Bethany Bryant, Regional Director, Glenmede
Bethany Bryant, regional director at wealth management and multi-family office firm Glenmede, spoke with Invest: about leveraging the advantages of being a midsized firm in the growing Pittsburgh market. “We are a midsized organization that has the size, scale, and resources of a large company, but we’re small enough to be entrepreneurial, nimble, and flexible,” Bryant said. “We have a planning-led, investment-aligned approach to clients’ wealth needs.”
What changes over the past year have most impacted the company and in what ways?
I joined Glenmede in early 2024, and it has been amazing to land at a company that talks the talk and walks the walk in terms of delivering exceptional client experience. Privately held organizations like Glenmede can make the right long term business decisions even if they negatively impact the bottom line in the short term. Publicly-traded companies don’t always have that luxury. The last nine months have been anything but normal in the stock market. There has been a lot of volatility. We were down 20% as an economic indicator. Point-in-time indicators don’t always tell you what’s going on across the world. It’s been great to work at an organization that focuses on client experience and helping clients focus on the bigger picture and their goals. Money is very personal, and peoples’ livelihoods and goals are dependent on their investments and savings. When we take care of our clients, the business takes care of itself.
Glenmede has focused on organic growth. There is a lot of consolidation happening in this business. We are not in the acquisition business like you’re seeing across the industry. If you are well capitalized and growing at a steady, organic rate, you don’t need to knock the lights out to have a solid business model. Glenmede has transitioned from a “big” small company, and we’re becoming a “small” big company, so we’ve added a little more infrastructure, policies, and governance to help us move faster. We are a midsized organization that has the size, scale, and resources that come with a big company, but we’re small enough to be nimble and flexible.
How has Glenmede’s overall performance and growth trajectory shaped the firm’s approach in Pittsburgh and the broader mid-Atlantic region?
We’ve been in Pittsburgh for about five years; it is our newest office. There is a lot of enthusiasm for Pittsburgh as a market. There is wealth here, both old and new. This market has many small businesses and a reasonable cost of living. Whether you grew up here or are a transplant, it is an active and growing market. Historically this market has been served by several very large players in the wealth management space, as well as a few smaller players. While the large institutions have much of the legacy wealth, we are seeing a number of new institutions enter this market in recent years to take advantage of the growth and opportunity in Pittsburgh. The downtown area of Pittsburgh is buzzing with restaurants and tons of foot traffic. It says something about the residents, the opportunities, and the vibrancy of the city that you don’t see everywhere.
What recent initiatives, service enhancements or client milestones stand out as significant achievements for the Pittsburgh office?
Our priority is serving the market. As a wealth management firm, particularly with family office services, we lead with a planning focus before we dive into a client’s investments. Investments should be selected only after the goals, cash flow, risk tolerance and ownership structure is reviewed and should be tailored to execute the wealth plan. We operate as a multi-family office with many different wealth advisory services and estate planning capabilities. We break our planning into three pillars. The first is “lifestyle”, ensuring you can live the lifestyle you’d like to maintain with the assets and cash flow you have. Once we understand the lifestyle goals, we work on the second pillar which is “legacy”, determining how, where and when you want your money to pass after death. We spend a lot of time embedding family values and a lasting impact for multiple generations of wealth transfer. The third pillar is “philanthropy”. We spend a lot of time with clients thinking about their philanthropy in an impactful way. Clients often want to see their philanthropic dollars put to use while they are alive to see their impact. We also look at the structure people can use for their philanthropic causes, including trusts, foundations, and donor-advised funds, to ensure they are leveraging the right assets to give. Lastly, we think about the values a client wants to pass along to their next generation. Sometimes philanthropy can be the thread you pull from one generation to the next, so we spend a lot of time talking about legacy and family values to pass down. Investing should always be influenced by lifestyle, philanthropic and lifestyle goals.
What role does the company play in facilitating philanthropy and community engagement in the Pittsburgh area?
Glenmede was founded by the Pew family to manage the Pew charitable trusts in perpetuity. Philanthropy is in our DNA. We invest at a corporate level in every market we are in. In some cases, it is an outright donation from the company or a matching gift for our employees’ giving. Secondly, we give back through charitable sponsorships. We support local and regional charities as a sponsor for several organizations that have an impact in our community and that hold values that align with our clients and employees. All employees are encouraged to sit on philanthropic boards and donate our personal dollars. Glenmede will sponsor large events that align with employee donations and passions. We often sponsor organizations that our clients are involved with. We want to ensure we are matching and aligning our interests with our clients’ interests.
What regional trends are most influencing Glenmede’s strategies and conversations with clients?
We are focused particularly on multi-generational families and on business owners. There is a lot of wealth tied up in businesses. People have assets in all forms, liquid or not. We are involved in the Business Exchange, the Technology Council, and the oil and gas industry. There’s a fair amount of wealth that is going to pass, either through a sale of a business or by passing of ownership interests to the next generation. Both scenarios involve a high level of planning. Business owners are a target audience for our firm generally, but has a particular focus in Pittsburgh due to the demographics. We also focus on women and the next generation. We executives and career professionals building their own wealth, while at the same time inheriting wealth from their baby boomer parents. In some cases, they aren’t that young and are inheriting significant wealth and have already built a nest egg of their own. Women tend to live longer than men, often inheriting a sizable amount of wealth that they are going to control. Some don’t feel as financially savvy and appreciate an educational component. There is an opportunity to ensure they are informed about their choices around their wealth.
Looking ahead to the next 12 to 18 months, what priorities and goals is Glenmede setting for its Pittsburgh operations and the broader region?
Our first priority is to provide our clients with a white-glove client experience and service in pursuit of their goals. The second priority is to expand our talent. We have an incredibly talented team in our Pittsburgh office, and our growth is dependent on being able to retain and develop the people we have while attracting additional talent. Our third priority is maintaining strategic, organic growth at a steady pace. We’re not looking to double the size of the company through acquisition, but to steadily grow in our market by delivering exceptional service.
