A Conversation with Summitas CEO Dan Gregerson on Innovation, Security, and the Future of Wealth Management

Summitas has built a reputation for providing a seamless wealth management experience for high-net-worth families and the offices that serve them. The company's name, derived from the Latin word for 'summit,' reflects both its classical roots and its aspirational vision. According to Chairman and CEO Dan Gregerson, "One of our founders coined the name two decades ago. Today, we're focused on fulfilling that promise."

With a compound annual growth rate exceeding 30% since 2019, Summitas is making significant strides toward that goal.

Forest Systems is proud to collaborate with Summitas, strengthening security, compliance, and operational efficiency for high-net-worth families and their advisors. "We know and trust the founders of Forest Systems," Gregerson remarked. "We have full confidence in both the technology and the team driving the company."

In this exclusive Q&A, we sit down with Gregerson to explore what sets Summitas apart, the transformative impact it has on its users, and his outlook on the future of wealth management.

Forest Systems (FS): What does Summitas do better than anyone else on the market?

Dan Gregerson (DG): We reduce operational costs by automating processes like statement and legal document delivery and putting all relevant information, including real-time portfolio summaries, at the client's fingertips. Summitas also protects sensitive information through advanced security protocols, cryptographic algorithms, and security policy enforcement. Security technologies and policies are deployed in a ringed security model to ensure data privacy and integrity. All apps inherit platform security, which empowers clients, families, and administrators to organize, protect, and share information freely, giving users peace of mind.

FS: How does Summitas prioritize customer support?

DG: Summitas Engage℠ is our professional services team. It is part of Customer Success and is responsible for all post-sale setup, branding, training, software enhancements, and integrations. Customers and competitors admire Summitas's white-glove Customer Success approach, which extends far beyond problem-solving.

Summitas works proactively to help prove customer ROI, often adding to its product roadmap to improve the client experience and create additional value. Summitas takes a holistic approach to understanding the customers’ technology stack, business drivers, and key performance indicators and improves them by building long-term relationships.

FS: Could you share any notable client success stories where Summitas' platform has significantly contributed to a client's success or improved their operations?

DG: There is a leading single-family office that encountered operational inefficiencies because of a manual process for distributing financial statements. The workflow proved to be time-consuming, error-prone, and resource-intensive.

Summitas implemented a secure sFTP integration with the office's data aggregator, allowing automated statement delivery directly to the family member vaults. Notifications were automatically triggered upon upload, ensuring family members had timely access.

By eliminating the manual process, it reduced the risk of errors and freed the staff to focus on higher-value work. The improved the overall service delivery and operational efficiency.

FS: Are there any examples for other types of offices that come to mind?

DG: We had a registered investment advisor (RIA) who added the Finboard app to their Summitas Platform deployment. This enhanced client engagement and advisory effectiveness. Clients now log in more frequently to view investment metrics such as net worth, asset allocation, and top holdings, which leads to greater financial awareness. Improving transparency and trust also strengthened their client relationships.

FS: Are there any exciting new features or strategic initiatives you're working on?

DG: We are developing generative AI and machine learning agent-based solutions for Customer Success, Financial Trend Analysis, Document Tagging and Summarization, and Semantic Search.

FS: How do you see the role of technology evolving in the wealth management industry over the next 5–10 years, and what role will Summitas play in shaping that future?

DG: AI-based reasoning, research, analysis, and presentation services (UIs) will be ubiquitous within 10 years. As an informed user of AI technologies, Summitas will continue to innovate and help define the future of wealth management machine intelligence.

To learn more about Summitas or connect with a member of their team, please visit their website at: summitas.com.