Strategic Consulting
Asset Management
Cerulli helps asset managers realize new expansion opportunities with strategic recommendations for product development, pricing, and distribution.

Consulting
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Let Us Help You
Cerulli helps institutional and retail asset managers globally understand how and where to expand in an increasingly competitive and fee-compressed environment.
Our deep knowledge of the market and relationships with global allocators can help you assess how to strengthen your business model and provide you with tangible recommendations for optimal product structure, staffing levels, and distribution strategies.
Our project work coupled with our independent views and deep historical industry knowledge enable us to guide asset managers through critical decisions. We have the subject matter expertise you need to drive your business forward.
Explore our service offerings and solutions below.
How We Help Asset Management Firms
Identify Opportunities for Market Expansion
Demand for asset management product varies by market and channel. Cerulli helps asset managers assess the competitive landscape and recommend which product structures and client segments offer the greatest opportunities for their firm
Improve Your Service Model
We help asset managers align their sales, marketing, and product teams against the needs and behaviors of their clients and prospects to ensure they have the right organizational structure to meet their evolving needs.
Target the Right Distribution Channels
Winning mandates from retail and institutional investors requires a deep understanding of the intermediaries that control asset flows. Cerulli helps asset managers target the right channels, craft their value proposition, and position their business to gather assets.
Innovate Product Platforms
Optimize asset class, vehicle selection, product wrapper, and pricing for your current and desired clientele. Our team can benchmark your business against your peers, assess your ability to attract clients, and offer innovative solutions.
Success Stories

Asset Manager Market Entry Strategy
Conducted addressability, product demand, and distribution strategy analysis for expansion into U.S. market via two acquisitions by Asian asset manager.

Global Asset Manager Investor Segmentation
Created original investor behavioral segmentations and market sizing with recommended targeting methods and product positioning.

Large Cap Manager Distribution Expansion Strategy
Developed distribution strategy for asset growth, including new sales roles, target intermediaries, and product positioning recommendations.

Asset Manager DCIO Entry Strategy
Developed entry strategy and expansion roadmap for mid-sized asset manager, including staffing, product, and marketing recommendations.
Meet Our Consultants

Bing Waldert
Managing Director, U.S. Research
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Bing Waldert
Managing Director, U.S. Research
Bing Waldert leads Cerulli’s U.S. Research team comprising seven research practices that cover all elements of the U.S. asset management, wealth management, and retirement markets. He has authored Cerulli reports on the wealth management industry, high-net-worth market, the annuity industry, and retirement markets. He is a frequent board-level and C-suite speaker and well-regarded industry thought leader. He has spoken in front of the Investment Company Institute (ICI), the Asset Management Association of China (AMAC), the Investments and Wealth Institute (IWI), and the Money Management Institute (MMI).
He has worked on client projects on emerging manager expansion strategies, independent registered investment advisors (RIAs), multi-family offices (MFOs), investment platforms, and the outsourced chief investment officer (OCIO) industry. In addition, he has advised multiple private equity firms on acquisitions in the wealth management space.
Full biography here.

Andrew Blake
Associate Director
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Andrew Blake
Associate Director
Andrew is a member of Cerulli’s Wealth Management practice, leading coverage of asset manager distribution strategy for products sold through financial advisors. With a focus on the wealth management landscape, Andrew assesses trends related to advisor use of investment products as well as their relationships with clients and varying practice types.
Prior to joining Cerulli Associates, Andrew worked at John Hancock Investment Management and a Boston-area RIA. He has spent over a decade working with financial advisors and researching distribution best practices.
Full biography here.

Asher Cheses
Director
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Asher Cheses
Director
Asher is a Director in the Wealth Management practice, specializing in research and consulting related to high-net-worth investors and advisory firms, including multi-family offices, RIAs, broker/dealers, private banks, and trust companies. As the co-head of Cerulli’s Wealth Management practice, Asher leads a team of analysts dedicated to developing data and insights to support Cerulli’s published research and consulting business. In his role, Asher is also responsible for leading various strategic consulting engagements, focusing on key areas including growth strategies, practice management, service expansion, M&A due diligence, product development, and distribution strategies.
Full biography here.

