Episode summary
Tom Cohn, Chief Solutions Officer & Partner, and Amita Schultes, Partner, Cerity Partners
Alt Goes Mainstream
· · Hosts: Michael Sidgmore · Guests: Tom Cohn, Amita Schultes
Summary
The conversation focused on Cerity Partners’ combination with Agility and why the pairing makes sense as private markets move deeper into wealth management. The hosts argued that Cerity’s wealth platform and Agility’s OCIO business are highly complementary: one brings scale, client breadth, and distribution, while the other brings institutional portfolio construction, manager research, and operating discipline. Together, they want to offer customized private markets solutions to individuals, families, corporations, and endowments without losing the fiduciary, open-architecture approach.
A major theme was that private markets are becoming more important across both wealth and institutional channels, but the challenge is not just access — it is implementation. Tom said Cerity has built a 35-person investment office and is focused on making private market investing easier for clients and for general partners through better workflows, onboarding, capital call management, and reporting. Amita emphasized that the underlying due diligence process stays the same, but portfolio construction changes based on taxes, liquidity needs, time horizon, and risk tolerance.
Both guests said the next frontier is turnkey solutions that reduce operational complexity while preserving customization. They pointed to comingled and evergreen-style structures, broader manager coverage, and more bespoke layers on top of core portfolios as the likely direction for the wealth channel. Amita also highlighted sustainability and the energy transition as an area she expects to generate more interesting private market opportunities.
Key takeaways
- Tom said Cerity’s 35-person investment office is meant to deepen private markets coverage and make the firm look more institutional to GPs.
- Amita said the merger works because OCIO and wealth management share the same research discipline but require different portfolio decisions around taxes, liquidity, and time horizon.
- Tom said larger capital bases can improve access, fees, and treatment from managers, but only if the firm can match that scale with operational capability.
- Amita said the next big step in private markets is a turnkey structure that reduces capital-call, tax, and reporting complexity for investors.
- Both guests said customization must be paired with scalability, because wealthy clients and smaller institutions need tailored solutions but also easier implementation.
Notable quotes
“private markets have just become that much more important”
“The challenge with that is you have tens of thousands of funds out there in private credit, private equity, venture capital”
“There's a huge educational component um with an individual”
How the episode opens
This episode of the Alco Mainstream podcast is brought to you by Ultimus, a leading full-ervice fund administrator for asset managers in private and public markets. As private markets continue to move into the mainstream, the industry requires infrastructure solutions that help funds and investors keep pace. Ultimus is a leading full-ervice fund administrator for asset managers in both private and public markets, offering a wide range of capabilities across registered funds, private funds, and public plans, as well as outsourced middle office services.
Delivering operational excellence, Ultimus helps firms manage the everchanging regulatory environment while meeting the needs of their institutional and retail investors. Ultimus provides comprehensive operational support and fund governance services to help managers successfully launch retail alternative products. Trusted by institutions, investment consultants, registered investment adviserss, state governments, and fund managers, Ultimus provides solutions for nearly every investment structure in the marketplace.
Visit www.ulttimusf ultimous funsolutions.com to learn more about Ultimus' technology-enhanced services and solutions or contact Ultimus executive vice president of business development Gary Harris on email at g harris at ultimsolutions.com we thank Ultimus for their support of alts going mainstream we're going mainstream we're going mainream all my family See you on mainream. We're going mainream from Wall Street to Melrose Avenue. We're going mainream.
Venture capitalists to athletes to creators to the person who's collecting trading cards. We're going to collision of culture and finance. We're going.
Welcome back to the Algo's mainstream podcast. Today's episode dives into one of the most topical trends in the evolution of wealth management platforms and their adoption of private markets. We are joined by Tom Conn and Amita Schultz of Sarid Partners where they discuss the recent combination of their two respective businesses, Sarid Partners, the $80 billion plus and growing national wealth management firm and Agility a leading OCIO business.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- private markets access
- wealth management platforms
- ocio model
- merger rationale
- customization vs scalability
Companies and tickers mentioned
- Cerity Partners
- Agility
- Spero-Smith Investment Advisors
- Colonial Consulting
- Ibbotson Associates
Watch the episode
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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Building a software investing powerhouse in the age of AI with Vista's David Breach -
ING - How to build a private markets platform within a European bank. -
Live! Armen Panossian, co-CEO of Oaktree at Brookfield Oaktree Wealth Solutions RIA Council Meeting
Alt Goes Mainstream, this episode and its artwork belong to Michael Sidgmore. Octagon is not affiliated with the show; this page is an independent summary.
