Hightower's Signature Wealth gains momentum with five advisory practices

Several months after launching, an initiative by mega-RIA Hightower Advisors to expand support for smaller advisory practices is gaining significant traction, according to the firm.

Hightower has rolled five more advisory practices into its recently launched Hightower Signature Wealth brand, extending a push to create a national, direct-to-consumer RIA platform that can house both larger acquisitions and smaller firms that want more infrastructure support.

The latest additions to the Signature Wealth brand, all pre-existing partners in the Hightower ecosystem, include:

• Fairport Wealth, based in Cleveland, Ohio;
• Hightower Wealth Advisors | St. Louis in Missouri;
• HT|TC Wealth Partners, based in Downers Grove, Illinois with an additional office in Schaumburg;
• RDM Financial Group in Connecticut, with operations in Florida and New York City; and
• The Rikoon Group, based out of Santa Fe, New Mexico

With those businesses onboard, Hightower says the Signature Wealth brand now oversees more than $20.8 billion in assets across more than 100 advisors in 19 locations – a strong early start from the brand's debut just this past October.

“By bringing some of the best thinkers in our advisor community together under one brand, we’re creating a unified expression of Hightower’s capabilities,” said Larry Restieri, CEO of Hightower Advisors.

The parent firm’s broader network includes 663 advisors in 33 states and the District of Columbia, with approximately $350.3 billion in assets under management as of Sept. 30, 2025.

Hightower Signature Wealth, which launched in October, is meant to give growth-minded RIAs the scale and name recognition of a national wealth manager while keeping local advisory teams in place. The model layers in centralized onboarding, portfolio management and investment infrastructure, billing, performance reporting and marketing support on top of Hightower’s existing platform.

“As advisors, we’re focused on being able to deliver excellence for our clients,” said Omar Qureshi, managing director at Hightower Signature Wealth. “The platform continues to give access to institutional-quality tools, strong operational support, and a collaborative network that allows us to focus on what matters most—helping clients achieve their goals.”

The brand debuted with Dallas-based Frontier Investment Management, a $3.3 billion RIA acquired by Hightower in 2020 and rebranded as Hightower Signature Wealth. CEO Larry Restieri previously framed the effort as a way to take a brand that already resonates with advisors and push it closer to end clients, in part by leaning on the visibility of chief investment strategist and frequent CNBC contributor Stephanie Link.

Restieri has also pitched Signature Wealth as a way to expand Hightower’s M&A universe to smaller RIAs that previously fell below its size threshold. “I think that what’s nice about the model with Hightower Signature Wealth is we can really partner with almost any size firm,” he said at the time of the launch. “It widens the aperture for who we could acquire because we can probably do more small deals than we’ve done historically.”

“The real power comes from joining together with other practices that share our values and commitment to client-first service,” Mike Drennen, managing director at Hightower Signature Wealth, said Tuesday. “We’re combining our shared experience, profound skills, and collective vision to build an extraordinary client experience.”

Chief development officer Matthias Kuhlmey is leading the continued rollout and integration of the Signature Wealth brand, which the firm says will keep adding practices from both within Hightower’s existing network and via external acquisitions in the coming months.