Growth, Culture & Succession: Building Evercore – with Chris Zander

## Transcript **[00:27] Rosemary Denney:** Hi, everyone, and welcome back to the wealth marketing podcast. I'm Rosemary Denney, and today I had the privilege of sitting down with Chris Zander, the president and CEO of Evercore Wealth Management and Evercore Trust Company. Chris was part of the founding partner group led by Jeff Maurer that established Evercore Wealth Management in 2008. And today the firm manages more than $16 billion for families, foundations, and endowments across the country. Before Evercore he led the multi-family office at US Trust, guiding teams across the country and serving ultra-high net worth families. He was named president of Evercore Trust Company in 2017, president of Evercore Wealth Management in 2019. And CEO of both in 2020 as part of a long-term leadership succession plan. He also serves on the advisory board of the Ultra High Net Worth Institute, an organization near and dear to my heart. In our interview, we talked about thoughtful growth, what a true partnership culture looks like in practice, developing the next generation of advisors and clients, and why trust and fiduciary services matter more than ever. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. **[01:38] Rosemary Denney:** Hi Chris. Welcome to the show. Thank you so much for being here. **[01:42] Chris Zander:** Hi, Rosemary. Thank you so much for the opportunity to speak with you today. We really appreciate it. **[01:48] Rosemary Denney:** Chris, when you first joined Evercore from US Trust, I would love to hear what you were looking to do differently and what you were looking to carry into this new venture at that time. **[02:00] Chris Zander:** Yes. Well, I started my career I was very fortunate to work at such a wonderful firm at US Trust Company where we had we operated as a team. There was a culture of focusing on the client, also focusing on your professional discipline and being the best at what you do in that environment. But always operating as a team and thinking about what's best for the firm and what's best for your client families in that. And when we all joined together to start Evercore Wealth Management just about 18 years ago, we had a vision to recreate all of the best parts of that culture, but also knew that we had to bring it forward and that we would be. Coming through the great financial crisis and coming forward and to develop a firm that would be enduring beyond that and be able to really focus on our clients and being able to advise clients in a very personal way. **[03:06] Rosemary Denney:** That's really interesting that you were part of the team that launched Evercore right around the time of the crisis, which in my opinion was sort of the dawn of the multifamily office, right? It's when really people started to pay attention to the model as a different option than the larger banks and brokerage firms. So I'd love to hear your thoughts on how that either paved the way or made it more challenging for you guys during that time. **[03:32] Chris Zander:** Well, it was, as you recall, it was a challenging time. But what we really thought about it was going back to the basics. So at its core, the wealth management business is really providing very personalized advice in the areas of investments, wealth planning, and being a trusted advisor to those families. And what can happen over time is things can get more complicated. And what we wanted to make sure was we were going back to the basics. We would have two senior professionals working with every client jointly and in their discipline, one in a very strong investment professional, the other one that had very strong wealth planning, advisory, and trust expertise, and bringing that together. Secondly, at that time, as you'll recall, it was such a difficult time period for clients and for advisors to make decisions. There were a lot of unknowns. And what it really got us back to was basic goals-based investment and wealth planning to allow our clients to get started, to get invested, to get moving forward in making decisions and get out of being frozen. So one of the benefits, even though it didn't feel like it at the time of being at a new independent firm right at that time was that we could really focus on it and not be distracted from the environment, so to say, and really go back to what we do best. **[05:10] Rosemary Denney:** And I completely agree. I think those were very challenging days. I'm curious to know what did you learn in those early days that still shapes how your firm operates today? **[05:24] Chris Zander:** At the time we appreciated it, but I think looking back even more so now of being a partnership at its core. So when we think about that and think about a partnership culture, it was around what you would do best for clients every day. And we have a culture that people all of our team at every level is encouraged to speak up Because and point out what we could be doing better for clients, how we could set up the firm to serve our clients better, and also to be able to allow for talent to be successful at our firm and ensure that everyone's voice is heard. So, I think going like thinking about at that point, getting a little bit smaller from the prior firm we were at allowed us to sort of reposition things and then push forward to today. **[06:18] Rosemary Denney:** I love that back to basics. That's very old school. And so is the model that you guys set up with the two professionals for every single client you're serving. Is that still how you how things are today? **[06:31] Chris Zander:** That is still how it is