Inside Modern Wealth Management: How Top RIAs Build Portfolios, Select Managers & Manage Risk

Inside Modern Wealth Management: How Top RIAs Build Portfolios, Select Managers & Manage Risk

The RIA landscape is changing fast. Today’s top wealth advisors are doing far more than traditional portfolio management. They’re acting as investment committees, tax strategists, coaches, and long-term partners helping families navigate increasingly complex financial decisions. In this episode of dakota, we sit down with Fulcrum Capital’s Kathryn Fisher, Chief Wealth Strategist, and Hans Krippaehne, Director of Investments, to explore how modern RIAs are evolving to meet that challenge. We discuss how Fulcrum integrates holistic wealth planning with institutional-quality investment management—bringing together portfolio construction, manager selection, due diligence, tax efficiency, liquidity planning, estate strategy, and long-term family stewardship. Topics include: • How the RIA model has evolved from traditional brokerage to fully independent fiduciary advice • Why manager research and due diligence matter more than ever in today’s investment environment • How RIAs evaluate active managers across mutual funds, ETFs, and private market strategies • The growing role of tax-efficient portfolio construction and asset location • Managing liquidity needs while increasing exposure to private markets • How advisors balance long-term discipline against near-term market narratives like AI, private credit, and thematic investing • Why transparency and investor education remain central to client trust • The future of active ETFs and what they mean for wealth advisors Hans shares how Fulcrum approaches underwriting external managers, building portfolios with fewer but higher-conviction allocations, and maintaining discipline in an increasingly crowded investment landscape. Kathryn explains how true wealth management extends beyond investments—covering tax planning, estate considerations, philanthropy, and multi-generational decision-making. And in one of the most memorable moments of the episode, the conversation becomes personal. Joining us as student co-host is Drexel University student Carter Garrison—who also happens to be Kathryn’s son. What begins as a deep conversation about portfolio construction and investment due diligence ends with something even more important: a discussion about family, financial habits, and the lessons parents hope to pass on to the next generation. Because at its core, wealth management isn’t just about growing capital. It’s about building trust, preserving optionality, and creating a legacy that lasts beyond markets.

From Anthropology to Investing: How Drexel's Endowment Makes Investment Decisions with Stephen Chase

Stephen Chase, Associate Director of Investments at Drexel University, joins host, Robert Morier to discuss how a three-person investment office oversees approximately $1.25 billion across the university's endowment and investment portfolio. In this conversation, Stephen shares his unconventional path from studying anthropology at Trinity College to helping manage one of Philadelphia's leading university endowments. We explore how qualitative thinking, manager due diligence, portfolio construction, private markets, real assets, AI, and risk management shape investment decisions inside a modern institutional investment office. Topics include: • Managing a billion-dollar university endowment with a lean investment team • Why an anthropology degree became an advantage in investment management • How institutional allocators evaluate asset managers and build trust • The future of private markets, real assets, and infrastructure investing • AI's growing role in manager research and investment operations • Portfolio construction, liquidity management, and risk oversight Whether you're an allocator, asset manager, investment consultant, student, or aspiring investment professional, this episode offers a rare behind-the-scenes look at how institutional capital is deployed and managed over the long term.

Where Investors are Allocating | Insights from Dakota Live! On The Road

What happens when you leave the conference stage and sit down with investors where they actually work? Over the past year, Dakota Live! has traveled the country, recording conversations with CIOs, investment office leaders, consultants, OCIOs, foundations, endowments, family offices, and institutional investors. This special episode brings together the most important themes, market observations, and portfolio discussions from those conversations. In this episode, we explore: • How allocators are thinking about portfolio construction in today's market • The outlook for private equity, venture capital, and private credit • Manager selection and due diligence trends • The growing role of AI in investing and operations • Active versus passive management in concentrated markets • Risk management amid uncertainty and idiosyncratic volatility • Emerging opportunities across public and private markets The Dakota Live! On the Road series is different because these conversations happen where decisions are made—inside investment offices, on university campuses, and alongside the teams responsible for stewarding long-term capital. On the road. On the ground. In the room.

The Future of Venture Capital: AI, Seed Investing, and the New Founder Playbook

Melody Koh, Partner at NextView Ventures, joins the Dakota Live Podcast to discuss how artificial intelligence is reshaping venture capital, startup building, company scaling, and the future of work. As both a seed-stage investor and the leader of NextView's AI and data initiatives, Melody offers a unique perspective on what separates winning founders from the rest in an AI-native economy. From evaluating startup teams and identifying durable competitive advantages to redesigning venture capital workflows with AI agents, this conversation explores how technology is changing both sides of the investment table. Topics include: * The current state of venture capital in 2026 * How AI is changing startup formation and company building * AI agents vs. traditional workflows * Why venture firms must reinvent themselves * The future of seed-stage investing * What investors look for in AI-native startups * Consumer AI opportunities that may be overlooked Melody also shares lessons from building and scaling products at Blue Apron, investing through multiple venture cycles, and helping founders navigate the challenges of growth, hiring, and execution. Whether you're a founder, allocator, venture capitalist, institutional investor, or student interested in innovation and emerging technology, this episode provides a practical look at where venture capital and artificial intelligence are headed next. About Melody Koh Melody Koh is a Partner at NextView Ventures [https://nextview.vc/?utm_source=chatgpt.com], a seed-stage venture capital firm focused on the Everyday Economy. She invests in early-stage technology companies and leads the firm's AI and data initiatives. Prior to NextView, Melody held leadership roles at Blue Apron [https://www.blueapron.com/?utm_source=chatgpt.com] and previously worked in venture investing, entrepreneurship, and product management.

BlackRock’s Michael Gates on Model Portfolios, AI, Bitcoin ETFs & the Future of Wealth Management

What happens when one of the world’s largest asset managers starts rethinking portfolio construction in the age of AI? On this episode of Dakota Live!, Robert Morier sits down with Michael Gates, Managing Director and Head of Model Portfolio Solutions for the Americas within BlackRock’s Multi-Asset Strategies & Solutions platform. The conversation explores how BlackRock is thinking about: • Model portfolios and advisor scale • Active vs. passive portfolio construction • The rise of active ETFs • Bitcoin ETFs and alternative allocations • AI’s impact on investing and research workflows • Behavioral coaching and “advisor alpha” • Risk budgeting, tactical allocation, and market structure • Tax overlays, SMAs, and portfolio personalization • What future investment professionals need to learn now Michael also shares how his background in biological sciences and economics shaped his investment philosophy, why efficient markets still matter, and how AI coding tools are already transforming research and productivity inside financial services. For advisors, allocators, wealth managers, students, and anyone interested in the future of portfolio construction, this is a deep dive into where the industry may be headed next. Topics include: * BlackRock model portfolios * Portfolio construction strategies * Active ETFs vs passive investing * Bitcoin ETF adoption * AI in asset management * Advisor alpha and behavioral finance * Wealth management trends 2026 * Multi-asset investing * Tax-loss harvesting strategies * Institutional investing insights For our audience of allocators, advisors, OCIO professionals, and emerging investment leaders, this episode offers a real-time look into how one of the largest asset managers in the world is thinking about portfolio construction, AI, risk, and the future of advisor value creation. And for students, this conversation is a masterclass in what the next generation of investing actually looks like: combining economic intuition, technology, coding, behavioral understanding, and communication into a modern investment career.