Office address: 444 West Lake Street, Suite 4700, Chicago, IL 60606, US
Website: cressetcapital.com
Year established: 2017
Company type: financial services
Employees: 425+
Expertise: private wealth management, family office services, tax strategy and planning, estate and trust planning, private investment opportunities, concentrated stock and diversification strategies, liquidity and exit planning
Parent company: Cresset Capital Management, LLC
Key people: Susie Cranston (president), Eric Becker and Avy Stein (co-founders), Doug Regan (co-chair), Mike Silverman (CIO), Jack Ablin (chief investment strategist), Amy Hong (COO)
Financing status: privately held
Cresset Asset Management (CAM) is an SEC-registered investment advisor and multi-family office based in Chicago. The company offers private wealth management, tax planning, estate strategies, and access to private market investments. It reports more than $77 billion in AUM as of January 1, 2026.
This profile will also refer to Cresset Asset Management simply as "Cresset," as distinct from its parent organization.
The parent company, Cresset Capital Management (CCM), was created in 2017 by private equity veterans Eric Becker and Avy Stein. Becker had recently lost his daughter to leukemia, and Stein had stepped back from his firm after a Stage 4 lymphoma diagnosis. Those experiences led them to rethink how their families' wealth should be managed.
After that, they found that their own wealth managers lacked strong private investment access and long-term family planning. Cresset Asset Management was then formed as the SEC-registered advisory arm of CCM that same year.
CAM moved quickly from day one. The company recruited top advisors from Goldman Sachs, Bank of America Private Bank, and other major institutions to build its advisory base. It also pursued acquisitions early, starting with:
-- PagnatoKarp ($2.3 billion) in 2020
-- Berman Capital Advisors ($4.7 billion) in 2021
-- Meristem Family Wealth in 2022
By the end of that run, CAM managed more than $27 billion in assets.
The company kept that pace going in the years that followed. In 2024, it acquired The Connable Office, a Kalamazoo family office with a history stretching back more than 130 years. The firm also acquired CH Investment Partners, a Dallas-based organization.
CCM's affiliated private markets arm, Cresset Partners, rebranded as Peakline Partners to build its own identity while continuing to serve CAM clients.
A big move came in that same year when Cresset Asset Management partnered with Monticello Associates, a Denver-based independent investment advisory firm.
The combined entity brought together almost $200 billion in assets and added Monticello's three decades of investment advisory experience to CAM's platform. Cresset remains client- and employee-owned, with a stated goal of building a company that lasts 100 years.
Cresset Asset Management provides investment advisory and wealth planning services as the SEC-registered advisory arm of CCM:
CAM also advises athletes and entertainers under its Cresset Sports & Entertainment trade name. Trust administration is handled by affiliated entity The Connable Office.
Cresset Asset Management centers its culture around shared ownership, transparency, and what it calls "reinventing the way people experience wealth." The firm supports this through its client-and-employee ownership model. Its True Fiduciary Standards also bind CAM to always put client interests first.
The company builds its team culture around four pillars:
CAM describes itself as a people-first firm that treats employees as its core assets. It backs this up with a competitive benefits package for full-time staff:
Cresset Asset Management follows an equal employment opportunity (EEO) policy that covers race, sex, age, and other protected categories. It also complies with disability accommodation laws for both applicants and current employees.
Susie Cranston serves as president of Cresset Asset Management. Cranston previously held the role of COO at First Republic Bank, where she started in 2013. She holds an engineering degree and an MBA from Stanford University.
Working closely with Cranston are the co-founders and CAM's executive team:
Cresset Asset Management's leadership team states that its focus is on long-term growth and client service across generations.
Cresset Asset Management's Jack Ablin shared the firm's approach to portfolio risk in 2025. He explained that the company uses public market tools like gold and bond rebalancing to manage downside risk.
For growth, it turns to private markets through opportunities like pre-IPO deals and debt plays. This approach shows how CAM plans to help its clients build long-term returns on both sides of the market.
On top of that, the company picked up a spot on InvestmentNews' Top Independent High-Net-Worth Advisors list in 2025. The merit-based ranking looks at SEC filings, AUM data, and client base size to identify top RIAs across the US. CAM was recognized in the Midwest region, which adds to its growing track record as an advisory firm for wealthy families.
MOEs can turn into a "very morbid discussion for a leadership team," says Merit's M&A executive David Wahlen, highlighting the tough choices RIAs face as they chase the scale of mega-firms.
An advisor trio has also splintered off from Raymond James to another firm in Florida, while Janney adds $800 million in assets with a double addition.
Under a newly created position, Leshinsky will lead Cresset’s national strategy for attracting top advisory teams as the firm expands its executive ranks and surpasses $78 billion in assets.
Co-founder Pat Collins tells InvestmentNews of his 'strong feeling' that a employee-owned approach will lead to better outcomes.
"We've seen two so far, and it feels like something that the industry has been talking about for years," Turkey Hill Management's Jessica Polito says following the recent Cresset-Monticello and MAI-Evoke Advisors mergers, which could be a sign of future consolidation among large RIAs.
Decision deepens the two firms' decade-long relationship.
The Chicago-based RIA and multi-family office promoted industry veterans, including one of its founding partners, as its new investment and operating chiefs.
The private capital provider looks to make good on its promise as a lifecycle partner to advisors as it hires the former M&A head at Hightower Advisors.
The Chicago-based firm overseeing $65 billion in client assets has ramped up its allocation as erratic turns in the Trump administration's trade policy roils markets.
The privately held bank has onboarded an experienced veteran as it looks to boost support for UHNW clients and the wealth firms in its extended network.
The veteran leader from Cresset will support Emigrant's network of high-net-worth advisory firms and specialty platforms.
Cresset's Susie Cranston is expecting an economic recession, but says her $65 billion RIA sees "great opportunity" to keep investing in a down market.
The $8 billion RIA is getting more fuel for geographic expansion and recruit top talent through a minority investment partnership.
Perigon Wealth Management adds four partners through its internal equity track, while Lenox Advisors elevates two experienced leaders amid national expansion plans.
InvestmentNews presents the Top Independent High-Net-Worth Advisors from across the US