today. It's not just two people, because beyond that we have lots of talent within the firm and specialized expertise that can help join and support those two professionals in working with a relationship. But what we what is really important about that model too is also about succession and transition. Because when you have that, you have that institutional knowledge with a client relationship embedded in two people because as partners and advisors retire. Sometimes unfortunately they have to stop working earlier for other circumstances. And it allows for our clients to have a smooth and orderly transition when something happens like that, where it doesn't impact them long term. **[07:26] Rosemary Denney:** So you're looking at succession both on the business side and for the clients themselves. **[07:32] Chris Zander:** They go hand in hand. If we don't have an orderly succession for our clients, then we don't have an orderly succession for our business. So it's very important to do that. And it's not always planned. You can only plan it out so much, but we live in a world where things can change. And we're dealing with generations of client relationships and things are going to change on both sides of that equation. **[08:00] Rosemary Denney:** That's gonna bring me to my next question. I'm in conversations with wealth management firms across the country every day. And inevitably, in every conversation, we talk about MA and consolidation. And in my work, I see firms who put clients first and I see firms who put growth first. And I'm curious to know how Evercore thinks about growth and how do you balance those two objectives? **[08:24] Chris Zander:** I view them as very coordinated and not mutually exclusive. So clearly our North Star is serving our clients and advising them to the best we do every day and not letting anything get in the way of doing what giving the best advice and the most aligned advice. However, part of being a great firm for your clients and always being there is to have a proper growth plan. Because if you don't have a proper growth plan and your firm does not continue to grow and continue to develop, you're not adding, for example, you're not adding maybe the capabilities that are needed as client generations evolve and client needs evolve. You're not going to be able to retain your best talent over time. There won't be room for that talent to be rewarded, to have opportunity with clients, to be able to grow with them. And you're not going to be able to invest in your technology and your systems and everything that comes together to make the client experience exceptional. So when I think about it, I can't think about one without the other. What you have to fight against is making sure that your culture stays intact along the way and you never leave the client behind. **[09:51] Rosemary Denney:** A hundred percent. When you're thinking about that mantra and that discipline to never leave the client behind, how is that put into practice? What does that mean when you are talking to your teams and you're talking about how you serve clients? How does that come through? **[10:10] Chris Zander:** Sure. It comes through, one in our training and how we train our advisors. So when we have our advisors, our younger advisors, our earlier stage advisors are joining us and they're participating, they're in front of the client all the time. We're institutionalizing that. They're witnessing how client relationships evolve. They're seeing how our advisors operate and As when you're recruiting advisors and you're bringing people on board, you don't want to change them. You are recruiting them because they're very talented at what they do. They're unique. They have their own characteristics. And you want to make sure that you have them in an environment where they can be at their best because that's why you've attracted them. But also to work within the culture of a fur of the firm and as teammates and striking that right balance. So That's important in institutionalizing the culture. Also meeting together and having peer reviews amongst how we're doing with clients is very important. And also for me as the leader of the firm to make sure I have my finger on the pulse of how client relationships are evolving and how our advice is being given through that. One interesting side note about our culture that speaking up. And doing what's right for the client above all costs is really important. So we several years ago we I was in a client meeting with one of our colleagues and we were speaking, and it was a l a client who had been with us a while, for many years, and we were talking about what to do on this specific circumstance. And I didn't realize it, but my myself and the other advisor that were on the team. Started almost arguing during the client meeting about what was best for the client and what the best advice was. And I don't I don't know how it got there, but we just started going and the client was sitting there quiet. And at the end, the client called me up after the meeting and said, By the way, that's the reason why we're clients of your firm and we work with you, because you're not afraid to speak up and talk about what might be best. In that and you're having those great discussions, lively discussions about what's best for your client. And we always want that. That played out in front of the client. Most of the time we do that behind closed doors to make sure that our advice is aligned and it's on point and it's it's never conflicting. **[12:49] Rosemary Denney:** When you're thinking about when you're when you're coming across opportunities for advisors and other