Office address: 1230 Peachtree Street NE, Suite 1800, Atlanta, GA 30309
Website: signaturefd.com
Year established: 1997
Company type: financial services
Employees: 140+
Expertise: investment management, wealth management, financial planning, retirement planning, tax strategy, executive compensation, estate planning, generosity and philanthropic planning, risk management, private equity
Parent company: Frazier & Deeter
Key people: Heather Robertson Fortner (CEO), David Fisher and Doug Liptak (co-founders), Tony Welch (chief investment officer), Margaret Huang Casey (COO), Laura Hubbell (chief information officer), Ashley Corban (chief financial and people officer)
Financing status: privately held
SignatureFD, LLC is an SEC-registered wealth advisory firm based in Atlanta, with a second office in Charlotte. The company manages over $10 billion in assets and serves more than 1,900 high-net-worth families as of 2025. It runs eight specialized divisions for clients like executives, healthcare professionals, attorneys, and business owners.
The company now known as SignatureFD started in 1997 in Georgia as a wealth-focused practice under CPA firm Frazier & Deeter. It was co-founded by David Fisher and Doug Liptak, who both arrived at Frazier & Deeter in 1993.
The practice built its early client base around wealthy families and private business owners, the same group both co-founders served at Frazier & Deeter. It carried the "FD" in its name as a nod to its CPA roots.
The firm registered with the SEC as an investment advisor in 2001. It then adopted the name Signature Financial Design around 2005 to set itself apart from Frazier & Deeter. SignatureFD repositioned the "FD" in its name to stand for "Financial Design" after the change.
SignatureFD appointed Heather Robertson Fortner as CEO in October 2020, its first leader outside the founding team. The firm also kept co-founders Fisher and Liptak on the board as they stepped into other roles. It had about $4 billion in assets when Fortner took the role.
The company expanded beyond Atlanta with a second office in Charlotte in 2019. It then hit $10 billion in total assets by October 2025.
During that growth, SignatureFD landed on InvestmentNews' 2024 Best Places to Work for Financial Advisors list in the US. This award recognizes firms that go beyond pay to keep advisors engaged and confident in their leadership.
SignatureFD also received multiple recognitions in 2025:
Top Independent High-Net-Worth Advisors 2025 Hover or tap for details
Top Wealth Professionals | Hot List Hover or tap to see honoreeThe firm provides wealth advisory services through a planning framework it calls Net Worthwhile built around four pillars – grow, protect, give, and live:
The company manages three affiliated private funds through its subsidiary, SignatureFD Fund Management, LLC:
The firm uses a mix of equity securities, fixed income, mutual funds, ETFs, and private placements. It generally requires a minimum of $2 million in assets for new clients, though it may accept lower amounts on a case-by-case basis.
SignatureFD states its culture follows six values that it calls "The 6 Gs":
SignatureFD provides employee benefits across healthcare, time off, and career development. The firm's package includes:
The firm also runs a social impact program with eight Atlanta-area groups like Covenant House, The Warrior Alliance, and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.
Heather Robertson Fortner, MS, IACCP, has spent over 20 years in the firm and now serves as its chair and CEO. She has also sat on several industry boards throughout her career. Fortner studied finance at Kennesaw State University and earned a master's in professional counseling from Georgia State University.
Other senior leaders at the firm include:
SignatureFD's Board of Managers oversees the firm's operations and works alongside the senior leadership team. The company is privately held with 10 shareholders.
In February 2025, SignatureFD added Peter Nesvold to its board. Nesvold, a managing partner of Nesvold Capital Partners, spent over 25 years on Wall Street. The company says the appointment supports its plans to grow through potential acquisitions.
CEO Fortner also shared a model for advisor support in an InvestmentNews column on leading teams through tough markets. She outlined that SignatureFD holds quarterly day-and-a-half sessions where advisors train on real client scenarios and talk about burnout.
These sessions include live role-playing, open discussions about pressure, and training tied to current market conditions. The firm says it is working toward a long-term goal of reaching 10,000 families.
It's about EQ not just IQ - four advisors look back at their own careers while offering hope for the new wave of talent coming through.
The $9.1 billion RIA is tapping into Nesvold's decades of leadership, including his time at Silver Lane Advisors and Bear Stearns, for its next leg of thoughtful expansion.
Pontera’s alliance with the Atlanta-based wealth manager is the latest in a string of deals designed to give financial advisors the ability to manage client assets in held-away accounts.
