Build higher. Stay secure.
Make your firm meaningfully more efficient.
Highvault Consulting builds the integrations, automations, and AI agents that make RIAs run faster. Every system ships designed for SEC compliance.
The Reality
RIAs are bogged down by manual work
Disconnected systems and scattered AI use cost your firm hours every day. Here's what we see on every engagement.
Your systems don't talk to each other
Your CRM, portfolio accounting, custodians, and planning tools each hold a piece of the truth. Staff bridge the gaps by hand with spreadsheets and copy-paste.
New client onboarding is a paperwork nightmare
New accounts take weeks to open. Assets take longer to transfer. Losing custodians need chasing. Nobody on your team has a clear view of where each client sits in the process.
Financial planning data gathering never ends
Clients don't have all their information ready on day one. Estate docs, insurance policies, outside accounts. Everything trickles in over months. You need an ongoing async process where clients add things as they find them, not a one-time waterfall.
AI adoption is scattered
Staff are using ChatGPT and Copilot on their own with no governance, no integration to your actual systems, and no compounding. Individual productivity gains, zero operational leverage.
Growth breaks your processes
What worked at 30 people breaks at 100. Every acquisition adds a different tech stack. Manual workflows that were tolerable at $1B become unsustainable at $5B.
Compliance and security requirements keep growing
SEC exams, Reg S-P amendments, cyber insurance applications. The regulatory load grows every year. Security needs to be built in, not bolted on.
A Note on Timing
Most RIAs are still deciding whether to formally allow ChatGPT. A growing minority is already operating with sanctioned tooling, documented agent governance, and an audit trail their next examiner will recognize. These tend to be the firms that exit well, or grow into the next AUM tier without breaking. You don’t need to be first. But the firms still waiting for SEC guidance in 2027 will be the ones explaining the gap.
Who We Serve
AI and automation built for your firm's stage
Every RIA has different efficiency challenges depending on size, tech stack, and growth trajectory. We tailor our approach to where you are today.
Small RIAs
$500M–$2B AUM · 15–50 employees
Everything is manual. CRM doesn't talk to portfolio accounting. Advisors run on memory and whatever's in their head about each client. Follow-up emails, call summaries, and notes scribbled during meetings rarely make it back into the CRM. Partner time gets spent on tasks that should be automated. And if you're thinking about a sale in the next few years, your firm's value is trapped in your head.
What they need
- Workflow automation to eliminate manual data bridging
- Pre-meeting context: recent news, life events, and position changes the advisor wouldn't otherwise catch
- Post-meeting capture: email threads, call transcripts, and photos of handwritten notes land in the CRM automatically
- System integrations that connect CRM, portfolio management, and custodial platforms
- Exit-readiness: documented processes and integrated systems that increase your acquisition multiple
Mid-size RIAs
$2B–$10B AUM · 50–200 employees
What worked at 30 people breaks at 100. Teams pick their own tools. Data lives in a dozen systems that only talk through spreadsheets, so client info gets re-typed into the CRM, the planning tool, and the custodial intake every time. Advisors still run on memory, but now there are thirty of them and their notes are scattered across inboxes, call transcripts, and margin-scribbled client profiles. The COO wants efficiency. The CIO is still trying to get systems talking to each other. And the CCO wants to know who's using which AI tool with what data. Every acquisition adds another stack that was supposed to be rationalized last quarter.
What they need
- Enter data once: client info, account details, and planning updates flow between systems instead of being re-typed in three places
- Enterprise integrations across CRM, portfolio management, financial planning, reporting, and compliance platforms
- Advisor meeting enablement at scale: pre-meeting context and post-call capture across dozens of advisors, not just the founder
- Company AI OS with financial-services access controls to govern AI adoption across departments
- Post-acquisition integration playbook to rationalize each new stack quickly instead of year-over-year
RIA Aggregators
PE-backed roll-ups · Multi-entity portfolios
Every acquisition brings a different CRM, portfolio management platform, financial planning tool, and custodial stack. Integration happens ad hoc, if it happens at all. Your second-year firms are still running on their founders' spreadsheets. Portfolio-wide reporting means a quarterly scramble to pull KPIs from thirty different sources. The PE sponsor wants proof of operational leverage before the next raise. Your CCO wants every portfolio firm on the same compliance posture, not the one each firm had at acquisition. And the firms you're evaluating now would fetch a better multiple from you if someone helped them systematize before diligence.
