San Francisco, CA-based Robertson Stephens Partners is now the holding company of the newly-formed Robertson Stephens Asset Management and broker/dealer Robertson Stephens Securities, with Joseph Piazza serving as chairman and chief executive. 

Robertson Stephens Asset Management, the operating company, will serve individuals and families with between $10 million and $100 million in assets, with a focus on entrepreneurs from high-growth industries including technology, social media and energy. Piazza said the firm views those with over $100 million as ultra high net worth clients.

Piazza said the new firm wasn't a reorganization of the original firm, but would "pay respect to the original firm and all of the boutique firms that were an important part of that era.”

He added that staff at Robertson Stephens AM currently consist of the firm's management and infrastructure employees, which in addition to Piazza include Robin Nakao, chief operating officer and chief financial officer; Bernadine Heinrich, controller; Ron Guidi, head of operations and compliance; and Tony Lindner, operations specialist.

“We expect to begin adding advisors and assets in the early spring, after we make a couple of more staff additions,” Piazza said.

Robertson Stephens Asset Management is headquartered at 555 California Street in San Francisco, which is where Piazza founded the financial services division at Robertson Stephens in 1998.

Partnership with LPL    

Meanwhile, LPL Financial, the independent broker/dealer unit of LPL Financial Holdings, will provide Robertson Stephens Partners with an infrastructure and technology platform, along with access to LPL’s wholly-owned subsidiary Fortigent - a provider of asset allocation modeling, portfolio construction, manager due diligence and consolidated reporting.

Robertson Stephens Partners said that both Robertson Stephens Asset Management and Robertson Stephens Securities have started their respective registration processes.

It added that the new Robertson Stephens is not affiliated in any way with Sandy Robertson or Paul Stephens - two of the founders of the original firm. Neither is it affiliated in any way with RS Investments, a San Francisco-based mutual fund company.