As we head into the mid-2020s, Laird Norton Wetherby (LNW) is better prepared than ever to provide for our clients all the tools, resources and strategies they will need to thrive in all aspects of their lives – both financial and personal. We sat down with the three LNW executives — John Goodwin, Scott Butterfield and Conrad Gehrmann — who oversee the firm’s fiscal oversight committee and advise on client relationships to discuss the future of LNW and where wealth management is headed in the coming decade.
What excites you most about LNW?
JOHN: I’m truly excited by the level of our collective intellectual capital, which is the heart and soul of this business. Bringing together teams of in-house CPAs, attorneys, investment professionals and other experts to find solutions for clients – holistic integration – has taken off in the past 20 years. LNW has been doing this for decades, creating what we think is a powerhouse of investment and planning capabilities.
SCOTT: Specific to trusts, anyone who has ever looked for a highly capable and attentive trustee will understand the benefit of in-house trust services. Laird Norton Trust Co., a core part of LNW, has a stellar reputation as caretaker of multi-generational wealth.
In terms of investments, we are devoting even more resources to investment research and analysis, especially in the private markets, and because of our larger asset size can negotiate for lower fees with asset managers to be passed on to clients.
CONRAD: I’d say the longevity. The Laird Norton enterprise has been around for 165 years. Clients can know there will always be a skilled team here at LNW — long after all of us as individuals are gone — to help preserve and grow their family’s wealth over many generations.
LNW CEO Kristen Bauer often points to LNW’s distinctive culture and philosophy. What does that mean for our clients?
JOHN: I think the main thing is there is absolutely no incentive for us to steer clients into something that’s not good for them. And our combined group of clients know that. We didn’t start out as a brokerage or investment firm to sell things. We’ve always sat on the same side of the table as our clients, as managers, strategists, and advisors.
Our client engagements are predicated on mutual satisfaction, which means we have to be laser focused on the quality of everything we do — from the big picture to the small details.
CONRAD: Operationally, we put a tremendous emphasis on getting all the details right for clients in a systematic way. The day-to-day management of assets and cash flow can be in investment portfolios but also in varied ownership structures such as LLCs, in trusts, in foundations. Fundamentally, our combined group of clients have chosen us as the team of people they trust to manage the complexity of their finances so they can free up time to do what they love.
Of the many different things you advise on, what in particular lights up your day?
SCOTT: For me, it’s long-term wealth transfer planning, especially if it involves a complex set of assets and interests. During the past 30 years I’ve used just about every estate planning technique you can think of. What I can tell you is that it’s one thing to know what those tools are and another to know how to use them. It’s possible – and we’ve seen this happen – where someone has a bunch of trusts set up correctly, but they’re the wrong type of trusts for what the person wants to do.
Conrad and I did a ton of consulting at Microsoft in the mid-1990s, seminars on stock options that were actually better attended than a talk by Dr. Ruth! And since then I’ve really enjoyed working with clients who have achieved a great deal of success early in their careers. This can range from how to negotiate the next round of equity in a startup, to buying a new house or private jet, to raising children without spoiling them. My advice comes from having worked through many different markets and client situations, and clients appreciate that, even though they may not agree with me 100% of the time.
CONRAD: I love working on what I call complicated integration, advising business owners and corporate executives through major transactions like their company going public or being taken private. These are usually once-in-a-lifetime deals that require a good understanding of what is happening with the company and how to use sophisticated estate planning entities in a very tax- effective manner to get the best results for our client and their family.
I do consult on new business ventures, mainly to protect a client’s interests. How to get the right attorney and documents, negotiating for equity comp and analyzing salary vs. equity trade-offs. In any type of situation that our clients face, I am an advisor and facilitator for whatever is necessary to get the desired outcome, including for clients who now live outside the U.S. and face new challenges and opportunities. I have enough experience to know how to find cost-effective solutions.