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Hightower Advisors, the Chicago-based registered investment advisor with $350.3 billion in client assets, has brought five advisors over to its new Hightower Signature Wealth W-2 channel.
The five advisor practices, which were previously Hightower partner firms, bring the new channel to more than $20.8 billion in assets under management, according to the RIA.
Hightower CEO Larry Restieri announced the new, branded channel in October 2025, saying it would compete more directly with other large RIAs by incorporating some of its over 100 partner firms, as well as external recruits, into a closely integrated “firm within a firm” operating as a single entity.
With the addition of the five new firms, Hightower Signature Wealth has a footprint in 19 locations with more than 100 advisors. Dallas-based Frontier Investment Management, also a Hightower partner firm, was the first to join Hightower Signature Wealth, helping to seed the channel.
The advisory practices that joined are Cleveland-based Fairport Wealth, St. Louis-based Hightower Wealth Advisors, Downers Grove, Ill.-based HT|TC Wealth Partners, New York City-based RDM Financial Group and Santa Fe, N.M.-based The Rikoon Group.
“Hightower Signature Wealth was created to open a new channel of growth for Hightower, while simultaneously elevating the client experience,” Restieri said in a statement. “By bringing some of the best thinkers in our advisor community together under one brand, we’re creating a unified expression of Hightower’s capabilities.”
Matthias Kuhlmey, Hightower’s chief development officer, is leading the effort to grow Hightower Signature Wealth, with the firm forecasting more joiners “in the coming months.”
Restieri had said he expected the division to account for about 20% to 25% of Hightower’s total assets. Tuesday’s announcement would put the division at approximately 6% of assets, just a few months after launch.
The creation of the Hightower Signature Wealth division was one of the first moves by Restieri, who took over as CEO of Hightower in June. He had previously led Goldman Sachs’ Ayco business. He took over from CEO Bob Oros, who had overseen the rapid expansion of the firm, including more than 50 acquisitions onto its platform.
Signature Wealth will draw some of those partner teams, as well as external firms, into a “large-scale, nationally recognized brand without sacrificing the personalized guidance of a trusted advisor,” according to Tuesday’s announcement.
Hightower is owned by Thomas H. Lee Partners, which made its first investment in the firm in 2018.
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