Hi there. Happy Friday!

2024 is off to an eventful start - from the SEC’s Bitcoin ETF approval to retirement announcements from Nick Saban, Pete Carroll, and Bill Belichick. I’d love to hear your take on football, retirement, ETFs, or otherwise. This is your reminder that you can reply to this email, which will go straight to my inbox.

Here’s a snapshot of what I’m talking about in this week’s edition of Connected.

1. Wealth Tech Leadership Enters a New Era

2. Modernizing Your Firm’s Reporting to Simplify Your Client Experience Workshop Recording

3. How Are You Helping Your Clients Bridge the Generation Gap?

4. Top 10 Tech Reveals of CES 2024

5. Milemarker on the Road

Let’s jump in.

Wealth Tech Leadership Enters a New Era

On Monday of this week, Bill Crager, CEO and co-founder of Envestnet, announced that he would be stepping away at the end of the quarter.

His announcement comes after Eric Clarke of Orion and Aaron Klein of Nitrogen have also retired or significantly scaled back their involvement. Bill stepping away adds to the growing list of industry veterans passing the torch.

I don’t know if you can relate to this, but watching my mentors and the generation that shaped much of the beginning of my career step back certainly makes me feel a little more seasoned in my career (which is just a nice way of saying I’m starting to feel old).

I’ll spare you any detailed correlation talk between the Saban, Carroll, and Belichick announcements, and suffice it to say that these leaders have played a huge part in how our industry has grown and evolved into what it is today.

While we reflect on their impact, looking ahead is also important.

The changing of the guard is not only inevitable but also presents a unique opportunity at this moment in time — a chance for advancement and innovation.

As the successors take the field, they bring unique inspiration and diverse perspectives that can enrich the dynamics of our industry.

While they uphold the original team's mission, there is potential for them to elevate it to unprecedented heights, transforming the organization to serve the needs of tomorrow.

This transition is an opportunity for remarkable growth.

For those of us in the middle of our careers, we have time to keep implementing our vision and develop the next generation.

Success, especially in our industry, is never about a single individual. It’s about generational impact that builds on what’s come before.

We won’t pass on vision, mission, values, and excellence overnight. How are you leading the future leaders of tomorrow today?

Workshop Recording: Modernizing Your Firm’s Reporting to Simplify Your Client Experience

It was so great to see so many familiar names pop up in our attendee list from our latest office hours session on reporting.

Scott Klaassen, Managing Director at Milemarker, and I answered quite a few of your questions. Here are a few that we covered in detail:

1. How can I simplify reporting?

2. What are the implications of having multiple custodians?

3. How do I get the entire firm aligned on data management?

To watch the workshop recording, click here.

How Are You Helping Your Clients Bridge the Generation Gap?

A lot of ads aren’t worth watching. This one is:

How are you helping your client bridge the generation gap?

Also, Lamb is delicious.

Top 10 Tech Reveals of CES 2024

You may have noticed that I like technology.

If you’re also interested, I found this thread on Twitter of some of the latest/coolest tech releases.

Check it out:

Milemarker on the Road

Catch our team on the road at the following events or cities:

1. January 22-25 — Las Vegas, NV

2. February 12-14 — Orlando, FL

3. February 26-28 — Scottsdale, AZ

4. March 12-15 — San Diego, CA

If you’re in any of those cities and want to arrange a meeting time, reply to this email, and we’ll get something on the calendar.

_________________

Have a great weekend! See you next week.

Written by Jud Mackrill

Edited by Amy Simpson