In October, Glenmede announced plans to open a regional office in New York City. It will be headed by Glenn Switzer, who formerly led a team of advisors at U.S. Trust/Bank of America Private Wealth Management.

"We serve a national clientele," Piscopo says. "The increased interest we are experiencing from investors and industry partners in the New York area signals that this is an opportune time for us to establish an office."

Playing Defense
Most of the firm's clients, Piscopo notes, have made their own wealth. It is usually a wealth that has been created through business enterprises or long-term investing. Clients have made some sage moves over the years to generate this pool of dollars, but now they seek comprehensive advice on how to retain wealth across generations, Piscopo explains.

"What they need from us is an understanding of how to protect wealth. They need to understand how wealth will be at risk for the rest of their lives and going beyond their lifetime," he says.

Some clients come to Glenmede later in life, perhaps in their 50s, with wealth they had previously been managing on their own.

"They still want to be involved with their finances, but now they're looking for someone to shoulder more of the load," Fowler says of these clients. Such clients usually end up requiring more than investment management or just financial advice, he notes.

Other clients may have started their relationship with the firm after a liquidity event-through the selling of a family business, for example, or the transfer of an inheritance.

Glenmede serves families that have been with the firm over four generations, with a long history of using the firm's advice on a variety of financial, estate planning, philanthropy and tax issues. Glenmede has about 300 employees, including in-house experts in each of its service areas.

"The scope of any relationship is driven by clients' changing needs and evolves over the lifetime of the relationship," says Chip Wilson, Glenmede's director of client services. "While we administer the full range of investment and wealth management services, there have been occasions when clients ask us to guide them in other areas of life. We recently, as an example, evaluated proposals from retirement and assisted living communities on a client's behalf."

Glenmede, which is agnostic when it comes to product, achieves investment goals with various strategies, including both in-house and outside managers. The firm uses what it calls the Manager Alliances Program, an internal group that acts a gateway to 70 outside managers who use both alternative and traditional strategies.

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