The firm, which has grown organically and through acquisitions in recent years, said it has always planned to have a family office service running alongside its wealth management organization.

Robertson Stephens, a San Francisco-headquartered firm, has hired Bruce Stewart to launch a family office. The new offering will serve UHNW clients who have outgrown a multi-family office platform but are not ready to transition to a pure single-family office.

Stewart, who heads the new entity, brings more than 25 years of experience in building and advising single-family offices, as well as serving as an outsourced chief investment officer. 

“We have always planned to have a family office service offering adjacent to our wealth management practice,” Raj Bhattacharyya, CEO of Robertson Stephens, said. “With the launch of our family office, clients have the rare opportunity to access unique and highly valuable services beyond the standard offering seen in traditional private banks, multi-family offices and many other players in the industry without the upfront and high recurring expenses typical of a single-family office. (See here for an interview with the CEO.)

“Bruce is not only a deep expert in this space, he has also demonstrated his ability to build out successful single-family offices over the past few years,” Bhattacharyya said. 

Previously, Stewart was the founder and MD of Spartan Risk Solutions, a family office consultancy specializing in the development of family offices and outsourced chief investment officer solutions. In this role, Stewart built and managed $23 billion in wealth for four families.

Previously, Stewart was the global head of investments for Bank of New York Family Office, where he led an investment team managing nearly $15 billion in assets. His other leadership roles include having served as president of BNY Mellon Canada and co-head of investments at Toronto Dominion Bank.

In October last year, Robertson Stephens bought greater Chicago area business CAFG Private Wealth. The acquired RIA managed more than $240 million in assets. See here for a previous acquisition by the firm.