teams to join into Evercore. What makes those opportunities compelling to you? Is it simply just a cultural fit? Are there things like geography, client profiles? What makes a team or an opportunity compelling in your mind to bring into Evercore? **[13:12] Chris Zander:** So great question. I tend to think about the decision we made to partner with Evercore in building a wealth management and trust business. And as Evercore is one of the leading independent global investment banking firms. But as an advisory firm, the focus is always on attracting talent that competes based on the individual's ideas. Their expertise, their relationships, and what they add to the firm. And when I think about that, in the wealth management context, it's completely aligned. We want to bring folks on board who can add to our capabilities, maybe add expertise working with a particular type of client set or a particular discipline that we need at our firm or that we need to invest more in our firm. Or in geographic locations so that our firm could be closer to our clients in providing what we do every day. So that's what we're thinking about from our side. Now it's always within the context of a team-based culture and advisors that want to do what they do best, but be partnered in a firm where they could rely on others to come in and help them provide the best experience for our clients and expertise. So it's always that advisor that's looking to come in and blend their firm, their expertise in and work with us. So that's always important when we're recruiting. **[14:47] Rosemary Denney:** Are Evercore's advisors part of your growth, or do you have a separate business development team? Or is it both? **[14:54] Chris Zander:** Yeah, so it's mostly our advisors. We do have some business development folks within our firm and those they're operating as well and working with our advisors across the firm. But primarily we're driving growth through providing the best experience for our clients. They have colleagues and they work with individuals and they feel pretty comfortable referring us. We work with the professional advisors of our clients, other professional advisors, whether that's tax and legal insurance and other specialized capabilities. And the combination of that along with we invest a lot of time and effort into providing thought leadership and communication about what we think clients should be thinking about. All of those things wrap together. Are really a good function of our growth. And then attracting talented people who fit with the culture and add new capabilities for us. That's another, way of growth as well. **[15:58] Rosemary Denney:** Absolutely. And I'm curious to know in terms of your client referrals and your new business that comes from client referrals. I am assuming because you're like most wealth management firms, that's been the primary source of growth, but I'm curious to know if that's changed over the years. **[16:13] Chris Zander:** We've learned over time about what our clients are valuing most about the services we provide and really where we add the most value. And so over time that's been similar. But I think what we're starting to see more and more of is supported by AI and technology is more inbound access and inbound calls and contacts through thought leadership dissemination, social media, and other digital marketing aspects of what we do. **[16:48] Rosemary Denney:** I've heard you mention it many times, the partnership culture at Evercore. I'd love to hear from you what does the phrase partnership culture mean and how does it impact the client experience? **[17:18] Chris Zander:** In being a partner at a firm, you're an owner, you're responsible for the culture, you're responsible for the client experience. And so w we take it extremely seriously So we continue to focus every day on making sure that our teams are speaking up. That they are raising where there are places where we could be better, that they think about the business as a business, meaning making investment decisions. And investment decisions for the firm, whether to add a capability, whether to add a team, whether to hire more advisors or a specialized advisor or other things. And we make investments for the firm, and everyone's an owner and takes an ownership mentality. That is very important. It's also about being a good partner. So what do I mean by that? We have I mentioned the two senior professionals working with relationships. We have professionals with the firm working with different sets of clients. But across our firm, there are just there are different professionals who have some specific expertise that could be very helpful to another client in another office. Or on another team. And in our firm, we are we incentivize and encourage that collaboration at all times. So you can bring anybody else in the firm who can be helpful to solving a client's a particular issue. And it might be because they had a similar client three years before go through the same aspect. Now we're talking about those experiences internally. And trying to institutionalize them more across our firm. But it's always great to be able to bring in a colleague and have them do that. **[19:10] Rosemary Denney:** Can you share with me a quick example of how that shows up in a client relationship and how that's played out before in a client example? **[19:20] Chris Zander:** Sure. When we're speaking with different clients and going through this, I think one area it's very important is in our trust business, where we're serving as co-trustee with families and with individuals in their long term trusts. And we'll have two