"I would say it was persistence in terms of managing client relationships and developing happy clients," he says. "Our new business efforts in the early years was a function of our existing clients."

By 1992, the firm had more than $1 billion in assets under management. It was about this time that the firm started to transition from a regional to a national client base, says Peter Glanville, who served as the firm's managing principal from 1996 to 2002, when he retired. "We had a wonderful run there, with good investment results and national advertising, which brought in a surprisingly good amount of business," he says.

By the time he left, Glanville says the firm's assets under management were just below $6 billion. By that time, also, the firm had raised its minimum account requirement to $10 million, where it stands now.

The firm actually pondered raising the minimum to $20 million when there was an explosion of wealth at the height of the bull market. That idea was dropped, however, when the equity market fell back to earth. "The market took care of that idea," he says.

The firm has also opened offices in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Naples, Fla. The Scottsdale office was opened because of the flurry of new business startups in that area, says Prem. The Naples office is the result of many clients either moving or having second homes in that area, she says.

Another key change during this time was the merger of Norwest Bank with Wells Fargo, which helped precipitate the firm changing its name from Norwest Capital Advisors to Lowry Hill, which is the name of an affluent community in the Minneapolis area.

The change, which was suggested by a marketing consultant, was partly meant to give the firm a defined market brand-to essentially make a distinct entity. "In terms of establishing our own brand and our own consumer awareness, it was advantageous to have a name that was unique to us," Hull says.

Organizationally speaking, Lowry Hill is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Wells Fargo, which owns 100% of the company, after an organization change in which principals shifted to an incentives-based compensation structure. But the firm's autonomy and ability to run itself independently has contributed to its growth rate, which has outpaced many bank-owned trust companies and investment management entities.

Changes are in the works, however, in which principals will once again have an ownership interest in the wealth management company, principals say. Although legally a subsidiary, principals say the firm in reality runs as a separate entity, while using Wells Fargo's trust powers. "Everyone is integrated together," Steiner says of the firm's employees, some of whom are technically Wells Fargo employees and others of Lowry Hill Investment Advisors, the firm's SEC registered advisory unit.

Although the firm has 330 clients it handles about 2,300 accounts, which reflects the array of services the firm provides. One client, Steiner says, typically consists of a family that may have six or seven accounts, including accounts for the children, an IRA, and a charitable remainder trust or a foundation.