By Steve Garmhausen

Wilmington Trust is widely associated with ultrahigh-net-worth clients. After all, it was founded in 1903 to manage the fortune of the fabled duPont family. But the Delaware-based institution's history might obscure that it also serves high-net worth and even affluent clients, says Lisa Roberts, its head of wealth management since October. "There are individuals who say, 'Oh, we didn't even know you're in the affluent business,'" says Roberts, who oversees an $80 billion-asset business with around 1,000 employees.

Speaking with Barron's Advisor, the 37-year financial services veteran discusses rebranding and other steps meant to update the company's image. One of her goals: shifting the "spotlight" from investments to holistic wealth management. The Michigan native also talks about career paths at her firm and notes a surprising way that next-generation investors differ from their elders.

Where are you from, and how did you get into the industry? I am originally from Michigan and went to high school and undergraduate college in Indiana University Bloomington. I started my career on the finance side of the equation, and I had several finance roles before moving to Sam Francisco in 2000 to be the chief financial officer for Wells Fargo Private Bank.

In 2021 you were still in San Francisco, at Union Bank, where you served as head of private wealth management and later as head of community banking. You moved to Wilmington Trust after U.S. Bank bought Union Bank in a deal announced in 2021. Tell me about the business you're running now at Wilmington. As the head of wealth management for Wilmington Trust, I'm setting the strategic direction and priorities for the business. We have about 1,000 team members, and their teams provide comprehensive wealth management advice across the wealth continuum -- our affluent, high-net-worth and ultrahigh-net-worth businesses. [Wilmington defines ultrahigh-net-worth as $25 million or more of investible assets, high-net-worth as between $3 million and $25 million, and mass affluent as between $150,000 and $3 million.] We provide wealth planning, investment management, trust and estate services, and private banking and family-office solutions.

Registered investment advisor firms are making steady inroads with very wealthy households. What do you make of them as competitors, and what are the cards that Wilmington Trust has to play that they don't? The population in general is growing, but the wealthy population is growing at a faster clip than the general population. A lot of that has to do with longevity, and then beyond that, the demand for advice is growing even more. And that's where we feel that Wilmington Trust is well positioned, because our beginning was setting up a family office for the duPont family. So the ultrahigh-net-worth space is where we started. We then got into the high-net-worth business, and then the affluent business.

RIAs are trying to catch up on all the advice and planning tools needed to serve wealthy households, which we already have. We continue to be very much focused on offering highly personalized, complex financial strategies. We have the dedicated family office services, and we have deep expertise in tax and estate planning, not to mention access to exclusive investment opportunities, which both the high-net-worth and ultrahigh-net-worth clients like. So we've been more focused on this fantastic ultrahigh-net-worth model and ensuring that we're delivering at scale for our high-net-worth clients. Where we think about building onto that is with more robust concierge services that are tailored to the unique needs of our ultrahigh-net-worth clients, while also ensuring that we continue to maintain excellent service.

How much of an asset is the company's 119-year history? Is there the risk that people will see you as kind of stodgy and exclusive? As we talk to potential clients, the first question usually is, "Do I have enough money to do business with you?" So we really have education to do. We do have that full wealth continuum, whether you're affluent, high-net-worth or ultrahigh-net-worth, and we're able to deliver all the services across that spectrum. That's a big piece of why we changed our branding last year, starting with a logo change. The old branding was the "Wilmington Trust" and the gray diamond. We now have vibrant blues and greens, and it has been modernized.

Can you say more about the affluent segment? We've had the affluent business since M&T purchased us, back in 2010. Our financial advisors in the affluent space are in the branches, working with the branch team members for that client base.

To what extent were you expected to make changes when you were hired at Wilmington? I joined May 1 of 2023 as the head of U.S. markets, which is essentially the wealth portion of the business. And yes, a bit of it was about change. We had the good roots of a strong service culture, as well as the traditional investing piece of it. But we were seeing demand, particularly from the high-net-worth clients, for a more holistic approach to wealth management -- so going beyond the traditional investment advice and encompassing estate planning, tax optimization, philanthropy and intergenerational wealth transfer. Those are all offerings that we already had, but it's sort of taking the spotlight off the investments and putting it more on that holistic approach to wealth management. We wanted to build off that strong foundation of personalized service and really show that we're in alignment with the values and goals of each of our clients.

It sounds like one of your strategic goals is to just position the wealth management business correctly so that folks don't feel like it's too exclusive to them. Absolutely. If you ever hear me in conversations with the team, I'm talking about delivering that ultrahigh-net-worth model at scale for our high-net-worth base. And then if you look at our affluent business, we actually do that very well. It's just that there are individuals who say, "Oh, we didn't even know you're in the affluent business." But we are. So there's a lot that's important about that branding. As I said, we came out with a logo change at the beginning of the year. That's just the beginning of our evolution for our brand and articulating who we are and what we represent to the outside world.