professionals working on that, working with the client, and we're setting up particular trust for the client. And in order to provide the proper governance, Evercore Trust Company is serving as a co-trustee along with a family member. And so what's in that is are we might have another member of our team very steeped in very deep fiduciary expertise who might step in and join that meeting and going through that to think about what's the next steps for that client to consider. Going forward. And sometimes it can be on thinking about the scenario if the first generation is no longer alive. How is that plan going to play out? And having that broader team there to talk through those issues with our clients in that very close setting, bringing the expertise of the firm to bear, that's what I think about in being a partner in the firm. It might not be your direct client every day, but All of our clients at the firm are the clients of all of our advisors. And that's what it means to be a partner. **[20:51] Rosemary Denney:** Do you feel that it's been challenging as you grow with different advisory teams you're bringing, you're expanding your footprint geographically from where I sit, that can be quite challenging to integrate other firms into such a strong centralized culture. Do you find that's challenging as you bring to maintain that culture of partnership as you grow? **[21:15] Chris Zander:** So it's always a challenge. So if I were to say it wasn't, I wouldn't be truthful here or transparent. But one of the wonderful things about our firm that has sort of evolved, and I think it's because everybody feels this way in the firm, is in all of the areas that we are building the firm that are functioning, whether it's investment areas or making fiduciary decisions or Making sure that we're providing the best wealth planning advice. We have created groups across the firm that have representation of all of our offices and teams and disciplines And so in building the firm out, it's all of the advisors at the firm involved in that to make sure that we build the best platform. And By giving everyone a voice in that and having that participation, it brings the firm very close together in its core, it's how it's run, even though in our each of our teams and in our different offices, it also allows for individuality and local preference and also for our advisors to be who they are and how they operate with clients. But they all have a voice. So When one of our investment professionals is recommending an investment for our clients, they've been involved in that decision. It's not a centralized decision that they don't have any input in. They have been involved in it in some way, shape, or form. They've seen how it's been developed, diligenced, and formed along the way, and they could speak to it with that closeness. Where in maybe in another setting they don't have that. Transparency into the process. And that's what keeps the culture in entwined and also keeps communication very, well flowing throughout the firm. **[23:11] Rosemary Denney:** In a lot of my conversations with founders, succession has been a topic that they know they need to address, but they most often put off and they don't want to talk about it. From your seat, what makes leadership continuity at a firm successful? **[23:30] Chris Zander:** So a couple of different things. One, I think you always have to be thinking about it. And you always have to be working towards Ensuring that your firm is going to be in the best place to serve clients at all times. And so you have to think through like what are the issues that can happen that could cause a change and be planning for that. So when we started Evercore Wealth Management. Our CEO who led the charge, and that was Jeff Maurer was the former CEO of U.S. Trust, as you recall, was thinking about that and thinking about the partners in management and who the initial team was and where the strengths were across the business, and thinking about that process from the beginning. And over time, we have put our senior people. And all and our next generation of leaders at the firm and advisors into leadership roles, into project management roles, and because one, we want their involvement in it, but two, you also can see how future leaders handle different situations and what their temperament is, and also what they like to do in their career. And by doing that early and often. You start to formulate what your future is. Now, having a team of very senior people with a lot of experience that helps protect against any single event causing any issues. But you also have to think about who is best set up to be the leaders of the future, work through that, go through a cycle, go through a business cycle, and understand how they operate in that. **[25:20] Rosemary Denney:** What would you tell a founder who keeps putting it off? **[25:24] Chris Zander:** So don't put it off. That's what I would tell them. **[25:29] Rosemary Denney:** I knew you were gonna say that. **[25:31] Chris Zander:** Only because what I was describing is that process, it just takes time. And time is on your side when you start earlier. It's just like wealth planning for a client. If you start and investing, when you start early and you're able to work through issues as they come along, you might have some. Obstacles along the way and missteps, but they're not fatal missteps. They are small ones that you learn from and you keep going forward. And your development of leaders is the same thing. You have to stumble a little bit, you have to fail a little bit before you succeed. And that's a time tested approach. **[26:15] Rosemary