they promise is real — which is sometimes half the problem in this space. We evaluate service levels, client experience, advisor experience. It’s a large team that tests and maintains everything.
Craig: Many wealth firms don’t realize choosing technology is just the start. They say, “We bought the CRM, so we’re done.” Implementation, support, training, integration — without those, you’re wasting money.
Stan: Yes. There’s a phrase in tech sales: “This is turnkey.” I’ll give you an analogy. You order a Ferrari, and the UPS guy shows up with 500 boxes. You ask, “What is this?”
Craig: “Well, there’s your Ferrari. Go put it together.”
Stan: That’s how many technologies operate. You have the core, but how do you make it work? How do you make it integrate? How do you maintain it? That’s where the heavy lifting happens. It’s complex.
Craig: We hear the same thing from wealth firms. “They told us it was turnkey.” I always say, if vendor software worked half as well as promised, we’d be out of business at Ezra Group. But they don’t. Before we go too far, let’s talk about Summit Labs.
Stan: Summit Labs sits under the tech infrastructure.
Craig: What other types of work does Summit Labs do? Do you build your own integrations? Any custom software?
Stan: We don’t replicate the best of the best. We’re not creating the next Office suite. But we do create a technology portal and ecosystem. It’s single sign-on with cyber protection and encryption. Within that ecosystem, technologies are brought in to ensure they function, connect, and synchronize. There’s a lot of custom proprietary programming internally to make it work, but we are not creating proprietary technologies for advisors to use with clients.
Craig: Got it. These vendors do this full-time. You’re not in software; you’re in financial services. Let them do their job and you do yours.
Stan: Correct.
Craig: You mentioned custodians earlier. What is the current AUM at Summit?
Stan: We probably have close to $25 billion on our ecosystem, maybe a little higher, and another $3–$4 billion committed that will join in the next few months.
Craig: Excellent. And custodians — I’m sure you have several?
Stan: We have all the majors: Fidelity, Schwab, Goldman Sachs, Pershing, SEI, First Clearing.
Craig: That must cause difficulties managing the ecosystem with money spread across multiple custodians.
Stan: Craig, my tech group and ops group can’t stand me for that reason.
Craig: Would you pick one and stick with it? Come on, Stan.
Stan: It’s easier with one, but when I ran previous businesses, clients wanted diversification. That’s critical. Also, we’re a partnership. We want to make it seamless for new partners, and not force them to move custodians.
Stan: So yes, it’s more work for Summit’s tech team, but better for advisors and clients. We’re custodial-agnostic. All custodians have full functionality in the tech stack.
Managing Innovation Across a Growing National Platform
Craig: That leads to my next question. With all this tech, new tools, new assets, and over 150 advisors in 23 states — how do you balance innovation with operational realities?
Stan: We’re closer to 175 advisors and 25 states. We have a detailed process: a technology innovation committee made up of advisors and the internal tech team. We meet, share what we’re seeing, test ideas, and ask advisors what they’re seeing.
Stan: Some of our best tech ideas come from that group. Advisors hear what’s going on in the marketplace; tech attends conferences and reads white papers. It’s ongoing, with learnings every quarter.
Craig: Excellent. That’s what we recommend to every wealth management firm — this kind of committee. How often do they meet and what responsibility do they have in decision-making?
Stan: There’s a rotating chair every quarter. The head of technology participates. If an idea is curated, it’s tested in the lab to ensure it’s safe, delivers value, and isn’t a drag.
Craig: Another thing we recommend is talking to your vendors. With 30+ vendors, this committee gives you a point of contact. If you don’t engage your vendors, you’re not getting full value.
Stan: Agreed.
Craig: With all your technology and teams, where have you seen the greatest ROI in advisor efficiency and client experience?
Stan: It’s not a single technology. It’s the culmination. We lead with planning. Financial planning tools are where it begins and ends. CRM is the hub of data. Then portfolio design, stress testing, trading, rebalancing, research — all of them matter.
Stan: No single tech wins the game. It’s the full team.
