Chris Miller worked for over 20 years reimagining and restructuring financial services divisions at firms including Charles Schwab and AIG. In January, he channeled that experience into launching his own advisor platform in Austin, Texas, called EliteGate Wealth.
Miller said EliteGate is structured to attract advisors who want to maintain their independence but have access to tailored solutions, including exclusive private equity offerings and estate and tax solutions. Miller is also a partner in a middle-market private equity startup, which he calls a “sister” company to the RIA by way of the investments and potential client pool.
The idea for EliteGate came in part from that PE launch. When Miller was between jobs and interviewing, he got a call from Jeff Cree, who said he was starting the PE firm and invited Miller to join. That led Miller to become a partner and head of wealth management for Atlantic Gulfstream Partners, a Dallas-Fort Worth-based PE firm focused on lower -to middle-market businesses in manufacturing, MEP (mechanical, electrical, plumbing) and roofing.
Alongside Atlantic Gulfstream, which Cree leads, Miller started EliteGate, whose advisors can provide access to the PE investments and be a feeder channel for potential wealth clients.
“In the current market, it makes sense to have alternative investments that are exclusive and unique,” Miller said. “We also will be working with exiting owners who may need advisor services.”
The model is unique for a smaller RIA. Cresset, a $65 billion RIA with a multi-family office, had a linked private markets investing business called Cresset Partners to curate investments for clients and other investors up until recently. In February, Cresset Partners announced it was rebranding to Peakline Partners as it seeks to carve out an independent identity.
“Many wealth managers with ultra-high-net-worth clients have found unique ways to put private investments in front of them in a way that those clients wouldn’t have access to otherwise,” said Jessica Polito, founder and principal of M&A advisory Turkey Hill Management LLC. “That has tended to be through pooling assets to invest in larger opportunities or diligencing direct investment opportunities on an ad-hoc basis.”
EliteGate will add advisors in a 1099 setup and offer compensation based on AUM, with additional bonus opportunities for referrals in areas such as estate and tax planning. In years two to three, Miller hopes to add salary and bonus-based advisors who may not yet have a book of business but want to learn and grow.
During his time at Schwab, Miller worked on various team restructuring projects ranging from participant marketing and education for the group retirement division to running the diversity, equity and inclusion program for its branches. He was also part of the team working on the TD Ameritrade integration after Schwab’s 2020 closure of the deal.
In 2021, AIG hired him as a senior vice president of field design and development. AIG then spun off his division to become Corebridge Financial. Miller was eventually let go amid that restructuring, after which he started talking with former colleagues across the financial services industry.
Those discussions, in part, fueled him to start his own firm, which would have less “red tape” than corporate America and focus on “training and support for advisors” to achieve a manageable work-life balance.
“Everybody I talked to was tired, burnt out,” he said. “Nobody really seemed happy. It almost felt like people had to make a good living or work somewhere they liked, but they couldn’t do both … I felt there must be a better way.”