Denney:** And that leads me right into my next, question for you. I've heard you say that coaching the next generation and training and raising others in the firm, sort of nurturing their careers, I've heard that's one of your favorite parts of what you do in this work. I would love to know what does that coaching look like day to day? **[26:35] Chris Zander:** Well, it's nonstop and it's continuous. And that's because I feel like everybody in our firm, including myself, needs coaching. Now, I've been very fortunate in our transition process here at Evercore when I became CEO six and a half years ago. Jeff Maurer remained chairman and senior advisor, and having that type of wealth of knowledge and expertise through many cycles. Is very helpful to me as a coach. And when I think about our team and focus on that, it's what it's what will make us better. It'll make our firm be enduring over a longer period of time. And it should help with our next generation of advisors feeling supported, feeling like there's a future there. And they feel like they're not on their own just to learn everything. I know I wasn't on my own. When I started my career being at a firm, US Trust, that had six or seven generations of clients like active in the firm where I could see what prior generations of advisors, how they advised the clients, and where those clients were at G2, three, four, and five and later. And so that's a wealth of experience to have and to be a part of. And what we try to do in that coaching is share that along the way. Because as Rosemary, there could be times where there are I'll call them trends, maybe some would call them fads about types of advice and products and structure that can happen. And to have that experience in our firm coaching our advisors who may not have seen a market drawdown and know what that's like in multiple circumstances, or where there may have been issues and problems with an event in the past that sometimes we forget about and have our advisors bring that back up and say at that point you have to you have to look out for this, and this. And that's very important. So we view it as a continuous process. There's the technical side of that in our disciplines of training and we do that within our firm. But there's also the experiential knowledge of being there, being in client meetings. Seeing how an advisor answers questions from clients, probes clients, positions advice in the most appropriate way. But then also for those next generation of advisors to take that, but apply it to their own personality and their and their strengths. And I think that creates a very diverse set of skills in our in our team and makes us successful and makes us positioned well for that. Succession and transition for clients that ultimately happens along **[29:28] Rosemary Denney:** And speaking of succession and transition, there's a lot of information out there that talks about when the next generation of wealth owners, when they inherit the wealth from the wealth creator, so generationally passing down wealth from one generation to the next, very often the next generation will decide to leave the parents' wealth management firm because they don't feel a connection with the wealth advisors. I'd love to hear how you put into practice engaging the next generation of the family members you serve and why that's so important for growth and retention. **[30:05] Chris Zander:** Yeah, so I'm aware of the statistics in the industry and **[30:09] Rosemary Denney:** Mm-hmm. **[30:10] Chris Zander:** They're quite daunting. I'll bring up just a couple of aspects of that, how I think about it. One, sometimes we can be the creatures of our own success. So an advisor could be working with a family for twenty, thirty, maybe forty years and have such a deep connection with one generation of that family. And it's because they've done a wonderful job and they've developed that rapport. And it's all positive and it's all great. But those advisors also have to think about how the advice transitions and gets delivered to G2 and G three and G four in that process. And sometimes it can be done by the Current advisor on the team that has been working with the family a long time and has that experience. What I've seen more and more be successful is that just like in that training of our next generation of advisors, by including them in the process, including them in the client meetings, having them respond to clients over time, they'll they can help also advise G2, G3, and G4. And Maybe in some cases it's just simply that they're closer in age, closer in a stage of life that they're dealing with. It could be that the next generation advisor has a young family, just like that member of that generation, and they can connect. So that's important. Having the right advisor relationship. Secondly, which I think is equally as important making sure the advisory environment for each member of a family or each subset subfamily of a family is confidential. And so when we're giving advice to the G2, it's different as it's it may be they have they have started their own family. There are Concern there may be some concerns, some privacy issues, health matters, things that are best not done in a broader family environment, but in a close family unit discussion. And we as advisors, whether it's the same advisor for both generations or different members of the team focusing there, we have to make sure that we are keeping that confidentiality and that confidential environment intact. Because that's how those many of those relationships can break down if information is shared inappropriately. Just like you would keep information