Former RIA Consultancy CEO Matt Sonnen Will Work On Standardizing And Optimizing Coldstream’s Back-Office Operations For RIA Partners And Future M&A Deal Partners
Coldstream Wealth Management announced the appointment of former RIA consultancy CEO and seasoned operations leader Matt Sonnen as Chief Operating Officer. The move is part of the company’s effort to enhance its leadership team, strengthen operations and maximize scale.
In his new role as COO, Sonnen will oversee Coldstream’s Operations, Information Technology, Performance Reporting, Client Service and Salesforce CRM teams. He will work closely with Managing Shareholder Kevin Fitzwilson to drive growth and expansion initiatives.
Part of Sonnen’s duties will be standardizing and optimizing back-office operations for RIA partners that joined Coldstream Wealth Management during the past few years, as well as streamlining the onboarding of future M&A partners.
“Based on his experience, reputation and unique leadership skills, he could have joined any firm in the industry, but the fact that he decided to join ours is a further testament to the strength of Coldstream’s culture and the extent to which our employee ownership model has turned heads across the industry,” Fitzwilson said in a press release.
Sonnen brings over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry. He began as an analyst at Merrill Lynch in 1997, then became COO and Chief Compliance Officer at Luminous Capital in 2011 before serving as Vice President of Strategic Operations at Focus Financial Partners in 2013. Sonnen founded the RIA consultancy PFI Advisors in 2015.
Sonnen expressed excitement about his new role at Coldstream. “I was initially intrigued to learn how Coldstream achieved its size, quality and growth prospects without taking on private equity money. Then, after I began to learn more about Coldstream’s unique vision and values, I became even more interested in becoming a part of the team.”
Coldstream Wealth Management is a 2022 winner of the WSR Wealth Exemplar Awards for Fee-Based RIA of the Year. It has 130 employees and approximately $6.5 billion in assets under management, according to its March 31 SEC ADV.
Founded in 1996, the employee-owned firm has offices in Bellevue, Seattle and Mercer Island, Washington; Boise, Idaho; Kenai, Alaska and Portland, Oregon. Coldstream Wealth Management is a subsidiary of Coldstream Holdings, which includes property & casualty-focused Fit Insurance, the real estate-focused private fund Ascent Capital and the midmarket business consultancy Rainier Group.
Chris Latham, Deputy Managing Editor at Wealth Solutions Report, can be reached at clatham@wealthsolutionsreport.com
