Orion, one of the major providers of wealth management technology to larger RIAs, is acquiring Summit Wealth Systems, a next-generation portfolio management and reporting platform and appointing Reed Colley, its co-founder and CEO, as President of Orion Advisor Technology.
Colley will report to Orion CEO Natalie Wolfsen and replace Brian McLaughlin, who stepped down in August.
The deal’s financial terms were not disclosed, but the transaction is expected to close in early 2025. Summit’s 12 employees will join Orion, and the brand will, for now, live on within Orion.
Despite the good news and notable industry wins (for example, Seattle-based RIA Brighton Jones signed an agreement with Summit in January), the environment for sales of wealth management platforms has been challenging, and Summit has not been immune to these headwinds, according to industry experts.
This can especially be the case for advisory firms that make portfolio accounting and management platforms the core of their operations. The benefits of investing in a new and modern platform frequently do not justify the cost of replacing existing systems.
Asked about the current climate and how Summit has been faring in terms of sales, Colley declined to answer directly.
“It can be tough when you are building something—there is a lot you plan for and a lot you don’t—but at the end of the day, in building Summit, my objective was to build something that would have a great impact on the industry,” said Colley
Asked whether the acquisition duplicates a significant amount of the technology Orion already sells, CEO Natalie Wolfsen, whom WealthManagement.com interviewed via an online video call at the same time, responded, "No."
“I don’t think of it as duplicative,” she said, noting that Orion has a very broad set of technologies that serve advisory firms and that those firms are more selective when deciding on a platform.
“Like any technology, if you don’t innovate, you will fall behind,” Wolfsen said. Acquiring the modern tech stack available within Summit would be a way to bring together the best in portfolio accounting and reporting, she said.
Summit Wealth Systems was founded by Colley (who also founded Black Diamond, later acquired by Advent) in 2020. It was built from scratch in Java Script to take advantage of the latest cloud-native technologies and make its user interface both extensible and interactive.
The platform combines a holistic visual balance sheet, wealth modeling, and financial planning, as well as advisor-client collaboration tools, portfolio management and performance reporting.
Part of what has impressed advisors with the platform is its collaborative aspects. One example is its Wealth Journey module, which by default displays a long arc line graph of a client’s portfolio over time that is full of interactive data. This enables an advisor to work with clients and intuitively illustrate their past and present while reviewing or planning for the future.
Summit won WealthManagement.com Industry Awards in 2022 and 2023 in the Industry Disruptor and Innovative New Apps categories.
“Reed is a visionary, innovative, highly experienced leader with a deep commitment to helping wealth businesses, financial advisors and investors thrive in today’s dynamic environment," Wolfsen said of Colley in the statement announcing the deal.