confidential amongst different clients of yours, they may be friends or business colleagues, you have to be very focused about keeping that information separate. You have to do it also within the family level. And then lastly, I would say. In being a trust company and being a trustee. We have leaned into that as a firm, partly because it's in our DNA and we think it's an incredibly important aspect of what we do. But it also is helpful in bridging the generational gap, the governance, the advice, and ensuring that continuity happens within a family. And being a trustee allows us, because it might be young beneficiaries to get involved earlier. With the financial education process, how it works, and exposing them to more and more parts of our firm and the advice we give. And in all of those areas, I think that helps. It's still a huge challenge, the generational divide there, but that's the way we approach it. **[33:52] Rosemary Denney:** You find these next generation family members are looking for different things in their wealth management relationship than the original G1? **[34:00] Chris Zander:** I think there is more if I just look this is generationally, it's not one hundred percent this way, but thinking about more of a focus on comprehensive wealth planning advice, You also think about it where that generation, what stage of life they're in, where, they're very busy and they have careers and potentially families and there's lots of things happening and how can they address the myriad of issues across investments, planning and tax and philanthropy, all those different areas. So I think there's a broader set there that they're focused on, and so the financial plan becomes more important. I think secondly, it also has to do with the mode of communication, which can be different as you go down generations of advisors and clients, where many years ago it was a lot of phone conversations. It then went more into email. And more recently it's been Zoom calls where you can get the family together and maybe some less in-person but also just communication, whether it's email to text, can you send me information sooner? Can I have it at my fingertips so I can look and keep up with things, so that when we get together in an advisory meeting, we can go much deeper, much deeper beyond just reporting out what's happened and think about what we can do to be proactive about the future. So I think that's some of the change that I see over time. **[35:32] Rosemary Denney:** Let's talk about fiduciary and trust services. And I've heard you say many times that this is a key differentiator for Evercore. And I would agree with you from where I sit. I speak to a lot of firms, and I agree it's a major differentiator. I'd love to understand why you think it's such an integral part of the client experience and why you think it's so necessary as a differentiator. **[35:58] Chris Zander:** Yeah. So we think to be deeply engaged with a family that being a co-trustee along with family members is really the most effective way that we can help partner with them to ensure there's continuity within the family wealth succession, and family wealth education across multiple generations. And When you're in the trust, we're creating helping to create with our clients, other advisors, these vehicles to perpetuate that. But what we can't forget about is the governance aspect of it and being there. And many times individuals think about other individuals to serve in that role. And as we all know, individuals change, they get older, they get sick, unfortunately, they may fall out of favor friends, colleagues, over time. So or be unwilling to take on such an important responsibility when push comes to shove. So when we think about it, bringing our wealth of expertise, going back to all the experience of our partners to that process, I just think it can make a really big difference. And with the massive transition of wealth that we've been reading about for the last 20 years, and we will probably be reading about and experiencing over the next 20 years, and all of the statistics, I just think you have to have that function down. If I if I'm a client and a client family, I would be thinking about that most importantly in. The process and I wouldn't leave that aside and have it be a tertiary item to be thinking about. Because, I think many firms are realizing its importance to the process. But sometimes I think folks look at it and say, okay, this is something that our clients are asking for and we will need to do. So let's try to do it in a way that has the least amount of risk and be able to deliver that. We think about it because we're very experienced at it, that it's an advantage for us. And we want to be there and be proactive, be a flexible trustee, and work with families to solve these really difficult issues, which can be around special needs situations, they could be around health matters, addiction matters in families. And also think about how wealth can be managed and governed over time in that. It's very important and sometimes I think it doesn't get the press that it deserves and the importance in the process. **[38:47] Rosemary Denney:** And what should what should families evaluating advisors understand about what that fiduciary structure means for them? **[38:56] Chris Zander:** It really means that when you're a fiduciary, there are various levels of fiduciary in the RIA context, we're always doing providing advice that's in the best interest of our clients. But as a as a trust company and a fiduciary in that setting, it's ensuring that we are abiding by the principles and the intent of those that