Brendan Powers, CFA
Director
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Brendan Powers, CFA
Director
Brendan is a member of Cerulli’s Product Development practice, which focuses on trends related to asset managers’ product development and management functions. This broadly includes assessing the opportunity for product development, evaluating emerging product trends, and understanding distribution and product positioning for investment products across retail and institutional channels.
Prior to joining Cerulli, Brendan worked as a Senior Client Associate at Eaton Vance Management, focusing primarily on the firm’s exchange funds.
Full biography here.

Michael Rose, MST
Director
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Michael Rose, MST
Director
Michael is a director within Cerulli’s Wealth Management practice, where he researches key elements of the wealth management industry, with an emphasis on broker/dealers and wealth management technology. In this capacity, he regularly engages with constituents across the wealth management ecosystem, including retail investors, financial advisors, and executives within wealth management, asset management, and technology firms, in order to support Cerulli’s market research initiatives.
Prior to joining Cerulli, Michael spent eight years working as a financial advisor, providing comprehensive wealth management services to high-net-worth individuals and families. Prior to his role as a financial advisor, Michael served as a research analyst for IDC, where he was responsible for researching trends within the technology industry and advising senior business executives on product strategy.
Full biography here.

Scott Smith
Senior Director
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Scott Smith
Senior Director
With more than 20 years of financial services industry experience, Scott leads Cerulli’s research efforts focused on investor behavior and advisory relationships. In his time at Cerulli, he has authored more than two dozen in-depth reports on topics ranging from wholesale distribution to digital advice platforms. His research helps Cerulli’s clients understand how to optimize their platforms given the evolving demand for financial advice.
Scott started his career wearing a headset at Putnam Investments’ service center in 1996, before moving to more strategic roles at MFS Investment Management starting in 2000, and then to Cerulli in 2007. In addition, he currently serves as member of the CFP Board’s Digital Advice Working Group, and as a judge for the wealthmanagement.com Industry Awards.
Full biography here.

James Tamposi, CFA
Associate Director
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James Tamposi, CFA
Associate Director
James (Jack) is the lead author of The Cerulli Report—North American Institutional Markets and sets the agenda for The Cerulli Edge—U.S. Institutional Edition. Jack has led U.S. market entry strategy and U.S. institutional pricing optimization projects, supporting both foreign and domestic asset managers. During his time at Cerulli, he has contributed to reports across Cerulli’s suite of institutional research, focusing on topics such as insurance general accounts, outsourced chief investment officers, alternative investments, and U.S. subadvisory.
Prior to joining Cerulli, Jack worked as a Research Associate for Chatham Partners.
Full biography here.

Jared F. Baucom
Managing Director, Global Sales & Marketing
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Jared F. Baucom
Managing Director, Global Sales & Marketing
Jared is responsible for global sales, business development, and client service, including oversight of and coordination with the marketing team.
Prior to joining Cerulli, Jared worked as an equity analyst at Baring Asset Management, where he was responsible for the U.S. Utilities sector and also contributed to the U.S. Industrials sector. Prior to Barings, Jared spent two years at State Street Bank.
Full biography here.
Thought Leadership
Explore Our Perspectives
We cover the most important themes impacting the asset management industry.

May 2024
M&A in Wealth Management
Access Cerulli’s latest insights on the drivers shaping merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in wealth management and the way that M&A will impact how advice is delivered across channels.

May 2024
401(k) Managed Accounts: A Misunderstood Value Proposition
This research explores the opportunity to improve retirement confidence through increased participant adoption of DC managed accounts.

September 2023
Adapting to Growing Private Markets: A Playbook for Practice Success
Advisors can use alternative investments to differentiate practices and attract, consolidate, and retain client assets.

June 2023
Private Equity Carves Out Its Place in the RIA Space
Backed by some of the industry’s biggest PE players, M&A among RIA consolidators is strong.

December 2022
The Case for Direct Indexing: Differentiation in a Competitive Marketplace
Demand for customization and differentiation from financial advisors and wealth management firms will lead to a surge in assets for direct indexing, with assets expected to grow at a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.3% and close 2026 with $825 billion in total assets.
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Learn more about how our consulting services can help you.