Corient, which has built up a strong claim as the world's largest multi-family office and non-bank wealth manager focused on ultra-high-net-worth clients, announced Tuesday that it is adding a New York-based registered investment advisor with more than $21 billion in assets under management to its growing roster.
The deal to add Summit Trail Advisors marks Corient's latest and largest US move in a run of acquisitions that has made it one of the most prolific consolidators in the RIA space over the past 18 months.
Founded in 2015, Summit Trail is an independent advisor built to serve ultra-high-net-worth individuals and families whose complex financial needs have outgrown traditional wealth management, acting as an outsourced family office and chief investment officer across public and private markets.
"The decision by a firm of Summit Trail's caliber to join Corient serves as meaningful validation of our firm's quality and the differentiated value of our private partnership structure and business model," said Kurt MacAlpine, founding partner and chief executive officer of Corient. "Summit Trail is an exceptional firm, with exceptional people. With their deep experience in ultra-high-net-worth advisory, the Summit Trail team will be a strong addition to our partnership, extending our expertise and broadening our client relationships across the country."
Jack Petersen, managing partner of Summit Trail, pointed to Corient's structure as the deciding factor for the firm and its clients.
"What drew us to Corient was its partnership model – the only one of its kind in wealth management – and the collaboration it fosters across the organization," Petersen said, while also highlighting Corient's "culture of shared ownership" and its "extensive capabilities, deep resources and global scale to deliver an even better experience to sophisticated clients."
Ardea Partners LP is serving as exclusive financial advisor to Summit Trail, while Seward & Kissel LLP was its legal counsel for the deal. Goldman Sachs is serving as exclusive financial advisor to Corient, which tapped Sidley Austin LLP as legal counsel.
Summit Trail was founded by Petersen along with Dave Romhilt, Tom Palecek, John Scarborough and Peter Lee, several of them former Barclays advisors who went independent after Barclays sold its U.S. wealth management unit to Stifel Financial in 2015. The firm has since grown to more than 100 employees across 10 U.S. cities, including New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Seattle, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Newport Beach, California, and Portland, Oregon.
Last year in May, the firm brought in Jeff Ringdahl, a 14-year veteran of Resolute Investment Managers, as president and chief operating officer to help institutionalize its operating structure as it scaled its family office and estate planning offerings. That appointment proved short-lived as Ringdahl was hired away to become president at Raymond James Investment Management in December.
Upon closing, expected in the third quarter of 2026, Summit Trail's principals will become Corient partners. Corient, established in 2020, operates under a client-first, fee-transparent model built on a private partnership structure similar to those used by leading professional services firms – a design meant to give clients access to the full breadth of the firm's expertise rather than depending on a single advisor.
The firm has grown to more than 300 partners and over 2,700 employees managing approximately $556 billion globally on behalf of ultra-high-net-worth and high-net-worth individuals, families and businesses. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
The Summit Trail deal is the latest in a string of transactions for Corient this year. Last month, the firm added Seven Bridges Advisors, a $5 billion New York multi-family office serving entrepreneurs and tech executives. In May, Corient entered Oklahoma with its acquisition of Capital Advisors, a Tulsa-based RIA managing $7.8 billion in assets, and the firm has separately moved to expand its footprint overseas through acquisitions in the U.K. and France.
Corient's expansion is playing out against a backdrop of record industry-wide consolidation. DeVoe & Company's most recent RIA M&A Deal Book found that the first half of 2026 produced 167 transactions industrywide, surpassing the prior first-half record of 148 deals set the previous year, with Corient ranking among the ten most acquisitive firms tracked in the report. Echelon Partners' 2025 RIA M&A Deal Report separately credited the firm with seven transactions in the $1 billion-plus deal segment.
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