Compound Planning tops $5B in assets, adds four senior leaders

Compound Planning has crossed $5 billion in assets under management, the New York-based RIA said this week, marking 75% growth since January 2025.

The milestone follows a sustained hiring push at the firm, which was formed from the 2023 merger of venture-backed startups Compound and Alternativ Wealth.

At the time of the merger, the combined entity managed roughly $1.1 billion. As of August, the firm reported more than $4 billion in AUM.

Alongside the asset milestone, Compound announced four senior hires spanning its wealth management, tax, recruiting, and product functions.

Sheila Ryan joins as head of wealth management, where she will oversee coordination between the firm's advisory, client service, operations, and marketing teams. Ryan has more than 20 years of industry experience and most recently served as a division president of wealth management at Focus Partners.

Matt Barley is coming on as director of advisor recruiting with more than 15 years in business development and relationship management focused on wealth advisors. He previously held roles at Meketa Capital and Primark Capital, among others.

On the tax side, Ryan Vas Dias is joining as director of tax after more than a decade at Baker Tilly, where he served as a tax director. Vas Dias specializes in advising clients on liquidity events, QSBS planning, equity compensation structures, and trust and estate matters.

Dylan Portelli rounds out the group as lead product manager, focused on developing the firm's digital infrastructure using data, automation, and AI. He previously served as a senior product manager at Intuit.

Co-founder and CEO Alex Farman-Farmaian said the $5 billion mark reflects demand for a model that goes beyond investment management. "Clients want a firm built around their entire financial lives, not just their investments, as well as the technology to make that possible," he said in a statement announcing the new developments.

Farman-Farmaian also said the firm has built what it calls "a financial operating system that powers both sides of the advisor and client relationship." He added that the new hires across tax, product, advisory, and recruiting would let Compound "deliver that at a level most firms simply aren't built for."

Compound's pitch to advisors and clients centers on AdvisorHQ, its in-house operating system, and Activity Monitor, an AI-powered tool launched last September that gives advisors real-time visibility into portfolio changes and upcoming financial events. The firm hires most advisors as W-2 employees, and all adopt Compound branding while working remotely across the US.

Farman-Farmaian became sole CEO in October after previously sharing the role with co-founder Christian Haigh, who transitioned to executive chairman and president.

The decision for Haigh to vacate the CEO role came as Compound defended itself against a legal challenge from Choreo, which claimed a group of defectors had improperly used proprietary client data while encouraging Choreo clients to move their assets over to Compound. That case turned favorably for Compound in January, when a federal appeals court ruled the 12 advisors who'd moved can't be forced back to their former firm.

Compound's latest leadership additions come on the heels of several other leadership hires. In February, Compound brought on Akin Adekeye as general counsel, Jessica Faaborg as chief compliance officer, and Martin Malloy to lead content strategy.

“We’re excited by the runway for growth we have ahead, and will largely be focusing on similar priorities,” Farman-Farmaian told InvestmentNews at the time. “That includes continuing to add quality advisors who fit our culture and share our vision for the future of the industry, while also supporting our existing advisors in generating organic growth across their book of business.”

The firm has also added 24 advisors and more than 700 new clients since January last year.