Chief Platform Officer
Summit Financial
Ed Friedman is the Chief Platform Officer at Summit Financial LLC. Ed is a financial services industry veteran with decades of experience in advancing advisor’s practices and supporting their growth. He works closely with the executive management team and reports to the CEO of Summit Financial, Stan Gregor. Prior to Summit, Ed Friedman ran his own consulting business, providing consulting services including operational, business, growth and technology strategies to Independent Wealth Management firms and the strategic vendors that support them. At Dynasty Financial Partners, Ed was the National Director of Practice Management and former Director of the Enterprise Group with a focus on wealth management firms in excess of $1 Billion in assets. Ed was also part of the founding management team at HighTower Advisors heading up business development and advisor development. Before the launch of HighTower, Ed had a 22-year career at Morgan Stanley and its predecessor firm with roles as a financial Advisor, branch manager and senior executive management. Ed is a graduate of Rutgers University with a BA in Business and Finance.
AI will not simply change how work gets done inside wealth management firms, it will reshape who does the work, which skills matter most and how firms build teams for growth. In this forward-looking closing keynote, wealth management leaders will explore how AI is likely to affect staffing models across advisory, operations, marketing, compliance and client service. The conversation will examine which responsibilities may be automated or augmented, where new roles and capabilities will emerge, and why human judgment, relationship-building and strategic thinking will become even more valuable. Attendees will leave with a clearer view of how to prepare their people and organizations for what comes next, including how to rethink hiring, develop existing talent and design a firm that uses AI to increase capacity without sacrificing the client experience.