In our Meet Addepar series, we sit down with the people at the heart of our success — those who enable us to consistently deliver excellent outcomes for our clients. Today, we speak to Tara Coakley, Head of Strategic Network Firms.

Tara joined Addepar in 2021, bringing with her extensive experience from across the wealth management ecosystem, from advisor-facing roles at AllianceBernstein and Merrill Lynch, to large-scale transitions, and firm-building at the likes of Dynasty Financial Partners. 

Now, Tara plays a pivotal role in building and maintaining strategic partnerships with a select group of Addepar clients, a collection of high-growth firms and consolidators shaping the future of the RIA space.

Can you talk us through the early part of your career?

I was always drawn to the idea of creating financial stability. Out of school, I got a job working for Merrill Lynch. I started out working on the error trade corrections desk, which was quite a harsh introduction to the industry as I was dealing with tense situations daily. After that, everything else became a little easier.

A couple of years in, I moved onto a transitions team, traveling 50 weeks a year to help onboard internal advisor teams. I've learned over the years that this sort of background is fairly niche, so it's been a valuable experience to have under my belt. 

After four years at Merrill, I joined AllianceBernstein (AB) and moved into more traditional wealth management. I was an associate and then a manager at AB, working with end investors in an RIA setting. I got to see how advisors used the suite of tools and technologies day to day, and really understand how things operate.

How did that experience set you up for your time at Dynasty Financial Partners?

A friend introduced me to Dynasty when they were still a young firm, consisting of around 45 people. I was humbled really quickly. Dynasty would launch your entire business, from tech stack and custodian selection, to compliance support, commercial leases and healthcare plans. It was intense, and yet so rewarding. It’s a very scary moment for advisors, and you build a real bond helping them through it. It was here I learned the language I needed to build trust with my future clients at Addepar.

Tell us about your current role. What drew you to Addepar and what does the Strategic Networks team do?

I had come across Addepar a few times in my career and I always thought it was impressive that they were able to break through at firms that usually kept everything proprietary. So when the opportunity arose, I was excited to join the company. 

In my role now, my team focuses on a very specific group of clients. They’re consolidators, aggregators and high-growth firms. These firms grow largely through acquisition and are oftentimes backed by private equity. They’re typically building a platform to support a large number of underlying advisory teams. They need support that’s consistent, strategic and flexible. 

We act as strategic partners to these firms. We aren’t here to only react to everyday technical issues. Instead, we are proactively shaping how they use our platform, how they structure their internal workflows and how they prepare for growth. We’re client-facing, but also liaise constantly with Sales, Product, Client Management and everyone in between.

It’s incredibly hands-on. Sometimes that means jumping on a call to problem-solve something sensitive or urgent. Other times, it means helping the firm think through complex trade-offs, such as how much flexibility to give individual advisor teams without losing scale.

We have conversations every day with these clients asking questions such as: “What else do you need to be efficient? What are the things within our business or our product that we can enhance for you? What are you not taking advantage of?”

What value are you providing to clients?

Every firm has unique needs and every case is different. But, we understand the context, the history and the nuances of how these firms operate. As a result, we can provide tailored, consistent and continuous support — rather than employing a one size fits all approach. What we offer is consultative and strategic. 

We also help clients balance flexibility and scale. These firms are trying to support multiple advisor teams, and the temptation is to let each one do everything their own way — naming conventions, classifications, reporting preferences, you name it. But that becomes unmanageable quickly. So we talk through the impact. “What do you lose in terms of efficiency or data integrity if you allow too much variation?”

Finally, we help our clients back up their business and operational decisions. Together, we have the critical conversations to help them think everything through.

What makes a client relationship successful in this space?

Transparency. We’re honest about what’s possible, what’s hard, and what might take time. If something is going to be painful for a year but valuable over ten, we’ll say that. We’re not trying to make a sale — we’re trying to build something that lasts.

It’s also about trust. These are long relationships. They’re trusting us to help shape their business. That comes from showing up, listening and speaking their language. I can draw on my experience to demonstrate we understand this is a significant moment for them and how important these decisions are. 

What’s the biggest challenge in your role?

We’re a large organization with many clients. Sometimes we’re advocating hard for something that a client really needs, and it just takes time. We understand why, as there are roadmaps, priorities and a lot of clients to consider. We are client-centric but occasionally meet limitations in how fast we can move or competing priorities. Despite this, the conversations we have with our clients are paramount to our development and we will always champion feedback and an open line of communication.

And finally, what do you enjoy most about working at Addepar?

The people, 100%. We have incredibly smart people here from a variety of backgrounds. I also really value the autonomy. I feel trusted to get to the outcome in my own way.

Plus, I find wealth management fascinating in general. It’s such a personal space — how people manage their wealth, how families think about money, how decisions are made. There’s so much variety. And I’ve learned a lot from being around advisors, about trust, relationships and how to grow a business.