have created the trust vehicles. But also, as there's always gray areas that happen over time and being able to advise within that and make good fiduciary decisions and judgment and help our clients deal with those issues. **[39:39] Rosemary Denney:** Where do you see the industry headed when it comes to trust services as this new wave of wealth movement happens? Do you feel like it will become more important for advisory firms to have trust services available? **[39:55] Chris Zander:** I do. We've bet our firm on it. We think it's very important from the beginning. And so we've invested there. But I you also see it in the industry that there are many super high quality firms that have all of the other great attributes that a firm needs. And you can see that they're already devising ways to partner or add those capabilities. Just I like I mentioned earlier when we look to add different capabilities to the firm. So that's important. I think what can differentiate is it's not a capability that you can add very easily because of the experience nature, the case law, the that you have to think about over time of how families have developed over generations and the issues that have come up. And Having an experienced set of professionals, not just one person at a firm either, but a really deep group of professionals that can provide that advice, the context, and that the expertise is important. And so it makes it a little bit harder to do, to add quickly, but it is definitely possible. And I see it as an increasing focus. **[40:35] Rosemary Denney:** When you look out over the next decade in wealth management, what do you think will separate the firms who succeed from the firms who will not? **[40:45] Chris Zander:** I think about two things primarily. I think about culture and I think about patient capital and financial support. So when I think about it from a culture perspective, You want to make sure that everything you do in growing the firm is improving the experience for clients. It's improving the experience for the advisors who have to advise those clients every day. And it's also adding those capabilities over time. But you have to do it in a very thoughtful way. And you have to do it in a way that's aligned with those initial objectives of taking care of clients, working together as a partnership and as a team, and working together to grow and evolve the firm. And so you can't lose focus of that. And you have to put in the safeguards in the business that protect that culture. And that's why we have the culture of speaking up that I mentioned and ensuring that you don't let things go awry. That doesn't mean you're not willing to change and not willing to hear new ideas. You just have to talk through them and make sure they're aligned. And that's important. And that at the end of the day helps firms not get off track. And so when you talk about enduring over a decade or longer and being in place, you have to keep that in place. And you can't let outside influences or trends that are not sustainable get in the way. Having patient capital invested in the firm, whether you are owned by all of your partners, whether you're owned in partnership with entities, doesn't matter of the general structure. It's just the those that are involved. You have to select those partners very carefully and make sure that their timeframe, their view of culture is as aligned as possible as yours And that's what's going to make firms. Continue to grow, continue to thrive and not, come undone in a way. **[43:05] Rosemary Denney:** In terms of Evercore’s approach with AI, where have you seen the areas in your business most impacted by the availability of AI? **[43:10] Chris Zander:** So it's early days, Rosemary, with that. And we're working at it every minute. And I think it's changing every day. But just a few things. We're seeing more prospective clients reaching out and reaching out in a very disciplined, informed way. So they're reaching out, they are asking for certain services that we provide. And so they are It's even more and more knowledgeable about the process and reaching out to us. And that has to keep us on our toes and be prepared every day, unlike in the past where it might have been a cold phone call. Now it's a very detailed ask. And so that's important. We're seeing it in some of the everyday things we do, whether it's being more efficient with client meetings, And follow-up and being able to be responsive to our clients. We're seeing it in some of the technical work now, especially in the trust and estate area. As we're a trust company, we do a lot of estate planning and partnership with attorneys with our clients. There's lots of document review. There's lots of creating new strategies. And we've created some custom tools and things to help us sift. Through information faster so that our teams can be more responsive. And it cuts down time between speaking with a client about their objectives and coming back with very thoughtful and informed advice. **[44:42] Rosemary Denney:** I totally agree. And I think it just allows us more time to do the things that are the most valuable, right? And a better product at the end of the day. **[44:48] Rosemary Denney:** I'm curious to know if you're thinking 10 years down the road, what do you see as just remaining constantly human? **[45:00] Chris Zander:** Well, I think being a trustee, as I mentioned, is very human. I think it's going to the technology that's happening at such a rapid pace, even while we're sitting here doing this podcast, it's going to completely change the advisor's time structure and ability to deliver advice, meaningful