Robert Picard has joined wealth management firm Hightower in the newly created executive role of managing director, head of alternative investments in the Hightower Investment Solutions group.
He will focus on providing Hightower advisors with expanded access to private market investments, preferred opportunities and custom portfolio consulting to support them in delivering strategies to affluent clients.
Picard is well-known for his work in the hedge fund community, having held roles at Carlyle Group/Rock Creek, Optima Fund Management, RBC Capital Markets and InfraHedge/State Street. In his most recent role as First Republic Private Wealth Management’s managing director and head of alternative investments, he consolidated two alternative investment businesses into a single platform. Prior to that he spent more than a decade as founder and CEO of The Rumson Ridge Group, a consultancy focused on building alternative investment platforms.
“As our advisors look to attract more high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients, the Investment Solutions group is here to support them in creating distinctive portfolios with institutional-class opportunities, preferred relationships and rigorous due diligence,” said Stephanie Link, Hightower chief investment strategist, portfolio manager and head of the Investment Solutions group, in a statement.
“Hightower’s Investment Solutions group is playing an increasingly critical role in helping advisors identify new and disruptive private investments for families with complex financial needs,” Picard added. “Through our expanded program, Hightower advisors will gain even greater access to preferred, hard-to-find alternative investment strategies with a level of professional portfolio consulting that would otherwise be unavailable to them. Those that choose to tap our group for ideas will gain significant additional insight that will help them distinguish themselves and grow their businesses.”
With firmwide assets of over $117 billion, Hightower’s expanded alternatives program is part of a broader strategy of offering its advisory businesses streamlined access to institutional-class family office services for their sophisticated clients.
