The region’s standout firms are building integrated, relationship-first practices shaped by the communities they serve
By Chris Sweeney
Across the East, leading registered investment advisors (RIAs) are growing by broadening the scope of their advice rather than chasing the latest investment trends. This report looks at firms across the 11 states that make up the East. Each is building a practice around the entirety of a client’s financial life while being shaped by the economic story of its region.
At Capital A Management, LLC, which has offices in Pennsylvania and Ohio, director of growth and strategic execution Lauren Perrotta says the firm’s Western Pennsylvania roots have shaped its character. “There is a strong sense of community here, and people value relationships, trust, and knowing that the people helping them with their finances truly understand them and their families,” she says.
The region’s large population of retirees and near-retirees aligns well with the firm’s focus. In 2025, 21 percent of Pennsylvanians were aged 65 or older, and the state’s 65-plus population grew by 13 percent between 2020 and 2025, according to the Pennsylvania State Data Center. Perrotta notes that these clients face decisions that extend far beyond investments, from income and taxes to healthcare and legacy planning.
“We don’t believe financial planning should happen in silos,” Perrotta says. “Everything is connected.” Capital A has built its model around five areas: income, investments, taxes, healthcare, and legacy planning. It has brought tax planning and preparation, along with Medicare planning, in-house so advisors can see more of each client’s financial picture. On the investment side, the firm emphasizes tax-efficient strategies such as tax-loss harvesting, direct indexing where appropriate, Roth conversion planning, and asset location.
In Rochester, NY, William J. Prentice II, managing partner of Prentice Wealth Management, built his firm against a backdrop of economic change. Prentice says the region’s corporate and industrial employment base has changed considerably over the years, leaving many residents facing downsizing, career changes, and early retirement decisions.
“Our job was often to help someone take what felt like a negative near-term event and put it into the context of a much longer financial life,” he says.
That history shaped the firm’s client base in two ways. Clients who relocated, or whose children did, pushed the firm to plan across different states and tax jurisdictions. Meanwhile, workers who became consultants, business owners, and real estate investors made entrepreneurs a core part of the firm’s clientele.
Prentice credits the past year’s success to work ethic. “I’ve always believed there will be someone smarter, faster, or with access to better technology, but allowing someone to outwork you is a choice,” he says. He describes the firm’s goal as delivering the breadth and personal involvement of a family-office relationship to a broader group of families.
His investment approach rests on Modern Portfolio Theory, diversification, and appropriate risk allocation. It is deliberately unflashy.
Both winners are looking to expand what their firms offer clients while keeping the human relationship at the center.
“The future of Capital A is about impact,” Perrotta says. The firm’s ambition goes beyond managing money. “We want to become the place our clients can turn whenever they face an important financial decision,” she adds. Having already integrated investment management, retirement income planning, tax planning and preparation, healthcare and Medicare planning, and legacy planning, Capital A wants to make those services even more connected while continuing to add capabilities that make clients’ financial lives easier.
Perrotta sees technology and AI as tools to strengthen the advisor-client relationship rather than replace it. The wider industry is moving in the same direction: 83 percent of RIAs surveyed for Schwab’s 2026 RIA Benchmarking Study said they use some form of AI, most commonly for administrative tasks. She expects technology to help the firm identify opportunities sooner, deliver more personalized advice, and free the team to spend more time on the conversations that matter most. The yardstick, she says, is how clients feel. “If we can give people that level of clarity, confidence, and peace of mind, that is how we will measure the future success of Capital A.”
For Prentice, the next chapter is about “thoughtful expansion by doubling down on what got us here.” Growth will come through two channels: the firm’s core private client business and its network of affiliated independent advisors.
Geographically, the firm is preparing to open its first office outside the Northeast, in Fort Mill, SC, a suburb of Charlotte, NC. Prentice says the move is driven largely by clients, as a meaningful number of families have relocated to the Carolinas over the years. The data supports that trend: South Carolina was New York’s third-largest source of net migration loss in 2024, behind only Florida and New Jersey, according to Cornell University’s Program on Applied Demographics. He adds that the new office will also serve as a model for evaluating future locations.
AI will be another area of significant investment, deployed with close attention to security and privacy. “Paradoxically, I think better technology will make being a genuinely human advisor even more important,” Prentice says. “Technology can make us faster and more capable, but trust, judgment, empathy, and accountability remain human responsibilities.”
Scale, he stresses, is not the aim in itself. “Growth for growth’s sake has never been the goal. We need to grow without diluting the client experience.”
For the East’s leading RIAs, the portfolio is only one part of the job. The plan comes first.