advice. Much more quickly and much more responsive. And I think that's only going to be better for our clients. I it's that it's that part of it. There's a lot of things that happen in a firm behind the scenes that our clients don't see because some aspects are manual and the technology hasn't caught up yet. But once it does, I think the experience of having a client meeting and having very detailed responses very soon so that our advisor can be back on the phone or back on a zoom or back in a meeting with a client to make progress on that. It will only be faster and more responsive. And that's a good thing. And I would think it's going to be more accurate at the end of the day too. So, all those things together will be positives. But that's what I see. I see it being a little bit faster paced. But it's not going to get in the way of actual advice about what people should do. I always talk about when I speak with younger people thinking about entering this business, that the one of the things that you have to really embrace is that and what I love about it is the that being able to provide real technical, thoughtful advice in areas like we've mentioned. That require experience and training and knowledge and reading and being up on everything. But to marry that with you're delivering that advice to human beings, to families. And that's the magic in the business to be able to deliver, to the bring those two things together. I don't think that at that point of contact that's gonna change. I also think that those advisors are gonna get trained faster over time with the technology and AI support and maybe they'll have even longer careers as a result. **[47:15] Rosemary Denney:** Mm-hmm. Totally. You work with some of the most accomplished families and individuals in this country. I would love to hear one lesson about wealth or life that a client has taught you that's stuck with you. **[47:30] Chris Zander:** I was speaking with around the time that I was becoming CEO of Evercore Wealth Management. And I was working with Jeff in the year prior and I met with one of our clients who was a retired Fortune one hundred CEO. And she asked me how the process was going. And I said, we've been very thoughtful about it. It's been, we've been working at it for some time. I think everyone's, prepared for it, and it's great. And she reminded me that, Chris, you may think that, but it is a change for everyone in the organization. Even though you were a founding partner and even though you've been here the whole time, it will be a change and not to underestimate that. And I thought it was just like the way you spoke about it, just being able to be around so many accomplished people in different disciplines and different industries and different walks of life, you really learn about what's important. And you don't forget people aspect of it, which as we said before is never going to change, whether it's leadership, whether it's client advice. So that always stuck with me. **[48:40] Rosemary Denney:** And what would people find you doing if you were not at work? **[48:47] Chris Zander:** My goodness, I can't I'm gonna say this live. Rosemary, I interestingly enough, I have three children, they're grown now and college age and be and just beyond. And I spent a great deal of time over the last twenty years being a coach outside of the office and be and being involved in, their lives through all of their activities and doing that. And I enjoy that a lot. I think now my wife and I are trying to think about what do we do post that and we are trying to enjoy life away from the office and travel and be a partner to our children along the way as they face different challenges beyond just the baseball game or the soccer game. **[49:25] Rosemary Denney:** I'm right there with you. I have four daughters. I understand. Chris, thank you so much for this conversation. I have enjoyed it so much. And what you and your partners have built is an incredible example of what thoughtful, long-term leadership looks like in this industry. So, to everyone listening, thank you so much for spending time with us. I hope this conversation gave you something to think about. And if it did, feel free to share with a colleague. Chris, thank you. I appreciate you being on the show. **[50:05] Chris Zander:** Thank you so much, Rosemary. This broadcast serves as reference material for informational purposes only. This is not intended as a forecast, research or investment, tax or legal advice. This does not constitute a recommendation, offer or solicitation to buy or sell any securities or to participate in any trading strategy. The views and opinions expressed are as of the date of the broadcast and are subject to change. Evercore Wealth Management LLC has no obligation to update, modify or amend this information or to otherwise notify a viewer thereof in the event that any such information becomes outdated, inaccurate, or incomplete. This information is general in nature and has been prepared without taking into account any individual objectives, financial situations or needs. Investment management services are provided by Evercore Wealth Management, LLC, an investment advisor registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Registration with the SEC does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Trust and custody services are provided by Evercore Trust Company, N.A., a national trust bank regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. © 2026 Evercore Wealth Management, LLC. All rights reserved. This recording may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the permission of Evercore Wealth Management LLC.