Office address: 4 Campus Drive, Parsippany, NJ 07054
Website: summitfinancial.com
Year established: 2018
Company type: financial services
Employees: 525+ (2025)
Expertise: investment advisory, financial planning, wealth management, estate planning, retirement planning, risk management, insurance planning, investment management, M&A advisory partnerships, tax planning
Parent company: Summit Financial Holdings, LLC (majority-owned by Merchant Investment Management, LLC)
Key people: Stan Gregor (CEO), Steven Weinman (president), Mara Stempler (CFO), Barbara Hawkesworth (chief legal officer), Ed Friedman (chief revenue officer), Anthony McElynn (CCO), Noreen Brown (co-chief investment officer)
Financing status: private equity-backed
Summit Financial is an SEC-registered investment advisory firm based in Parsippany, NJ. It offers financial planning, investment management, and insurance solutions through its SummitVantage platform. The company's assets reached about $24 billion by the end of 2025, with more than 70 affiliated firms across 26 states.
Summit's origins trace back to 1982, when its predecessor firms first opened their doors. Summit Financial Resources, Inc. registered with the SEC a year later in 1983.
Summit Equities, Inc. followed in 1991. These early entities laid the groundwork for what the company would eventually become.
The company hit a turning point in 2016, when Stan Gregor came on board as CEO. A year later, the team built out a new technology stack to support future growth.
Then in 2018, it rebranded as Summit Financial and formed a strategic partnership with Merchant Investment Management. That same year, Summit Financial, LLC was formally established in November as an SEC-registered investment advisor.
The momentum carried into 2019 with the launch of SummitVantage, the firm's all-in-one advisor platform. Summit Growth Partners followed in 2020, giving the company a vehicle to invest in independent advisory businesses.
These two moves helped the firm triple its assets to $10 billion during the 2020–24 stretch. The growth came from a mix of acquisitions and organic expansion across the country.
Summit Financial also brought on Merchant Investment Management as a majority stakeholder in January 2025. Then, the company had added four new RIA partners that manage a combined $1.2 billion in client assets. The new additions were:
By the end of 2025, Summit's total assets had grown to about $24 billion with more than 525 professionals on board.
Summit offers fiduciary-led advisory services through its SummitVantage platform for both advisors and clients:
Summit Financial's advisors operate as independent fiduciaries with access to multiple custodial options like Fidelity, Schwab, and Goldman Sachs. The firm's open architecture model means advisors are not limited to proprietary products when building client portfolios.
Summit Financial says collaboration is at the core of its culture. The company backs this with open architecture access and objective, client-first advice. It also fosters a broader advisor community that includes:
The firm's in-house team brings decades of experience to support both advisors and clients. Summit Financial is also an equal opportunity employer that states its commitment to a diverse and inclusive workplace.
Stan Gregor is CEO of Summit Financial with more than 30 years of experience in financial services. He previously founded Cantor Fitzgerald Wealth Partners and led Wells Fargo Wealth Management's eastern US markets. Gregor began his career at Citigroup, where he spent close to a decade and became northeast group EVP.
Gregor leads Summit Financial alongside an executive team that includes:
The executive team averages 25 years of industry experience across its members. The firm says it uses this depth to promote a planning-based approach and share best practices with advisors and clients.
To help advisors serve high-net-worth clients at scale, Summit Financial launched eight new tech tools. The suite includes AI-powered prospecting from Wealthfeed, estate planning from Wealth.com, and M&A scouting through FinLink. The rollout points to the firm's broader strategy of using technology to fuel its national expansion.
The company is also looking beyond tech tools to reshape how its advisors serve wealthy families. It has shifted toward a multi-family office model that brings financial planning, tax strategy, and estate services together for high-net-worth clients. The approach positions advisors to act as a single point of contact for families across generations.
Also, Osaic expands in New York as a seasoned advisor joins one of its affiliates, and Wells Fargo hails a $1.3 billion recruitment haul within its FiNet advisor channel.
Clayton Chandler brings deep experience to lead data and AI strategy across Merchant’s growing RIA ecosystem.
Top advisors, Stan Gregor, CEO of Summit Financial LLC, and Todd Bryant, Founding Partner of Signature Wealth Partners, share proven strategies for legacy planning, family trust, and next-gen engagement.
The Connecticut practice, led by two LPL veterans, arrives as Cetera steps up its charm offensive for advisors seeking new affiliations.
The Parsipanny, New Jersey-based firm's latest minority investment adds more than $500 million in client assets, with more than $25 billion now across its network.
Cetera is leaning on Summit Financial and its veteran leader Marshall Leeds to reel in those advisors.
Kathreen Alcorn joins the Cleveland-based RIA's C-suite with over two decades of experience, including senior leadership at Nasdaq.
Coming from Summit Financial Networks, the newest addition brings $425 million in client assets to the employee-based RIA in North Carolina.
Inside Mike Durbin and Cetera's quest to make 'big' feel 'small.'
The two serial acquirers added new partners on separate sides of the map, including a $570 million Bay Area RIA and a $600 million planning-focused firm in Pennsylvania.
Also, Raymond James continues its Commonwealth recruitment streak, while Wells Fargo adds $1.1 billion in new assets from LPL, RBC, and TD Private Client Wealth.
Summit Financial unveiled a suite of eight new tools, including AI lead gen and digital marketing software, while MassMutual forges a new partnership with Orion.
Wells Fargo has also added more than $800 million in new AUM with recruitments from UBS, Osaic, and Merrill Lynch.
Stan Gregor, Chairman & CEO of Summit Financial Holdings, explores how RIAs can meet growing demand for family office-style services among mass affluent clients through tax-first planning, technology, and collaboration—positioning firms for long-term success
Meanwhile, Merchant is continuing to expand its support for RIAs by partnering with a South Dakota-chartered trust company.
