Building Trust, Breaking Norms: How Chip Kispert Is Reshaping Wealth Management

• The story behind Beacon Strategies (founding) mission and values
• How Chip’s background shaped his leadership mindset
• Why curiosity and listening fuel innovation
• What the Beacon Roundtables are really like — and (why they matter) the impact they have on all that attend
• Listen in to meet the heart behind Beacon Strategies and the mission to help wealth firms and providers get 1% better every day.

[00:00:00] RJ Malyk:

Welcome to the Beacon Podcast with your host, Chip Kispert. I’m RJ Malyk, producer of this podcast and Chip, welcome and how you doing today? I’m doing fabulous. I’m talking to you. Well, you’re, you’re the only person who, who responds like that to me, uh, especially my wife. It depending on the day. But anyway, um, this is your initial podcast and we’re gonna get to know you.

[00:00:24] RJ Malyk:

Uh, we’re gonna talk about you, how you got to where you’re at, what you’re looking to accomplish, not only with your business, but with your podcast. And this is gonna be. An ongoing process that I’m, I’m looking forward to. So I hope you are too. Uh, so let’s get things started and let’s get to know you. Uh, give us a little bit of your background, how you know, where you’re from and how you got in involved in this, uh, industry.

[00:00:50] Chip Kispert:

Sure. So, uh, actually I feel like I’m on the couch right now. Um, so if, uh, you know, looking back, I, I got into the business [00:01:00] relatively early. I grew up, uh. Little south of Boston, Massachusetts, little town called Duxbury, Massachusetts. Very familiar with that. And it’s on the water. Uh, it’s a beautiful place.

[00:01:10] Chip Kispert:

Matter of fact, I think it’s one of the most beautiful places in the world. Uh, and grew up with a very, I. You know, suburban environment and you know, but it was great. You know, we all, in the summer as kids, we rode our bikes, we went everywhere. You know, we were out light to dark. And when it got dark, he came home and ate dinner.

[00:01:33] Chip Kispert:

Right. Uh, that said, um, I got into the business. Um, both my parents were teachers. My dad actually started a little, uh, business. It was an independent college consulting business. Unfortunately, he passed away very early at, at 47. Um, but prior to that he had introduced me to a dear friend, uh, of the family fellow by the name of Billy Boyd, [00:02:00] who was, uh, worked on the Lehman Brothers bond desk, fixed income desk in Boston.

[00:02:07] Chip Kispert:

And so I started at 17, 18 years old running coffee. Wow. Uh, digging through insurance holdings, reports, uh, trying to find something interesting that they could trade. Um. From there, I, you know, I went to school, uh, up at, up in Colby College in Maine, and, uh, then went down to New York and, and worked in New York for about six, seven years before actually I went to Boston, worked for Fidelity Investments.

[00:02:38] Chip Kispert:

Yeah. Okay. And then 20 years ago, I came out to Denver. I, fidelity transferred me out here. Um, I continued to work for them for probably another year or two, and then got hooked into the.com era. So, uh, we were the fir, I was part of a company that was the first SaaS. Portfolio management platform [00:03:00] in the business.

[00:03:00] Chip Kispert:

Mm. Um, which is pretty cool. Nobody really remembers the name of Tech FY anymore, but ultimately it was acquired by Advent Software, uh, which was acquired by s, s and C. Uh, the story, that story writes itself from here on out. I started the business here in 2006 with two key principles. One, we wanted to be the bridge between, uh, enterprise wealth firms.

[00:03:27] Chip Kispert:

And solutions providers. Number two, I wanted to work with good people, end of story. Um, so that those two are our really, our, our, our foundational requirements for the work we do in the industry. Um, and, and so, you know, that’s how we started. And literally we kicked off in 2006, 2007, 2008. You know, right off the [00:04:00] bat we got a, a, uh, economic downfall in 2008.

[00:04:28] Chip Kispert:

And our first, our first customer was a, a, uh, you know, a modest sized broker dealer at a Kokomo, Indiana by the name of CFD Investments. I’ll be ever, I’ll be forever grateful to them for taking a, a leap and, and believing in us. Um, and, uh, you know, since then the, the business has grown. Um. Very, very nicely.

