By Andrew Welsch

Summit Trail Advisors has hired former asset management executive Jeff Ringdahl as president and chief operating officer, newly created roles for the fast-growing wealth management company.

Ringdahl's addition may be overdue, says Summit Trail co-founders Jack Petersen and David Romhilt. Over the past decade, Summit Trail has grown from three advisor teams and $2 billion in assets to 11 teams and $26.2 billion. Petersen and Romhilt have been taking on multiple responsibilities as they serve clients and steer the growth of Summit Trail, which caters to ultrawealthy investors.

"We have accomplished a lot over the last 10 years but we have done it with maybe the smallest management team possible," Romhilt says.

Just over a year ago, Summit Trail began looking to add more executive firepower. "We just got to the point where we had to hit pause and bring in a professional who had experience we didn't have and to help us to institutionalize the business," Petersen says.

Ringdahl joins Summit after 14 years at Resolute Investment Managers, where he served as president and CEO. Before Resolute, he worked at Touchstone Investments and Fidelity Investments.

At Summit Trail, he'll help take some of the load off Petersen and Romhilt, and help the company improve its internal operations, compliance, infrastructure, and technology, and marketing. "Those are the areas where I have rolled my sleeves up and I have accomplishments," Ringdahl says.

He was drawn to join the company's growth potential and singular focus on ultrahigh-net-worth clients.

Petersen says that Summit Trail has had opportunities to acquire other registered investment advisory firms or recruit advisor teams that serve mass affluent customers. But doing so would have distracted the team from the firm's goals. "Our focus on the ultrahigh-net-worth client hasn't wavered from the original business plan," he says.

The company seeks clients with $25 million or more in assets. Its average client has approximately $40 million, Petersen says. "Once you get to $10 million and someone is in their 50s or 60s, they will die with a[taxable] estate and that's where comprehensive estate planning becomes very important," he says.

Summit Trail has been averaging one new advisor team per year, Petersen says. It's looking to expand geographically in Texas and Florida. It's also outgrowing its New York headquarters, he says. "We're out of space, " he says. "We had to put desks in the kitchen."

Write to Andrew Welsch at andrew.welsch@barrons.com

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May 19, 2025 08:00 ET (12:00 GMT)

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