Can a $324.3 billion wealth manager reinvent how high-net-worth investors access private markets? In this episode, I speak with Robert Picard, Head of Alternative Investments at Hightower Advisors, who is leading one of the industry’s most ambitious expansions into private markets. We discuss how Hightower is bringing institutional-grade research, access, and due diligence to individual investors, what the NEPC acquisition means for its alternatives platform, and how technology and AI are reshaping the way portfolios are built. Robert also shares lessons from more than 35 years of building multi-billion-dollar alternative platforms atThe Carlyle Group/Rock Creek, Optima Fund Management, RBC Capital Markets and State Street/InfraHedge, and explains why the future of wealth management will look more like an endowment model than ever before.