Aspiriant

Office address: 11100 Santa Monica Blvd, Fifth Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90025
Website: aspiriant.com
Year established: 2008
Company type: financial services
Employees: 230+
Expertise: investment management, tax planning, wealth planning, risk management, estate planning, strategic philanthropy, family office services, retirement planning, accounting and banking, insurance planning
Parent company: N/A
Key people: Rob Francais (CEO), John Allen (CIO), Sandi Bragar (chief client officer), Doug Hendrickson (CFO), Lynne Born (chief practice officer), Summer Hammons (chief people officer), Helen Dietz (managing director)
Financing status: employee-owned

Aspiriant is an independent wealth management firm headquartered in Los Angeles. The firm is 100 percent employee-owned, with about a third of its 230+ staff holding ownership stakes. It manages about $17 billion in assets and serves over 2,200 clients with wealth planning, investment management, and family office services.

History of Aspiriant

According to the company, the concept behind Aspiriant started in the late 1990s during a wave of new wealth across the US. It said that most financial advice at the time came from banks and brokerages paid through product sales.

Few independent advisory firms had the scale to serve affluent families on a long-term basis. Rob Francais and a group of co-founders, including Tim Kochis, Linda Fitz, and Bob Wagman, saw this gap and started building what would become Aspiriant.

Founding and growth through mergers

In 2008, LA-based Quintile Wealth Management and San Francisco-based Kochis Fitz merged to form Aspiriant. The combined firm adopted 100 percent employee ownership and registered with the SEC as a fiduciary. Along with Stenson Financial, the firm brought in more like-minded practices over the following years:

• Deloitte Investment Advisors (2010): added national presence in cities like New York, Boston, and Minneapolis
• Hokanson Associates (2015): San Diego-based firm
• The Glowacki Group (2016): LA-based firm focused on ultra-high-net-worth families
• Stanford Investment Group (2017): Silicon Valley-based wealth advisory firm
• HearthStone Private Wealth Management (2021): San Diego-based firm with about $350 million in assets
• Murray, Stok & Company (2022): San Francisco-based boutique tax services firm

First decade of operations

Over its first 10 years, Aspiriant expanded its offices, team, and service offerings across the US. The company also created six not-for-profit investment vehicles that pool client assets to lower costs. These vehicles gave individual clients access to institutional-grade investment opportunities.

Aspiriant’s recognition by InvestmentNews

In 2023, the company ranked sixth in the “Top 25 Fee-Only Firms in the West” category of InvestmentNews’ Top Regional Fee-Only RIAs list. The ranking was based on SEC-filed data and required firms to be fully fee-only with no broker-dealer ties or commission income. The result placed Aspiriant among the largest independent, fee-only RIAs in the western US.

The next year, InvestmentNews featured the firm again, this time on its Top Independent High-Net-Worth Advisors list in the West category. The selection was merit-based, drawn from independent data on companies managing at least $100 million in AUM.

Growth without outside capital

Since then, Aspiriant has added more advisory practices. As of early 2026, it manages about $17 billion in total assets.

The company also has more than 230 employees, with over 80 holding partner status. It serves clients in more than 45 states without private equity or outside corporate backing.

Aspiriant products and services

The firm offers two main service tracks built around wealth planning and investment management:

Total Wealth Management

• wealth planning: long-term financial goal setting and plan creation
• investment management: globally diversified, value-oriented portfolio strategies
• tax planning: tax-conscious strategies rooted in the firm’s CPA background
• estate planning: multi-generational wealth transfer guidance
• risk management: insurance review and risk assessment
• philanthropy: charitable giving and foundation guidance
• ongoing execution: day-to-day implementation across life transitions

Exclusive Family Office

• strategic philanthropy: structured charitable planning for ultra-high-net-worth families
• accounting and banking: bill payment, cash management, and financial statements
• enhanced reporting: consolidated reporting across all assets and accounts
• tax compliance: tax return preparation and filing
• family governance and education: multi-generational planning and family decision-making support

The firm also manages six not-for-profit investment vehicles that give individual clients access to institutional-grade opportunities. It serves as the investment advisor to the Aspiriant Affiliated Mutual Funds, which include both open-end and interval funds.

Culture and corporate values

Aspiriant describes its culture as team-first and built around shared ownership. It lists five principles:

• 100 percent employee ownership
• diversity, inclusion, and belonging (DIB)
• continuous improvement
• clients of the firm, not of one advisor
• thinking beyond convention

The company says it offers a collaborative work environment with hybrid arrangements across its 10 US offices. Stated employee benefits include:

• health insurance: up to 95 percent company contribution; medical, dental, and vision coverage
• disability and support: short-term and long-term disability, employee assistance program
• time off: paid holidays, bereavement, PTO, jury duty, and parental leave
• financial: 401(k) with company match, bonus program, commuter spending account
• professional development: continuing education assistance program, legal services

On top of employee benefits, the firm hired chief people officer Summer Hammons in 2021 to focus on retention and growth. It also launched the Aspiriant Impact Scholarship in 2022 to promote diversity in the wealth management industry.

About CEO Rob Francais and key people

Rob Francais is the co-founder and CEO of Aspiriant and sits on its board of directors. Francais previously co-founded Quintile Wealth Management, one of the nine firms that merged to form the company in 2008. He started his career in financial planning in 1988 and later served as a tax partner at Deloitte & Touche. Francais holds a BS from UCLA.

Other members of Aspiriant’s leadership team include:

• John Allen, CFA, CAIA as CIO
• Sandi Bragar, CFP as chief client officer
• Doug Hendrickson, MBA as CFO
• Lynne Born as chief practice officer
• Summer Hammons, PHR as chief people officer
• Helen Dietz, CFP as managing director in Total Wealth Management and board member

The leadership team covers investment management, client services, operations, compliance, and HR. Many hold professional designations such as CFA, CFP, CPA, and more.

The future at Aspiriant

Aspiriant ended a four-year merger gap in 2021 by bringing in San Diego-based HearthStone Private Wealth Management. The firm said it had avoided deals during that stretch because private equity had pushed RIA prices too high. Shortly after, it also merged with Murray, Stok & Company, a San Francisco-based boutique tax services firm, in 2022.

Beyond M&A, the firm has also invested in its internal culture. Apart from hiring Summer Hammons and launching the Aspiriant Impact Scholarship, it formed a DIB committee with members from front-line staff to executives. The committee shapes DIB-related policies and procedures across the company.

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