What they need
- Standardized integration playbook so every acquisition integrates the same way, in weeks instead of quarters
- Pre-acquisition diligence on tech stack and data maturity to price targets accurately and plan Day-One integration
- Post-acquisition systems audit and 90-day quick-win automation so portfolio firms see operational leverage inside the first quarter
- Unified portfolio-wide reporting across AUM, client count, margin, and advisor productivity so sponsors and LPs see the full picture in one view
- Holdco-level AI governance with shared data classification and access controls so each portfolio firm's AI adoption doesn't create compliance exposure for the platform
- Cross-firm data architecture that enables referrals, shared research, and talent arbitrage between portfolio companies
Services
Three practice areas. Every engagement starts with an assessment.
Each assessment stands on its own with a defined scope and deliverable. If the assessment points to design and implementation work, we discuss that as the next phase.
AI Strategy & Implementation
Start with where you are today. Move to a roadmap and working automations that ship.
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Workflow AI readiness assessment
Assessment
Map a single workflow (meeting prep, client onboarding, reporting) and identify where AI can compress hours, what data it needs, and which guardrails make it safe. You get a one-pager per workflow with a recommended approach, data and access requirements, and a build estimate.
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AI maturity assessment
Assessment
A structured evaluation across leadership, tools, governance, and adoption to see where your firm sits today. You get a maturity score with peer benchmarks and a ranked roadmap of where to focus next quarter, next year, and beyond.
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AI governance assessment
Assessment
Review every AI tool in use, who is using it, what data it can reach, and the policies wrapping it. You get a gap analysis against SEC and Reg S-P expectations with a remediation plan ranked by risk and effort.
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AI maturity roadmap design and implementation
Design & Build
Take the gaps from the maturity assessment and turn them into a sequenced 12-month build plan, then execute it. You get working AI capability across the highest-impact workflows, governance standing behind it, and quarterly health reports.
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Workflow automations
Design & Build
Pick a manual process that eats hours each week. We build a working automation in 2 weeks and extend across the workflow if it lands. You get a production automation hosted on Highvault infrastructure with monitoring, error handling, and team training.
Systems Integration
A clear-eyed view of your stack, then systems that actually talk to each other.
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System integration assessment
Assessment
Inventory every tool, data flow, and integration point between your CRM, portfolio accounting, planning tools, and custodial platforms. You get a current-state map, the highest-leverage connections to build first, and a cost and effort estimate for each.
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System integration design and implementation
Design & Build
Build the bridges between systems that do not talk today, so data flows in real time after one entry. You get production integrations with monitoring, error handling, and team training, hosted on Highvault infrastructure.
Security & Compliance
Established security posture, plus a deliberate look at the new AI surface.
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Security program assessment
Assessment
Gap analysis of your cybersecurity program against NIST CSF 2.0 and SEC examination priorities. You get a written report with risk-ranked findings and a 12-month remediation roadmap, ready to walk through with leadership or the board.
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AI implementation security assessment
Assessment
Inventory every AI tool and automation in your environment, classify what data each one can reach, and document kill switches for the highest-risk ones. You get a complete agent inventory and per-tool risk classification. In our experience, firms typically discover 5 to 20 automations they had forgotten about. Some are still running on credentials from departed employees.
Easy Entry Points
Starting points. No retainer required.
Focused, project-based engagements that solve a specific problem. Each stands alone with a clear deliverable and price. If ongoing support makes sense after that, we can talk.
