Acquiring and Partnering with Advisors: Ingredients for a Successful Alliance

In the current economic landscape, coupled with the Great Resignation, many advisors have partnered with outsourced providers for their operational functions.

A panel on the topic titled “Acquiring and partnering with advisors -- ingredients for a successful alliance,” which took place in Q4 during GAIM Ops West in California, a lineup of speakers discussed the topic. Speakers included:

• Jeff Stomski, partner, EisnerAmper (moderator);
• Julie Siegel, executive managing director/CAO and deputy CLO, Sculptor Capital Management; and
• Natasha Salins, principal, general counsel and CCO, Angel Island Capital.

They shared a few ingredients to build a successful alliance including:

• Talk with peers at investment complexes with similar investment strategies and operational needs about which advisory firms they have partnered with and how they leverage the relationship.
• Do your homework: Initial and ongoing due diligence is essential to monitoring the relationship and holding each advisory firm to the highest of standards.
• Verify that the terms contained in all legal agreements with each advisory firm are aligned with the scope and goals of each engagement.
• Clearly define each advisory firm’s scope of services as well as the responsibilities of your leadership team. An open line of communication between your leadership team and all advisory firms is essential.
• View each advisory firm as an extension of your management team. Ultimately, your leadership team takes responsibility of each advisory firm’s work product; you can delegate the role, but you cannot delegate the responsibility. Frequent planning and engagement with your advisory firms will set the foundation for a productive relationship.

In conclusion, in order to develop a successful alliance, you need to surround yourself with reliable advisory firms that you look forward to becoming an extension of your team.