Tower Bridge Adopts Ridgeline to Modernize Wealth Management

PHILADELPHIA, PA – January 13, 2026 – Tower Bridge Advisors, a prominent wealth management firm with $1.5 billion in assets under management, has successfully transitioned its core operations to Ridgeline, a cloud-native platform for investment managers. The move marks a significant step in the firm’s long-term technology modernization strategy and underscores a powerful trend across the wealth management industry: the shift away from fragmented legacy systems toward unified, intelligent platforms.

Based in the Philadelphia area, Tower Bridge Advisors serves a sophisticated clientele of high-net-worth individuals, families, and select institutions. The firm’s decision to migrate from its previous portfolio accounting and trading system to Ridgeline’s front-to-back platform reflects a strategic imperative to enhance operational efficiency while scaling its signature high-touch, client-centric service model.

The Modernization Imperative for RIAs

The wealth management sector is at a technological crossroads. For years, registered investment advisors (RIAs) have operated on a patchwork of disparate systems—one for customer relationship management (CRM), another for portfolio accounting, a third for trading, and yet another for billing. This fragmented approach, often reliant on aging, on-premise software, creates significant operational friction. Firms grapple with clunky integrations, stale data from overnight batch processes, and the constant, time-consuming effort of reconciling information across different systems.

This technological debt is becoming untenable for growth-oriented firms. The industry is witnessing a decisive migration toward integrated, cloud-native solutions that promise a “single source of truth.” By unifying all core functions on a single data model, these modern platforms eliminate data silos, automate manual workflows, and provide real-time insights for both advisors and their clients. For firms like Tower Bridge Advisors, which prides itself on customized portfolios and close client relationships, the ability to operate with speed and accuracy is not just an operational goal—it is a competitive necessity.

Tower Bridge’s operational needs are particularly complex, involving multi-custodial relationships that introduce distinct data, trading, and reconciliation challenges. The selection of a new technology partner was therefore a critical decision. “We approached this transition with a great deal of diligence,” said Jeffrey Kachel, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Technology Officer at Tower Bridge Advisors. “Ridgeline demonstrated that they could support the full complexity of our business — including multi-custodial trading, intricate billing, and highly customized reporting — on a single platform.”

Ridgeline’s Unified Vision in a Crowded Tech Landscape

Ridgeline, founded by visionary entrepreneur Dave Duffield of PeopleSoft and Workday fame, enters a competitive WealthTech market with a clear and disruptive vision. Instead of patching together different applications, Ridgeline was built from the ground up as a single, cohesive system of record for investment managers. This unified architecture is its core differentiator against a landscape of established players like SS&C’s Black Diamond, Addepar, and Orion, many of which have grown through acquisition and rely on integrating various components.

The platform’s ability to seamlessly handle the complex demands of firms like Tower Bridge—from tax-sensitive trading workflows to flexible statement packages—is a key validation of its model. By unifying CRM, portfolio data, billing, and reporting, the system eliminates the manual reconciliation that consumes valuable staff time. This allows teams to operate more efficiently without sacrificing the personalization that high-net-worth clients expect.

“We now operate from a single source of truth for portfolios, performance, billing, and client communications,” Kachel noted. “That foundation allows our team to focus more on our clients and less on managing systems.”

This sentiment is echoed by Ridgeline’s leadership, who see firms like Tower Bridge as their ideal partners. “Tower Bridge Advisors embodies what the next generation of investment firms should look like; transparent, highly customized, and deeply client-centric,” said Dave Blair, CEO of Ridgeline. “They’re exactly the kind of firm we built Ridgeline for, and we’re proud to support their high-touch model with a platform designed to allow them to scale without sacrificing service.”

AI and Automation Elevate Advisor Efficiency

A crucial element of Ridgeline's modern architecture is the deep integration of artificial intelligence. The platform’s “AI-enabled workflows” are more than just a buzzword; they represent a tangible shift in how investment firms can operate. With over 20 AI features already in production and an enterprise agreement with OpenAI, Ridgeline is embedding intelligence directly into core processes.

The company recently launched an AI agent framework, with dedicated agents designed to handle tasks related to client management and trade compliance. These agents can streamline decision-making, execute tasks autonomously, and manage workflows, escalating issues for human review only when necessary. This level of automation is powered by the platform’s unified data model, which gives the AI a comprehensive understanding of asset management workflows.

For Tower Bridge, this translates into a significant reduction in manual, repetitive tasks. The automation of reconciliation, the streamlining of compliance checks, and the ability to generate complex reports on demand free up advisors and operations staff to engage in higher-value activities. This focus on intelligent automation allows the firm to grow its client base and asset base without a proportional increase in operational headcount, directly addressing the challenge of scaling a high-touch service model.

Redefining the High-Touch Client Experience

Ultimately, the most significant impact of this technological transformation is on the end client. The adoption of a unified platform directly enhances the transparency, responsiveness, and personalization that are the hallmarks of a premium wealth management experience. With Ridgeline, Tower Bridge can provide its clients with comprehensive household- and advisor-level reporting, consolidated views across all relationships, and tailored statement packages.

The integrated client portal and mobile experience give clients real-time access to their complete financial picture. In an era where consumers expect instant, on-demand information from every service provider, wealth management is no exception. A modern portal moves beyond static PDF reports to offer dynamic dashboards, performance tracking, and a clear view of portfolio activity.

By ensuring that advisors and clients are looking at the same, real-time data, the platform fosters clearer communication and deeper trust. It empowers advisors at Tower Bridge to be more proactive and responsive, armed with a complete understanding of a client's situation at their fingertips. This investment in a modern technology backbone is not merely an internal upgrade; it is a direct investment in the long-term client relationships that form the foundation of the firm’s success.