Cresset has hired a former chief investment strategist for Blackstone's private wealth business, as the Chicago-based multi-family office continues to add senior leaders to a platform with more than $264 billion in assets under management and advisement.
Joe Zidle, whose tenure at Blackstone spanned eight years, joined Cresset Thursday as executive managing director and chief market strategist, according to an announcement from the firm.
In his new C-suite role, Zidle will work with Cresset's investment and advisory teams to shape the firm's views on macroeconomics, asset allocation, and public and private markets. He will also advise the firm's institutional clients, including foundations and endowments.
Cresset said Zidle will help families make portfolio construction and allocation decisions, weigh in on how public and private markets fit in diversified portfolios, and take part in evaluating and executing investment solutions.
"Cresset has built something distinctive by bringing together investment management, wealth planning, and family office capabilities around the needs of families, business owners, and entrepreneurs," Zidle said. "That is exactly the environment in which I want to apply my experience."
Zidle has spend his career of more than three decades translating market views for wealthy clients and the advisors who serve them. At Blackstone, he held the titles of senior managing director and chief investment strategist for Blackstone Private Wealth. When the firm hired him, it said he would work closely with Byron Wien, then vice chairman of its Private Wealth Solutions group.
Before Blackstone, Zidle was a portfolio strategist at Richard Bernstein Advisors, where his responsibilities covered asset allocation, investment management and relationships with large wealth management firms and independent RIAs. He previously spent close to a decade at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, rising to head of investment strategy for Global Wealth Management and deputy director of the Research Investment Committee.
After leaving Blackstone, he launched Zidle Macro Strategy Group, an independent research firm covering macroeconomics, public and private markets, and portfolio construction.
Mike Silverman, Cresset's chief investment officer, framed the hire as part of a broader buildout. "As Cresset continues to grow, we are building an investment platform designed around the complexity and long-term needs of ultra-high-net-worth families," he said. "His experience across macroeconomics, asset allocation, and public and private markets adds another important perspective to an already deep investment organization."
Cresset reported $264 billion in assets under management and advisement as of July 1. That includes about $88 billion in assets under management at Cresset Asset Management, with roughly $176 billion in assets under advisement across Cresset, Monticello and The Connable Office, according to disclosures by the firm.
The appointment extends a busy stretch of executive hiring at Cresset, which has been reshaping its top ranks since the firm named Susie Cranston its chief executive officer earlier this year. Cranston, previously Cresset's president, took the CEO role in April, with co-founders Avy Stein and Eric Becker staying on as executive co-chairmen.
In June, Cresset brought in a Bessemer Trust veteran to lead family office services, hiring Mark Tremblay to oversee fiduciary, tax, trust and estate work for its wealthiest clients. Later that month, it appointed Lucas Huizar, formerly head of retirement legal at payroll company Gusto, as executive managing director and general counsel. Huizar, based in San Francisco, joined the firm's management committee.
In July, Cresset promoted Dheeraj Soni, its managing director and head of trading, to chief technology officer. Soni previously served as CTO of J.P. Morgan Advisors and spent more than a decade leading wealth management technology at First Republic Bank, where Cranston was once chief operating officer.
The firm's institutional arm has also been adding staff. In September, Monticello Associates named Ralph Blasey, a former senior investment director at Cambridge Associates, as director of institutional consulting in its Washington, D.C., office. Cresset and the Denver-based consultant formed a strategic partnership last year that combined almost $200 billion in assets, and Monticello works largely with foundations, endowments and family offices.
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