Craig: When you talk about portfolio design and stress testing, do you have centralized investment management or do advisors build portfolios?
Stan: Both. Advisors can act as portfolio managers. We also have a collaboration model where advisors work with Summit’s CIO team. And we have a channel for outsourcing to third-party managers and SMAs.
Craig: Excellent. You’re an RIA but operate like an IBD. Being a partnership, you cater to advisors. Technology has to be something they want to use. How do you balance partnering with vendors versus building in-house?
Stan: That’s the art of partnership. Internally, we work with advisors on what they need — not what sounds good but what works. Externally, we structure fair partnerships: pricing, support, maintenance, training, innovation. Collaboration is essential.
Craig: Some businesses survive despite themselves. But I want to congratulate you — fourth consecutive year on the Barron’s 2025 Top 100 RIA list. Congratulations. Thank you.
Craig: How does tech help your recruiting pipeline against so many well-funded competitors?
Stan: There’s a lot of money out there. Access to capital isn’t the issue. Our model is the value-add mothership. That’s what we’ve been doing for 40+ years, and the last five years we turbocharged it with technology.
Stan: We’ve grown 7x in assets in five years. Technology moved advisors from manual reactive models to automated digital models. Efficiency and access to information have skyrocketed. Our robust tech stack supports million-dollar to multi-billion-dollar clients. It’s been paramount.
Craig: Ezra Group has a huge integration research group. We measure integration of every app on the Kitces-Ezra Group AdvisorTech Map — over 600 apps. How important is integration to Summit?
Stan: It’s critically important. Square peg, round hole doesn’t work. It has to work smart and deliver what it promises. Ongoing support, maintenance, and training matter as much as the initial setup.
The Rise of AI and Its Impact on Advisor Efficiency
Craig: Coming to the end. Quick AI questions. What AI tools are you using, and are they game changers?
Stan: They’re still new, but we’re seeing strong results on documents, calendaring, task management, lead generation. They create efficiency and provide research summaries fast — work that used to take days. AI tools are already in multiple sides of the business. We rolled out 13 new technologies last quarter and AI was in many. We’re testing more in the lab: advisor lead gen, client lead gen, research summaries, reviewing trust and estate documents.
Craig: Sounds like you’re covering every hot category. Any note takers or AI assistants you can share?
Stan: We have Copilot, Teams Premium, Jump AI, WealthFeed for lead generation, AI Identified, Pontera, Absolute Capital, Wealth.com, Fintrex, Move Health.
Craig: That’s fast. A lot of great tools. Do you see AI changing the nature of advisor work?
Stan: I do. Advisors are picking up six to ten hours a week that used to be administrative or research related. If you gain an extra day a week, results improve. Advisors embracing our tech stack are growing much faster than those doing things the old-fashioned way.
Craig: Technology improves every year, and the difference becomes more pronounced. You’d think everyone would adopt it.
Stan: They are. Advisors share best practices. Later adopters are shifting, and many are now vocal advocates after seeing the benefits.
Craig: Stan, time is making fools of us again. We’re out. That was fast.
Stan: Thank you for being here.
Craig: Where can advisors listening learn more about Summit Financial?
Stan: You can go to our website, summitfinancial.com, located in Parsippany, New Jersey.
Craig: Beautiful Parsippany, New Jersey. We could have done this podcast in person.
Stan: Oh my God, yes.
Craig: We’ll do it next time. We’ll find someplace and do a full New Jersey podcast. Stan, thanks for being here. Really appreciate it.
Stan: Thank you, Craig. Have a wonderful day.
Conclusion
Summit Financial’s growth story reflects a broader shift across wealth management: firms that invest early in integration, data connectivity, and advisor-centric technology are pulling ahead of those still operating with fragmented systems. By combining a multi-company structure with a disciplined technology-testing framework and early-stage AI adoption, Summit illustrates what a modern advisory platform can look like. For RIAs, broker-dealers, and enterprise firms planning their next stage of evolution, this episode offers a practical roadmap for building scale while improving advisor efficiency and client experience.
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