[00:04:50] Chip Kispert:

We actually grew it. We have three parts of the business. The first part is the consulting. So literally what we try to do is align strategy with infrastructure for enterprise wealth firms. Um, as well, we help the provider environment, the fintechs, so to speak, um, better understand the market. So we. Do a lot with them.

[00:05:12] Chip Kispert:

And then we host round tables. So we host half a dozen round tables a year where we bring industry executives into our, um, into great places. You know, we go to take ’em around the country, we bring ’em in for 36 hours, uh, and we break it down and we. Get ’em together. And it’s family style largely, but we do case studies, breakout sessions, community questions.

[00:05:39] Chip Kispert:

Our partner, we have partners there. We put them through a partner challenge. We challenge them to be the most interesting people in the room for eight to 10 minutes. Um, and, you know, we built this community. Of, of literally, you know, thousands of people that, that we interact with. And, and the gratitude I have, um, for those people believing in us and for, um, their commitment to the work we’re doing is, is large.

[00:06:08] Chip Kispert:

Um, so, you know, my entry into the business was not traditional in any way, shape, or form, but I fell in love. I fell in love with FinTech.

[00:06:18] RJ Malyk:

I was gonna ask you about that. It, it was a very untraditional way of, of, of approaching that. Uh, do you think that helped you though because you looked at things differently?

[00:06:28] Chip Kispert:

Yeah, I do. I think, you know, I think, uh, yeah. Hey, listen, I was a history major, right? Um, up Kobe and, and, um, I look at the world through the lens of what’s the problem people are trying to solve. Right. Uh, we can always chase the, the shiny metal fishing lure, but when we look at trying to help our people, our, our help firms, um, we’re looking at what do you wanna [00:07:00] accomplish and what’s the process to get there.

[00:07:03] Chip Kispert:

Technology and all that can take care of itself. But what’s that process? What’s that experience that you want your customers to go through? What’s the experiences that you want your staff to go through? Um, you know, and at the end of the day, what does success look like? And our job is to help people in the wealth space, both wealth firms

[00:07:26] RJ Malyk:

and providers.

[00:07:27] RJ Malyk:

So communicating and listening. Really, probably very, very important in, in your world. Very.

[00:07:37] Chip Kispert:

Richard Branson. He is, uh, there was a p some, he said something, and I’ll paraphrase it. Uh, a leader, the most important thing they can do is listen.

[00:07:47] RJ Malyk:

Huh?

[00:07:48] Chip Kispert:

And we try to listen a lot.

[00:07:51] RJ Malyk:

Interesting. Alright, let’s, let’s change a little bit here.

[00:07:54] RJ Malyk:

We’re gonna change pace here and let’s talk a little bit more about you. I’m noticing as I’m looking over your shoulder, you have a guitar there and we were talking a little bit before the podcast and I explained to you that, you know, I took, uh, like eight years of guitar lessons just to be a bad guitar player.

[00:08:12] RJ Malyk:

Uh, give us your critique of your guitar playing, if you don’t mind.

[00:08:17] Chip Kispert:

Horrific.

[00:08:21] Chip Kispert:

But you love it, right? Uh, you know, I do because, you know, whether it’s the guitar or, you know, uh, i, I, it, it requires complete concentration. Uh, and I don’t know about you, but you know, our business requires complete concentration, but on a hundred things, um, right. Being able to take it down a notch. Um, you know, in the winter, the guitar’s nice ’cause it’s, Hey, it’s dark, it’s cold, right?

[00:08:55] Chip Kispert:

Whatever. But, you know, you can sit out here with, uh. Hot [00:09:00] toddy or whatever, and, um, you know, you can strum along to your, to your favorite songs. And, uh, you know, to to echo or to answer your question, I am horrible. Um, but it, you know, one of the, one of my philosophies is, you know, uh, you know, to continue to grow and be curious and, and to learn new things.