Pricing here covers entry points. Ongoing engagements and platform deployments are scoped per firm and discussed after the first conversation.
Workflow Automation
Pick your biggest manual pain point. A working pilot in 2 weeks.
Pick the process that eats the most hours. Report generation, data entry, client onboarding, rebalancing prep. We build a working pilot in 2 weeks; if it proves out, we extend the automation across the workflow. You see something working before the invoice is due.
Investment
$5,000–$10,000
Best for
RIAs with manual processes that should have been automated years ago
AI Maturity Assessment
Where are you, what's possible, here's a ranked roadmap.
A structured evaluation of your firm's current AI usage, readiness, and opportunities. You get a prioritized roadmap of quick wins and strategic investments, ranked by impact and effort.
AI-Powered Meeting Prep
Make your advisor’s 15 minutes of prep land like an hour of study.
Before every meeting, AI surfaces what the advisor wouldn't catch on their own: recent news about the client's company, life events from public signals, position changes since the last conversation, relevant regulatory shifts. After the meeting, follow-up emails, call transcripts, and photos of handwritten notes land in the CRM automatically. The client file stays current without the advisor doing anything extra.
Investment
$5,000–$10,000
Best for
Advisory firms where client context lives in advisors’ heads and rarely in the CRM.
Custom AI Assistant
An AI assistant trained on your firm's data and workflows.
A custom GPT or AI agent built on your firm's policies, procedures, investment philosophy, and client data. Your team gets instant, accurate answers instead of searching shared drives and emailing colleagues.
Investment
$3,000–$5,000
Best for
RIAs that want AI working with their specific knowledge, not generic responses
Systems Integration
Connect two systems that don't talk to each other today.
CRM to portfolio accounting. Custodian to reporting. Planning tool to CRM. We build the bridge and include automated data flow, error handling, and monitoring. No more manual exports and imports.
Investment
$5,000–$10,000
Best for
RIAs running disconnected systems that require manual data bridging
Security Program Assessment
Where does your security program stand vs SEC requirements?
Gap analysis of your cybersecurity program against NIST CSF 2.0 and SEC examination priorities. Delivered as a written report with risk-ranked findings and a 12-month remediation roadmap.
Investment
$5,000–$10,000
Best for
RIAs preparing for SEC exams or evaluating their security posture
Getting Started
From discovery to value in weeks, not months
A structured engagement that moves from systems audit to live integrations fast. No ramp-up ambiguity. You'll see working software before the first month is over.
Week 1–2
Discovery & Quick Wins
- Systems audit: map every tool, data flow, and integration point
- Identify the three highest-impact automation opportunities
- Data flow mapping across CRM, portfolio, custodial, and reporting
- Quick win delivered on Highvault infrastructure with nothing to set up
- Stakeholder interviews and workflow observation
- Integration roadmap presentation to leadership
Week 3–4
First Integration Live
- First major integration built and deployed to production
- Automated workflow replacing a manual process
- Team training on the new system
- Monitoring and error handling configured
- Your team is using it, not just looking at a demo
Month 2–3
Scale & Support
- Second and third integrations live
- AI training sessions for advisors, analysts, and ops
- Adoption accelerating across the firm
- Managed platform active. Highvault hosts, monitors, and maintains it
- Monthly health reports and continuous improvement
Why Highvault
What Highvault brings to your firm
An AI-native consultancy purpose-built for investment management firms. You get the speed of an AI-powered operation with the depth of a dedicated CTO.
Each Build Makes the Next One Faster
Data flowing into one system becomes input for three others. New prompts and workflows pick up the full context of what we've already built. Your operational capability is designed to compound over time, not freeze the day the engagement ends.
Built for AI Agents from Day One
Atomic, composable tools sit behind your CRM, portfolio management, and custodial data so any agent can reach them. New capabilities arrive as new prompts, not new code. Workflows you think of on Monday can be live by Friday.
