Crescent Grove Advisors names Andrew Krei CIO for next decade of growth

Crescent Grove Advisors, a Lake Forest, Illinois-based wealth manager for ultra-high-net-worth families and institutions, has promoted Andrew Krei to chief investment officer.

The move elevates Krei, who had already been sharing the role in a co-CIO capacity, while keeping the top investment seat inside a firm that has staked its identity on growing from within.

Dave Keevins, who co-founded the firm roughly a decade ago, will step back from day-to-day investment leadership to chair Crescent Grove's investment committee, while continuing in his roles as managing director and senior client advisor.

"Our growth has always been rooted in building from within, investing in our people, expanding our capabilities and creating opportunities for talented professionals to grow with the organization," Gregg George, co-founder, managing director and senior client advisor at the firm, said in a statement.

"Dave, Andrew and the entire Crescent Grove Investment Committee have built a distinctive investment platform that has evolved alongside our firm's development and the increasingly complex needs of our clients," George said.

Krei, who joined Crescent Grove after leading investment research at Cedar Street Advisors, will now direct the firm's approach to portfolio construction, asset allocation and investment research. He earned his bachelor's degree from the University of California at Los Angeles and belongs to the CFA Society in Milwaukee.

"I'm grateful for the confidence that the firm has placed in me and excited to continue working alongside such a talented group of colleagues," Krei said, pointing to the firm's founding goal of "[providing] clients with a best-in-class, open-architecture investment platform.

"Maintaining that high standard is key to our ability to go above and beyond for clients in delivering exceptional outcomes as their wealth and the marketplace become more complex," he said.

Keevins, who mentored Krei at Cedar Street Advisors before co-founding Crescent Grove, said their working relationship has been ongoing for two decades.

"[N]ow is the perfect time for him to take over managing the day-to-day operations of the Investment Committee while I focus on its oversight and strategic direction," he said, adding that the firm is "well-positioned in our second decade to strengthen our investment in both our people and our clients."

Read more: Bluespring, Crescent Grove bolster leadership ranks amid strategic growth efforts

The firm, founded in 2015, is employee-owned and now manages more than $5 billion in assets across offices in Lake Forest, Milwaukee and Atlanta.

Crescent Grove's leadership update lands as mid-size independent RIAs of its size face growing pressure to formalize executive structures once reserved for much larger enterprises.

Chief investment officer, chief compliance officer and chief operating officer roles now appear at roughly 40% or more of firms once assets climb into the billion-dollar-plus range, according to data from Schwab's 2025 RIA Benchmarking Study. That same survey, covered in Schwab's RIA compensation report, found executive management positions make up close to 1 in 6 staff members industrywide, and equity ownership is concentrated most heavily among managing partners and chief executives.

According to the Ensemble Practice's latest research on executive compensation, median compensation for CIOs across wealth firms was just over $346,000 in 2025, including roughly $280,600 in base pay. Their pay packages also tended to include ownership in the firm and, among those receiving equity compensation, deferred income and stock compensation.

Read more: RIAs perform 'shockingly low' on employee compensation metrics: DeVoe Report

Crescent Grove's push toward continued growth and layered leadership also tracks with where the RIA industry appears to be headed strategically. Advisor Growth Strategies' 2026 RIA Deal Room Report found the $500 million-to-$5 billion segment of the market – the so-called middle market – is increasingly caught between scaling up or becoming an acquisition target, with buyers placing a growing premium on firms that have built out a "strong and engaged next-gen team." 

"It is safe to assume that the middle of the market ($500M-$5B AUM) is the favored hunting ground for larger platforms," the report said. "The arms race for size and reach that began several years ago put pressure on the middle market to evolve faster, or risk struggling to compete."