Cresset Bolsters Ultra‑Wealth Advisory Team with Heather Pelant Appointment
A veteran strategist joins a growing platform
Pelant arrives with more than a quarter‑century of experience navigating complex investment and financial‑planning landscapes. Her most recent role was as Partner and Managing Director at Baker Street Advisors, where she also sat on the firm’s Management Committee. During that tenure she oversaw advisory services for assets exceeding $2 billion, tailoring strategies for families with highly concentrated holdings and multi‑generational wealth considerations.
Previously, Pelant held senior leadership positions at two of the sector’s most recognizable institutions. At BlackRock she directed the Direct and Personal Investing Business, a unit focused on bespoke private‑market solutions for high‑net‑worth clients. Her earlier stint at Morgan Stanley saw her rise to Regional Vice President, a role that spanned the Pacific, North American, and Asian markets—including operational hubs in San Francisco, Toronto, and Hong Kong. The breadth of that geographic exposure equips her to address the cross‑border complexities that increasingly characterize UHNW portfolios.
Why Cresset’s model matters
Cresset’s operating structure diverges from traditional wealth‑management firms. As an employee‑ and client‑owned multi‑family office, the firm integrates investment advisory, private‑market access, trust administration, tax strategy, and family‑governance services under a single governance umbrella. This “one‑stop‑shop” approach is designed to eliminate the siloed interactions that often force families to juggle multiple advisors, custodians, and legal counsel.
“Cresset was built from the ground up to serve families with increasingly complex financial lives,” said Susie Cranston, President of Cresset. “Heather exemplifies the caliber of client‑first fiduciary we seek — deeply experienced, culturally aligned, and committed to delivering comprehensive advice tailored to each family’s objectives.” The quote underscores a strategic emphasis on fiduciary rigor and cultural fit, two attributes that have become differentiators in the crowded wealth‑tech arena.
Adding a gender‑focused lens
Beyond her advisory pedigree, Pelant co‑founded Project Worth, an initiative aimed at strengthening women’s financial literacy and investment confidence. The program delivers workshops, mentorship, and peer‑learning forums that address the unique challenges women face when navigating wealth creation, inheritance, and business ownership. Pelant’s involvement signals Cresset’s intent to broaden its perspective on leadership diversity—a factor that investors and family boards alike are beginning to weigh more heavily in advisor selection.
“Cresset combines institutional depth with a truly client‑first mindset,” Pelant explained. “I was drawn not only to the firm’s multi‑family office platform and long‑term ownership structure, but also to its culture that values diverse perspectives in leadership. For many of the families I serve — including women who are founders, inheritors, and financial decision‑makers — that depth of representation and alignment matters.” Her remarks highlight a growing market awareness that gender‑balanced advisory teams can improve decision quality and client satisfaction.
Market context: Integrated advice as a competitive edge
The demand for holistic wealth services has surged in recent years, driven by several converging trends. First, the rise in concentrated equity positions among tech‑founders and other high‑growth entrepreneurs has amplified the need for sophisticated liquidity‑event planning. Second, the generational transfer of wealth—estimated to exceed $30 trillion in the United States over the next decade—requires coordinated tax, trust, and governance frameworks. Finally, regulatory scrutiny around fiduciary duty, especially following the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule revisions, has nudged families toward advisors who can demonstrate clear, conflict‑free stewardship.
Cresset’s integrated platform directly addresses these pressures. By consolidating investment, tax, and trust services, the firm can deliver consistent risk assessments, reduce operational friction, and provide families with a single point of accountability. For UHNW clients, whose portfolios often span public equities, private equity, real estate, and alternative assets, such a unified approach can translate into measurable cost savings and improved performance attribution.
Education and credentials reinforce credibility
Pelant’s academic background complements her professional experience. She holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, a Master of Arts in Asian Studies from the University of Hawaii, and a Bachelor of Arts in Asian Studies from the University of Victoria in Canada. Additionally, she is a Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP®), a designation that underscores a commitment to ethical standards and comprehensive financial planning.
These qualifications are particularly relevant as families increasingly seek advisors who can navigate both global macro‑economic dynamics and the nuanced cultural considerations that accompany cross‑border wealth. Pelant’s Asian‑studies expertise, for instance, may prove valuable for families with assets or business interests in the Asia‑Pacific region, an area where regulatory environments and market practices differ markedly from Western norms.
Implications for the broader fintech ecosystem
Cresset’s hiring move reflects an emerging pattern among fintech‑enabled wealth platforms: the blending of technology‑driven analytics with deep human expertise. While the firm’s core services remain relationship‑centric, its infrastructure leverages data aggregation, risk‑modeling, and digital reporting tools to enhance transparency and client engagement. The addition of a seasoned advisor like Pelant suggests that the firm intends to deepen the advisory layer without sacrificing the scalability that fintech solutions provide.
For fintech vendors focused on family‑office technology—such as portfolio‑management dashboards, AI‑powered tax optimization engines, and secure document‑sharing platforms—Cresset’s expansion may generate new partnership opportunities. As the firm scales its client base, demand for integrated software solutions that can accommodate complex, multi‑jurisdictional portfolios is likely to rise, creating a feedback loop that fuels further innovation in the wealth‑tech space.
Looking ahead
Heather Pelant’s appointment marks a strategic reinforcement of Cresset’s advisory depth at a time when UHNW families are seeking more cohesive, fiduciary‑aligned solutions. By combining Pelant’s extensive industry network, gender‑focused advocacy, and formal financial planning credentials with Cresset’s multi‑family office model, the firm appears poised to capture a larger share of the high‑net‑worth advisory market.
Industry observers will watch how Cresset leverages this talent acquisition to differentiate its service offering amid intensifying competition from both traditional private banks and newer digital wealth platforms. If the firm can successfully integrate Pelant’s expertise with its technology stack, it may set a benchmark for how multi‑family offices evolve to meet the sophisticated demands of the next generation of wealth owners.
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