Each year, we take a moment to celebrate our milestones—to help us appreciate what we’ve built so far and get excited about where we’re headed. This year, our update is a bit late. We’ve been so focused on how to serve our clients, whether that’s via better technology behind the scenes or adding clients in new markets.
In some ways, that feels appropriate. The traditional four-year anniversary gift is fruit, and we’re starting to see the fruits of our labors pay off in a real way. And that makes it even more exciting to know we’re planting new seeds.
What we’ve accomplished
Kelly Milligan and I were named to the Forbes | SHOOK Research list of Best-in-State Wealth Advisors for Northern California again in 2025*.
Sue Schaeffer (previously Mazzetti) was once again named to the Forbes | SHOOK Research Best-in-State list of Top Women Wealth Advisors for 2025*.
I was also named to AdvisorHub’s list of 200 Advisors to Watch* for firms managing more than $1 billion.
The firm overall has made the Forbes | SHOOK Research list of top RIAs in 2023, 2024, and 2025*. Given there are more than 20,000 RIA firms registered in the U.S., making this list our second year in business, and staying on it every year since, remains a point of pride for all of us. We hope to continue that tradition of excellence.
Our team has also been asked to moderate and present on panels at a variety of industry conferences across the country—from Sue’s recent panel on the rise of the female investor at Institutional Investor’s RIA West Investment Forum to Kelly Milligan’s panel on how to generate tax alpha at the Forbes | SHOOK Research Top Advisor Summit.
While some people may look at these awards as a vanity metric, they prove something deeper to me. They prove that the emphasis we’ve put on teamwork—internally at Quorum, with our partners, and with the industry overall—is paying off. We are being recognized by peers whose opinions we value.
Why Quorum?
Recently, someone asked me why we decided to name the firm Quorum, and I realized I hadn’t ever shared the story.
When our team decided to break away from our previous employer, we had a list of names that might work—things that were available, memorable, and meant something to us. But nothing stuck out quite as much as quorum.
The word itself has several definitions. On the one hand, it’s a group of people—it emphasizes teamwork and collaboration. But it’s frequently used by its more precise definition—the minimum number of people required to conduct business. And that definition matters—we know that your finances are usually impacted by more than just you and your financial advisor. We want to make sure that everyone required to make a decision is consulted.
That’s core to our way of doing business—we’re proactive about coordinating with the other professionals our clients work with. We also want to make sure the other important members of your quorum are in the conversation. To that end, we often facilitate family meetings and coordinate financial literacy presentations for your children.
In many ways, these core concepts of our firm came from the seed we planted four years ago, when we picked the name Quorum.
What to expect in year five
The big conversations in financial services this year have surrounded artificial intelligence (AI). Developers have finally built programs designed to serve this industry in a safe and compliant way, creating many new opportunities for us behind the scenes.
We are using new technologies behind the scenes, as appropriate, to make our operations more efficient so we can focus our time and energy on better serving you—because that’s where we want to be spending our time.
While we said goodbye to our most-tenured Wealth Associate when Jennifer Van Til retired, we’ve also welcomed new faces to our Quorum, including our newest Wealth Associate Michelle Le and Wealth Advisor Ash Hassan. We’re also actively hiring to make sure you continue to experience the same hands-on care you’ve come to appreciate and expect from our dedicated team of professionals.
*Disclosures:
Sue (Mazzetti) Schaeffer:
Forbes Top Women Wealth Advisors Best-In-State – Northern California High Net Worth (2023-2025), compiled by SHOOK Research LLC. Most recently received in February 2025 based on data gathered from 9/30/23 – 9/30/24. No fee was paid to be included in the ranking or to hold out marketing materials.
Kelly Milligan:
Forbes Best-In-State Wealth Advisors – Northern California High Net Worth (2018-2021 & 2023-2025), compiled by SHOOK Research LLC. Most recently received in April 2025 based on data gathered from 6/30/23 – 6/30/24. No fee was paid to be included in the ranking or to hold out marketing materials.
Mike Barry:
Forbes Best-In-State Wealth Advisors – Northern California High Net Worth (2018-2021 & 2023-2025), compiled by SHOOK Research LLC. Most recently received in April 2025 based on data gathered from 6/30/23 – 6/30/24. No fee was paid to be included in the ranking or to hold out marketing materials
200 Advisors to Watch (2024-2025), created by AdvisorHub. Most recently received in June 2025 based on data gathered from 12/31/23-12/31/24. No fee was paid to be included in the ranking or to hold out marketing materials.
Quorum Private Wealth
Forbes Top RIA Firms (2023-2025), compiled by SHOOK Research LLC. Most recently received in October 2025 based on data gathered from 3/31/24-3/31/25. No fee was paid to be included in the ranking or to hold out marketing materials.
Not indicative of an advisor’s future performance. Your experience may vary.
