Office address: 200 W Madison, 25th Floor, Chicago, IL 60606
Website: hightoweradvisors.com
Year established: 2008
Company type: financial services
Employees: 1,700+ (2023)
Expertise: wealth management, investment planning, financial planning, retirement planning, 401(k) consulting, cash management, equity strategies, fixed income strategies, multi-asset portfolios, private market solutions
Parent company: N/A
Key people: Larry Restieri (CEO), Dan Berg (CFO), Stephanie Link (chief investment strategist), Jenn Anderson (CMO), Scott Hadley (chief advisory officer), Robert Lavigne (chief compliance officer), Jennifer Krevitt (CHRO)
Financing status: private equity-backed
Hightower Advisors is a registered investment advisor based in Chicago that focuses on wealth management. The firm serves individuals, foundations, and family offices with investment and retirement planning services. It oversees $350 billion in assets with 663 advisors in 33 states as of September 2025.
Hightower Advisors was founded in 2008 by Elliott Weissbluth, a former wirehouse executive with a vision. Weissbluth built the firm for advisors who wanted independence without the burden of running operations.
The company launched just before the 2009 financial crisis but managed to thrive during the disruption. Distrust in big brokerage firms helped fuel its early growth in wealth management.
The company shifted its business model over the years from an employee-based partnership to an acquirer. Weissbluth stepped down as CEO and Bob Oros took over in January 2019. Oros led Hightower through a period of growth and acquisitions over the next several years.
In 2024, Hightower made a strategic investment in Capital Management Group, a New York-based wealth management firm. The deal marked the company's first announced acquisition of the year after closing 12 deals in 2023.
The company entered a new phase in 2025 when Larry Restieri, a former Goldman Sachs executive, became CEO. Restieri replaced Oros, who stepped down after leading the firm since 2019.
It then launched Hightower Signature Wealth as a national direct-to-consumer advisory practice. Dallas-based Frontier Investment Management became the first firm to rebrand under this new platform.
Hightower Advisors combines institutional asset management capabilities with boutique-level service and accessibility:
The company also offers advisors the choice to maintain their own brand or join Hightower Signature Wealth. It provides operational support, lead generation, and investment capabilities powered by Chief Investment Strategist Stephanie Link.
Hightower states that it looks for professionals with strong ethics and long-term focus. The culture prioritizes professional development, hard work, and client care. Its principles include:
The company also describes its workplace as fast-paced and future-focused. It offers collaborative work days with catered meals and other perks:
The firm extends opportunities to students through internships in operations, planning, and client services. Interns receive hands-on training within Hightower's fiduciary culture.
Larry Restieri serves as CEO and board member at Hightower since joining in June 2025. Restieri previously spent 25 years at Goldman Sachs, where he led the AYCO wealth planning business. He holds a bachelor's degree from Harvard and a Juris Doctor from Fordham University School of Law.
Hightower's executive leadership team supports Restieri in guiding the firm's direction:
This leadership team sets the strategic direction for Hightower. They work together to help advisors strengthen client relationships and grow their practices.
The company partnered with Pontera, a retirement-focused fintech, in January 2025 to help advisors manage client 401(k) accounts. The integration allows advisors to provide more complete service across tax, investment, and estate planning. This strategy supports its mission of delivering customized retirement solutions to its clients.
Beyond retirement tools, Hightower Advisors is also expanding its advisor network through Signature Wealth. The firm added five advisory practices to the brand, bringing total assets to over $20 billion across 19 locations. The brand gives the company a way to bring in smaller practices and scale its operations.
LPL, Hightower, UBS among the firms losing advisor teams in latest moves
Wealth.com and Shaping Wealth have also tapped other industry heavyweights to beef up their own advisory boards.
The $325 billion RIA giant is building its first centralized investment management platform, with an industry veteran taking on a newly created role.
Touchstone Investments president Ben Alge outlines the three metrics the ETF seller prioritizes before AUM when directing its sales approach to RIAs, as the firm prioritizes the top-30 aggregators.
Meanwhile, Merchant is continuing to expand its support for RIAs by partnering with a South Dakota-chartered trust company.
CEO Allen Darby sees a coming shift in M&A dynamics as AI eliminates clerical roles at RIAs, leaving buyers and sellers to negotiate who benefits from the added margin.
The specialists formerly affiliated with Citizens will bridge a gap among much-needed objective expertise to independent RIAs and their business owner clients. "The client business owner today ... does not have access to objective and independent valuation services," co-founder Tim Bello told InvestmentNews.
Hadley, whose time at Goldman included working with newly appointed CEO Larry Restieri, will lead the firm's efforts at advisor engagement, growth initiatives, and practice management support.
The latest firm to adopt the Carson Wealth brand in Colorado marks the RIA's 15th deal in 2025 while adding $608 million in assets.
The $12 billion hybrid RIA Concurrent Investment Advisors will target RIAs between $200M-$500M in assets.
Transactions have slowed according to recent data as industry insider warns that the trip doesn't always match the brochure when minority investors come onboard.
Multi-billion-dollar firms announce changes to management.
Celebrating the best independent financial advisors for the exceptional quality of service and support they provide to clients
"We are making sure to pivot away from companies disproportionately exposed to the lower-end consumer," says F.L.Putnam's Ellen Hazen, as her RIA's investment strategy prepares to react to proposed cuts to medicaid and SNAP.
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.
