Wealthspire Launches $2.9B Sports and Entertainment Practice
Wealthspire, a New York City-based registered investment advisor overseeing $660 billion in client assets, is leaning into the burgeoning sports and entertainment financial advice business by launching a dedicated practice under managing director Frank Marzano, the firm announced.
Wealthspire Sports & Entertainment enters the market with about $2.9 billion in assets under management across over 200 high-net-worth clients, families, and institutions, according to the firm. It will seek to keep growing by building a client base among professional athletes, entertainers and creators.
Marzano, who also serves as co-head of Wealthspire Family Office, has been working with professional athletes, entertainers, producers and other creative executives for over 25 years, according to the firm. He joined Wealthspire in 2023 via an acquisition of GM Advisory Group, where he had been since 2004, according to BrokerCheck.
“Success in sports and entertainment can create tremendous opportunity, but it also brings a level of complexity that traditional wealth management may not always address,” Marzano said in a statement.
Other RIAs have been leaning into the sports and entertainment sector, which now includes college-age clients who can monetize their name, image and likeness.
In July, Houston-based RIA Americana Partners, which oversees $11.5 billion in client assets, announced it had started a division focused on the sports and entertainment industries to be led by Associate Vice President Ben Davidson. MAI Capital, which launched a sports and entertainment division in 2020, further expanded it last year by bringing on two advisors who work with NBA and MLB athletes.
Wealthspire said its practice will address challenges facing sports and entertainment professionals, including concentrated and variable income, complex contracts and compensation, tax and estate planning considerations, business ventures, real estate, charitable giving and career transitions, according to the firm.
The firm also said the division will operate as a vertical of Wealthspire Family Office, leveraging its family office accounting, lifestyle, concierge and bill pay services, among others.
“WSE reflects our commitment to meeting clients where they are while pivoting and evolving with them throughout their lives,” Wealthspire CEO Mike LaMena said in a statement.
LaMena and senior executives have been reshaping Wealthspire after its acquisition by private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners last year. In March, the RIA launched a dedicated family office division to focus on upper-high-net-worth clients. That division came out of the gate with a client base of 300 families and $50 billion in assets under management.
