COVER STORY
What’ s Next For Envestnet?
Amid an AI boom, a new CEO manages the fintech firm’ s pivot to a new age.
By Evan Simonoff
WHILE BAIN CAPITAL AND OTHER PRIVATE investors were acquiring Envestnet, the portfolio management software giant, for $ 4.5 billion last year, the fintech world was facing unprecedented upheaval. Many small fintech concerns had been seeking capital infusions, and AI was standing the broader technology industry on its head. Meanwhile, Envestnet’ s largest base of users— advisors— are seeing their own industry go through structural changes. There’ s not only been a surge in demand for their services but there’ s been consolidation as the advisory industry’ s founding generation starts to sell their businesses and head into the sunset.
In 2010, Envestnet became one of the few fintech companies in the advisory space to reach the scale to go public, giving it a status and capital that few of its rivals could reach, including the ability to purchase other software companies serving advisors. However, its record as a public company was mixed. Activist investors and others were quick to criticize management and demanded changes to beef up shareholder value.
Initially founded in 1999 to help the independent broker-dealer industry introduce and oversee separately managed accounts, Envestnet was able to expand beyond that market after its IPO. It acquired Tamarac, a software platform targeting the RIA market, in 2012. Then it bought Yodlee, a leading data aggregator, in 2015, and after that MoneyGuidePro, the leading financial planning software program, for which it paid $ 500 million in 2019.
But things took a tragic turn in October 2019, when Envestnet lost its chairman, CEO and founder, Jud Bergman, in a car crash.( Bergman was succeeded by his longtime colleague and president, Bill Crager.) The tragedy occurred shortly before the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
Meanwhile, the company was getting a reputation as a serial acquirer as much as a product developer. Its previous management had bought more than 10 companies. Chris Todd, who was named CEO in January 2025 by the new owners, heard that critique. But the upshot is Envestnet now has a powerful footprint with many profitable, entrenched products. It oversees $ 6.5 trillion in assets, is used by one-third of all financial advisors, 48 of the 50 largest wealth management and brokerage firms, more than 500 of the largest RIAs, 800 asset managers and 17 of the 20 largest U. S. banks.
A major part of Todd’ s mandate now is to evaluate the company’ s sprawling portfolio of software properties. As a public company, Envestnet faced no shortage of suggestions from public shareholders, industry participants and others on how it should be run. Todd is sympathetic to the company’ s former managers and says the advice was often contradictory.
“ Someone tells you to grow, [ then ] someone tells you to invest for the long term,” Todd explains.“ Invest for the short term. We want margin now, [ or ] we’ ll sacrifice margin now to get growth tomorrow. Someone will say,‘ We want you moving to custody.’ Some will say,‘ We want you to move into defined contributions.’”
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF ENVESTNET JUNE 2025 | FINANCIAL ADVISOR MAGAZINE | 33