RIA Tech Stack Fluency
Addepar, Orion, Black Diamond, Dynamics 365, Schwab, Fidelity, Salesforce, Redtail. We've worked across these platforms in production environments. We know how RIA data flows work because we've built them inside a regulated firm, not on a slide.
CTO + CISO
We build the integrations AND secure them. Everything we deliver is designed for SEC compliance, documented for exam prep, and threat-modeled by the same team that builds it. No separate security engagement needed.
Hosted and Managed. Nothing to Run.
Everything we build runs on Highvault infrastructure with enterprise-grade tooling. No cloud accounts to set up, no IT team needed. Agents monitor 24/7. Monthly health reports. Your firm gets GitHub Enterprise, Terraform, and Datadog-level ops without buying any of it.
Increases Your Exit Multiple
Documented processes, integrated systems, and automated workflows make your firm less founder-dependent. That's what consolidators pay premiums for.
Leadership
David Quisenberry
Founder & CEO
David Quisenberry builds AI-powered platforms for investment management firms. As CTO and CISO at a $10B+ AUM RIA, he built production applications that cover CRM automation, investment research AI, and real-time trading intelligence. He also stood up the security program that protects them. Now he brings that same velocity to firms like yours.
His approach rests on two ideas. First, build systems where AI agents are first-class citizens from day one. That means atomic tools they can compose across the CRM, portfolio management, and custodial data, not AI bolted onto platforms designed before agents existed. Second, build every integration, workflow, and prompt so the next one starts further along than the last. The result is new capability that ships in days, and a firm whose operational depth grows with each build.
David holds the GCIH (GIAC Certified Incident Handler) and CSSLP (Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional) certifications, and won the DEF CON 29 NextTopThreatModel competition. He is a past OWASP chapter leader, an application security conference co-founder, and a 40 Under 40 honoree. He has served on the board and executive committees of multiple nonprofit and civic organizations.
Advisors
Jeff Bryner
Senior Security Advisor
Jeff Bryner brings over 35 years of information security leadership to his work with Highvault. He has built and led security programs at organizations ranging from critical infrastructure to hypergrowth technology companies.
At Mozilla, Jeff established the enterprise information security function from the ground up, pioneering a zero-trust, cloud-first security architecture that became a model for the industry. Before Mozilla, he spent nearly a decade as Security Architect at a major US electric utility, where he secured systems ranging from the energy management system controlling the power grid to the rollout of wireless smart meters at metro scale.
Jeff has served as CISO at Vacasa and at Castlight, Vera Whole Health, and Apree Health, where he led IT, security, privacy, and compliance. He has handled dozens of forensics and incident response engagements and provided expert witness testimony in security matters. Since 2003 he has been an advisory board member at the SANS Institute, where he has written exams and occasionally taught courses for the GCIH and CISSP certifications.
When Jeff sits across from a managing partner and explains what an SEC exam will find, they listen. That executive credibility, combined with deep technical depth in security architecture, risk frameworks, and incident response, is what makes Highvault's security practice different. He advises Highvault on convergence defense methodology, AI agent safety frameworks, and fractional CISO engagement design for registered investment advisors.
Designed for Compliance
Everything we build is designed for SEC compliance from day one
Regulation S-P Aligned
Our integrations are designed around data classification, access controls, and breach notification requirements. Security is how we architect, every time.
Dual Expertise
Integration and security live in the same team. Security architecture, threat modeling, and SEC-readiness are part of how we design, not a separate line item or a second vendor.
AI Governance by Design
Data classification for AI-accessible content. Role-based access controls. Audit trails. We design AI deployments to support governance from day one, before an incident forces the question.
Get Started
Let's talk about what's slowing your firm down
A thirty-minute conversation about where AI and automation can make the biggest impact at your firm. No pitch, no pressure. Just a conversation about what's possible.
Or reach out directly
hello@highvaultconsulting.com