Event Perspectives: Trust Advisors Forum, Orion Ascent, iConnections Global Alts Miami, Family Wealth Alliance Summit, Future Proof Citywide, and UNCW Business Week

It’s hard to believe we’re only three months into 2026 because the F2 team has traveled thousands of miles across the country already attending conferences and speaking at events. No surprise to anyone with a pulse; AI was the hot topic at every event we visited. This gave us an opportunity to present a lot of insight around real world use cases of the technology and how we think it should best be deployed by RIAs, banks and trust companies, alternative asset institutions, and other firms.  

Trust Advisors Forum

In attendance: Tim Buhler and Trasha Schwendener

It was wonderful to join this group and discover a lot of activity is getting underway. At the forum, we got a strong sense that trust companies are seeking the best ways to innovate and serve clients. This positive momentum has been good for the bank trust industry, for too long it has lagged behind its RIA counterparts in technology adoption. Along with the increased action, we learned that many vendors are partnering with each other to create integrated solutions, which is a win for the trust industry as it will save them on the costs of building custom integrations in the future.

Orion Ascent

In attendance: Doug Fritz and Dan Johnson

The biggest buzzword tied to AI might be “efficiency”. We saw many examples of how Orion will deliver this to their clients and that’s great. So, the question becomes what will you do with that newly found free time? Advisors need guidance and structure to leverage that time savings effectively. And clients will always want that human relationship and oversight of the machines. It also became clearer to us during this meeting that the more that AI takes a foothold within organizations, it's going to minimize the need to use unique software for each business function. In the “all-in-one” vs. “customized solutions” debate, all-in-one is gaining the edge. Advisors will be able to simplify the tech stakes.

iConnections Global Alts Miami and InvestOps USA

In attendance: Dan Hunter and Lena Friedman

These back-to-back events served the alternative investment management community in different ways. We made a lot of new connections (no pun intended) at iConnections that led us straight to InvestOps. Here we saw a strong trend of traditional asset managers pulling in hedge fund strategies. This blurring of the lines between fund structures means there is an increased need for middle and back-office transparency.  When firms add strategies, they add additional processes and new technology and accounting software. By trying to consolidate technology, adding strategies, you’re actually just adding complexity. Transparency aims to lift that fog and provide clarity to firms.

Family Wealth Alliance Summit

In attendance: Brooks Lloyd

Here too the word on everyone’s lips was “AI”.  We like to break AI adoption in wealth management down into two pieces: the prerequisite foundation and where you stand in the AI adoption journey. First, be honest about where you are with your data: do you have good sound data, do you own your data? After you document where you are with your data and you can align that with what is possible as a current AI use case and then develop a data and AI strategy to unlock new use cases.

Future Proof Citywide

In attendance: Liz Fritz, Doug Fritz, Dan Johnson, Jaci Stanton, Jerry Robert, Michelle Borkowski, Kent Tkach

We talk about AI every day with our clients, but at this fully-focused AI event, we clearly saw the industry shift from 'hype' to 'value' with how firms regard AI and the opportunity for AI in both efficiency (below-the-line)  and revenue (above-the-line) use cases. True wins being achieved when below the line efficiencies are redeployed into above the line wins such as impactful human relationship between advisor and client.

UNC Business Week

In attendance: Clare Pieratt, John Driban, Tim Buhler, Carsyn Pieratt

It’s not every day we get to go back to school, but we had a great time on campus at UNC Wilmington presenting a look at WealthTech consulting to the school’s business students. We shared our backgrounds on how we got to our present roles which demonstrated the indirect paths careers take and how each career is truly a unique journey. We also discussed the job market, defined standard roles in consulting, and explained AI’s impact on the workforce.  

But we didn’t just talk. We also learned how college students see our industry from the outside and heard what they worry about—we fielded questions like how to gain experience when every position wants someone with experience, and how to avoid career burnout. The questions and concerns of tomorrow's industry leaders can show us how we need to manage projects and lead our teams today.  

Want to talk more? Reach out to any of our experts above to set up a meeting.