But it's very exciting, because the expertise we have here is incredible. The passion for the client and the way the team works together is all really good. It's just about delivering that at scale and ensuring that we have that holistic approach to wealth management in mind. And then we have to think about the future and how we can continue to drive operational efficiencies. That might be through AI or just taking manual tasks off our advisors' desks and making it easier for them to be out there giving the best advice that they have, and surrounded by a team of experts to help make that happen.

What strategic initiatives are currently on your plate? Our ultrahigh-net-worth clients have access to exclusive investment opportunities, and private equity would be one. But when you think about the changing needs in the high-net-worth space, we're hearing more demand for private equity. So we're in the process right now of creating a fund of funds in the private-equity world that we will be able to deliver to our high-net-worth clients. I also mentioned our concierge services that are tailored to the unique needs of ultrahigh-net-worth clients. We're working on that as well. And we do have a number of those operational efficiencies that we're working on so that we can free up the time for the wealth advisor to have more meaningful conversations with clients and future clients. There are a couple of big lifts that we're doing on the operational efficiency front to make it easier for them -- to clear the path, as I like to say.

Concierge services like bill pay have been around a long time. What new services are you moving into? When you think about our family office services today, it's the bill pay, it's the philanthropy piece, estate planning, the multi-gen planning, the tax advice. That's where we have all the expertise. But we can also help clients with the experiential travel needs they have, or getting them access to exclusive events that are catered more to ultrahigh-net-worth individuals. Those are the family office services we're taking a look at.

Talent is at a premium in the wealth management industry. Can you talk about your approach to attracting and retaining folks? Last year under my head-of-U.S.-markets role, we looked at org design and how we wanted to move as we focus on the holistic approach to wealth management. So we created a new role called a relationship manager. There are relationship managers for high-net-worth clients and for ultrahigh-net-worth clients. They have the deep trust expertise to be in partnership with the wealth advisor and help ensure that we are having deeper conversations beyond the day-to-day transactions that clients need. It's allowing us to deepen those relationships and take more of a customized approach working hand-in-hand with the wealth advisor.

And what that did is it set up for a career track within Wilmington Trust -- moving from a client associate, who takes care of clients' day-to-day needs, to a relationship manager. And then if you're interested, having that background sets them up for success to be a wealth advisor. In fact, I believe we promoted four wealth associates to be wealth advisors at the beginning of the year, because they proved that they can take on that additional role. So that's one way we're attracting and retaining talent.

In addition, when you come in the door as a new wealth advisor, you have a six-week sales curriculum plan that helps to set you up for success. We take six weeks to walk through all of our capabilities and services, ensuring the wealth advisors know everything we offer and can articulate it all in a good way. So we're not like: here's your desk, here's the phone, go off and have at it. And we do have a sales coach, not only for the new advisors who come in, but for advisors that are already here. That's a key differentiator in recruiting and retaining that our team very much likes.

How far along are you with looking at AI? Have you implemented much of it yet? We're probably in the third inning on that. We are using AI in some of our processes and our day-to-day work, including how we communicate with clients. And that is freeing up time. But just like most firms, we've really just scratched that surface. The exciting thing is that we're digging in, and I think it's going to take off pretty quickly. Even being in the third inning, the lift we've been able to give to not only our advisors but also our behind-the-scenes associates has been pretty incredible.

How do your clients' next-gen children differ in their expectations about products and services? There are definitely differences. Baby boomers and Gen Xers tend to consolidate less quickly than the next gen, and when they do, they're consolidating their banking where their investments are. It's the complete opposite with the next generation. We see them consolidating their investment assets where their banking is. They're also consolidating quicker than the Gen X and the baby boomers. They're used to social media, to having everything at their fingertips, and so simplification and consolidation is really important to them.

This gets back to the affluent space, which is the beginning of the wealth continuum. It's something we want to make sure we're really good at so we can capture next-gen clients at that banking stage. You know, you hear a lot about how the next gen like to invest and do other things for themselves. Well, sure, until they get hold of enough money. Then their demand for advice is just as great as the Gen Xers' and baby boomers'.

Next-gen are also used to texting and getting quick responses. In a heavily regulated industry like yours that can pose a challenge. What's your approach? We have work phones that are separate from personal phones. All that communication has to be on the work phone, and it can only be administrative in nature. So if there's a quick response needed or something, we're fine, but we certainly can't be using that to get into in-depth conversations or give advice, so that's where we have to use other means of communication. But clients understand that. This next generation is smart and savvy, and they get it once you explain it to them.

How do you unwind and recharge outside of work? I travel a bunch. I figure out which hotels have great gyms and which don't. The best way to unwind is to run. I never thought I could run again, but during Covid I did this 12-week plan to run a 5K, and I still do that faithfully twice a week. It's the best way for me to clear my thoughts and really unwind.

Thanks, Lisa.

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March 28, 2025 11:46 ET (15:46 GMT)

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