Coldstream and Intellectus add client experience leaders as talent race intensifies

Two fast-growing registered investment advisors have added senior client experience roles to the C-suite and other leadership levels, underscoring how firms scaling past the billion-dollar mark are betting that dedicated leadership – not just technology – will differentiate them as competition for both clients and talent intensifies.

Coldstream, a Bellevue, Washington-based employee-owned firm overseeing more than $15 billion in client assets, announced that Megan Hannah will join as chief client experience officer, while Ian Curtiss has been promoted to lead the firm's Wealth Strategy Group.

Hannah, a CFA charterholder with more than 25 years of experience working with RIAs and global asset managers, most recently served as chief operating officer and portfolio manager at Emerald Advisors, a Seattle-area RIA. She previously worked at BlackRock Alternative Advisors.

"As Coldstream continues to grow, we are investing in the leadership and infrastructure needed to keep delivering the client experience our families expect from us," said Kevin Fitzwilson, Coldstream's chief executive officer, who stepped into the role in July last year.

Anne Marie Stonich, who helped build the firm's Wealth Strategy Group and family office capabilities, will serve as co-chief client experience officer alongside Hannah through the end of 2026 before shifting her focus to the firm's Bend, Oregon presence and its family office work.

Curtiss, who has served as a Coldstream wealth manager since 2021, will now sit on the firm's Executive Leadership Team. Coldstream has nearly tripled in size since 2021 while remaining independent of outside capital partners.

Separately, San Francisco-based Intellectus Partners, which serves ultra-high-net-worth entrepreneurs and families, launched a dedicated client engagement team built around what the firm calls "Human Touch AI" – an approach that pairs artificial intelligence capabilities with what it describes as an elevated standard of personal service.

The firm, which operates within the Dynasty Financial Partners network, added Raymond Fernandez, who spent nearly eight years at ICONIQ's family office platform, as vice president of strategic client services and engagement, along with Zana Hrvacic, formerly of Arta Finance, as platform and client engagement lead.

"AI is going to fundamentally change wealth management, but our vision has never been to use technology to put distance between the advisor and the client," said David La Placa, Intellectus founder and chief executive.

Read more: Dynasty RIA Intellectus Partners spins out agentic AI platform, appoints CEO

The moves at both firms arrive as larger, growth-oriented RIAs continue to invest heavily in specialized talent to support expansion. According to the 2026 RIA Benchmarking Study by Schwab, 75% of firms with $250 million or more in assets under management hired in 2025, and the same share plan to hire again in 2026. The median firm expects to add four new roles over the next five years, while the median top-performing firm – those ranking in the top 20% of Schwab's Firm Performance Index – expects to add seven.

Read more: AI enters RIA hiring and recruiting process, Schwab finds

Schwab's data also points to a growing emphasis on client-facing infrastructure as firms scale: the study found that firms with a documented ideal client persona and client value proposition gained substantially more new clients and assets in 2025 than those without.

Dedicated client service roles, along with specialized operations and executive management positions, become more common as firms cross the $250 million and $1 billion asset thresholds, according to a separate RIA compensation study from Schwab.