CogniCor adds wealthtech veterans to board in renewed RIA push

CogniCor, a Palo Alto-based artificial intelligence platform built for registered investment advisors, has expanded its advisory board with six new appointees, deepening its bench of RIA and wealth-technology veterans as the company positions itself for its next stage of growth.

The expansion comes as new industry data suggests financial advisory firms adopting artificial intelligence are growing headcount, not shrinking it, undercutting fears that automation will hollow out the advice business.

It also follows last month's addition of Shannon Eusey, chairman and co-founder of Beacon Pointe Advisors, to the same board.

The newly expanded board is chaired by Joseph Kuo, chief executive and founder of Haven Tower and co-founder and managing partner of Ascentix Partners. He is joined by Matthew Incitti of Hamilton Point Investments; Louis Diamond, CEO of Diamond Consultants; Allison Couch Pratt, founder and president of Anchor Point Strategies; Jim Roth of Ascentix Partners; and Douglas Wilber of SixThirty Ventures, an investor in CogniCor.

CogniCor chief executive and co-founder Dr. Sindhu Joseph said the company intentionally assembled directors who understand the wealth management landscape from diverse angles.

"We have deliberately brought together leaders who understand this opportunity from very different vantage points: building and scaling RIAs, advising industry leaders, creating and commercializing technology and driving strategic growth," Joseph said. 

CogniCor, which has a focus on $2 billion-plus AUM firms operating with multiple teams, describes its platform as an intelligence and orchestration layer designed to unify data scattered across a firm's technology stack and turn it into coordinated advisor action, rather than adding another standalone point solution to an advisor's workflow.

Read more: Why every RIA needs a data orchestration strategy

In one case study with Plancorp Wealth Management, Cognicor said its Advisor Copilot tool was rolled out to 60 client-facing employees. Over the course of 28 days, it said the tool freed up more than 700 hours of advisor and staff capacity across 17 efficiency measures, including meeting preparation and follow-up.

The board expansion lands against a backdrop of data suggesting AI adoption is coinciding with staffing growth rather than layoffs. A recent industry snapshot examining thousands of RIA disclosures found that firms reporting meaningful AI use grew total headcount faster than firms that had not adopted the technology, a pattern researchers said complicates the narrative that automation shrinks advisory payrolls.

Separate RIA benchmarking data from Schwab found 83% of firms with $250 million or more in assets under management now use some form of AI, most commonly for administrative tasks, drafting client correspondence and generating marketing content.

That same research from Schwab found AI strategy was the single area advisors most wanted outside help with – cited by 47% of firms as a top-three priority ahead of marketing strategy, growth strategy and back-office process improvements.

"AI in wealth management is quickly moving beyond meeting notes and individual productivity tools," Joseph said. "The next opportunity is much larger: bringing together intelligence across the entire household, the advisor's book and the firm, and using it to drive advisor capacity, deeper client relationships and organic growth."