Cresset Hires Investment Banker as President

Liz Nesvold will bring her expertise in M&A to the fast-growing wealth management firm in Chicago.

RIAIntelArt_LizNesvold_0502.jpg

Courtesy Photo

Cresset, a multi-family office and private investment firm, has hired investment banker Liz Nesvold as its first president.

Nesvold, an expert on RIA mergers, left her job as the head of asset management and wealth management investment banking at Raymond James in February after about five years at the company. Nesvold joined Raymond James in 2019 after it acquired Silver Lane Advisors, the investment bank she co-founded with her husband.

Avy Stein, Cresset co-founder, said Nesvold’s 30 years of experience in financial services, client-focused mentality, and entrepreneurial spirit are just some of the reasons he wanted to bring Nesvold on board.

“She’s not just someone who spent her entire life as an investment banker at a large bank. She actually built her own bank and she’s not a generalist. She is focused on this industry,” said Stein, who founded Cresset with Eric Becker in 2017. The firm has grown to be one of the industry’s largest independent RIAs. Cresset now manages more than $30 billion.

Nesvold said she truly believes Cresset is building a firm that can last more than a hundred years.

“To have a first-ever RIA really build a blueprint, for a business to be a business in 100 years, is pretty incredible,” Nesvold said.

Nesvold will oversee the company’s strategy and provide a personalized experience for the firm’s clients, which include founders, entrepreneurs, and multi-generational families. She will report directly to Becker and Stein.

Nesvold hopes to leverage her investment bank expertise and provide another set of eyes on any future deals the company undertakes. She also hopes to use her position as a female leader in finance to help mentor and uplift other women.

“As you probably know, the numbers are not strong enough in the industry,” Nesvold said. “Women need to see it to be it.”

This is not the first time Nesvold has worked with Cresset. She acted as an informal consultant to Stein and Becker when they created Cresset six years ago. She also worked on Cresset’s three largest deals when she was at Raymond James.

“It always came down to Liz and I negotiating the final terms. So, I began calling her my most expensive friend, because I knew that when she called, it was [about] something else I had to do to get the deal done,” Stein said.

Nesvold hopes to hit the ground running.

She’s already planning a country-wide tour to visit every Cresset office to better understand how Cresset’s advisors are serving their clients and how she can best help. “There’s wonderful intellectual capital here and listening and learning is the first way that I can start to figure out how I can contribute best with my skill sets,” Nesvold said.

Related Articles