Wade is managing director at F2 Strategy. He is a long-time participant in the wealth management, asset management, and related technology industry who has held leadership roles in custody, software, digital wealth, consulting and wealth management firms. Over the past two decades, Wade has led product, strategy and sales/relationship initiatives in the U.S., South America, Europe and Australia. Wade is passionate about creating actionable strategies that allow wealth firms to drive advisor efficiency, broaden their target markets and optimize the client/advisor relationship. This passion, his proven ability to deliver transformative initiatives and his deep understanding of functional needs within the regulated securities brokerage, banking and wealth management differentiate his contribution to projects and clients.

As a consultant, Wade works with wealth management providers, strategic and financial investors, investment product manufacturers and distributors, technology and platform providers, custodians and broker/dealers to optimize revenue and drive growth. Prior to F2 Strategy, Wade was an Associate Director (Partner) in the wealth and asset management practice at The Boston Consulting Group, co-operator and co-founder a boutique wealth advisory/consulting firm (Springboard Advisory Group, transitioned team to BCG), functional CTO of Plante Moran Financial Advisors and Managing Director of Technology Consulting at Schwab Advisor Services. He also worked at Advent Software (now BlackDiamond), and was a trader/market maker in OTC stocks and options for Speer, Leeds and Kellogg (now Goldman Sachs). Wade lives in Michigan.

What excites you most about the WealthTech industry right now?

The generational change underway in wealth management that is driving the focus on front-office technologies to drive the efficiency and productivity of advisors while also increasing the quality of the advice and relationship is pretty amazing. There is certainly efficiency and modernization underway in the back and middle-office, as there has been for many years, but the focus on advisor/client interaction, personalization, lead generation and client acquisition, and the increased reliance on CRM and analytics to serve clients is rapidly evolving. 

What would you tell someone just starting out in the industry right now?

Be curious – if you have something that interests you, consider turning that into your passion. The energy from those that are passionate about their mission always have an audience and the energy to drive change. 

Want to age yourself? What has changed the most since you started out in the industry?

I can still vividly remember the opportunity that the Euro conversion and the harmonization of trading rules across Europe created when I was working as part of a team to introduce a domestic trading system to the Euro market … Yikes. But in all seriousness, technology and efficiency has allowed for more and more of the U.S. population to receive better, unconflicted more transparent financial advice.  Our system of various wealth providers offering different value propositions is the envy of the world, and more and more markets are looking to emulate how the U.S. wealth advice market operates and delivers client value.