[00:09:22] Chip Kispert:

And I, that’s something I’ll learn till the day I die. ’cause there’s no listen. I, I can only get better. Right? I

[00:09:29] RJ Malyk:

can only get better. Right? And, and it’s therapeutic. There’s something about music that is just so therapeutic and it, whether, whether you’re in a, a good mood or a bad mood, music just can help you just.

[00:09:44] RJ Malyk:

Move on or move along?

[00:09:47] Chip Kispert:

I, yeah, I grew up in a household where music was always on. Um, you know, you know the always, you know, we had Bob Seger, cast Stevens, whatever sure was on, um, [00:10:00] and uh, my house now is not much different. So, uh, you know, all during the day I got music in here and, uh, you know, so.

[00:10:08] RJ Malyk:

Being from Massachusetts, Jay Gilles in Boston.

[00:10:11] RJ Malyk:

Oh yeah. They had to be important in your, in your music, uh, history

[00:10:15] Chip Kispert:

growing up, centerfold and some of those. Yeah. Yeah. They, uh, that, uh, that was a, that was a Boston based band. You get, you know, you had Boston, right? You had the cars. Yeah. Um, as cars. Yes. Yeah. There, there was good, there’s, there was good music and there is good music in Boston.

[00:10:30] Chip Kispert:

Yeah. And, uh, so, and, and hey, I, I gotta say the same thing for Denver, right? So we got a great, we got a great little music scene here. Um, you know, folks like the Lumineers and um,

[00:10:42] RJ Malyk:

uh, and a couple others. That’s great. Um, uh, just to give you, I, I’m very familiar with Massachusetts. That’s where I met my wife really was in Massachusetts, in Worcester, Massachusetts.

[00:10:53] RJ Malyk:

We were both wor at the, uh, same radio station. She was the news person on the AM Station [00:11:00] and I was, uh, a music, uh, jock on the FM station. And I always tease her because I always felt like she thought I was, you know, a big loser. And, um, because you know, which station was it? Uh, I worked at WSRS in, uh, Worcester.

[00:11:17] RJ Malyk:

Okay. And she worked at, she worked at WTHE. I love that. And, yeah. Then she worked in Boston at, at WBUR for a number of years. Really? Yeah. I know that one. Yeah. Yeah. Excellent. Then I got a job on Cape Cod and that’s, that’s when she came down to visit me. And we’ve been together ever since. MVY? No, no. Um, I was working at WCIB Cool.

[00:11:43] RJ Malyk:

1 0 2.

[00:11:45] Chip Kispert:

Got it. Yeah. My grandparents were down in Chatham and, uh, there were, there were not many radio stations. No. No.

[00:11:52] RJ Malyk:

And I think they’re fewer. Yes. But Cape Cod is just a beautiful place, and we go back every single year. In fact, we were there Memorial Day weekend. We’ll go back Labor Day weekend. And, uh, that’s, that’s our place.

[00:12:06] RJ Malyk:

I’m jealous. I’m jealous. I haven’t been back in too long. Just wanted to share that with you. Okay. Let’s move on and, uh, let’s talk a little bit about another hobby of yours. You like to golf and how did you get involved in that? Is that something, you know, you were looking for something competitive? Like for myself, I’m not a good golfer, but I’ve always played sports.

[00:12:25] RJ Malyk:

So as I got older, I couldn’t play the sports that I liked to play. For example, you know, in high school and college I was a lacrosse player and there, there, there’s a shelf life with that. But I have that competitive. In me. So playing golf is, is, you know, as bad as I am, I still enjoy it. Is that something similar to you?

[00:12:44] Chip Kispert:

I grew up in a very sports centric family. Um, in college, I actually, freshman year I played three sports. I played football, hockey, and baseball. Okay. Um, and I, hockey, I I, freshman year I lasted probably about [00:13:00] half the season until a, a, uh, a viral infection took me out and I said, well, maybe football and baseball is, is, is enough.

[00:13:08] Chip Kispert:

But, um, yeah, I always grew up playing sports. It, I love to compete. Um, I think that translates over into the business side. Um, yeah. You know, and interestingly enough, I played a ton of tennis, growing, growing up in the summer. Um, I hated to tra train for football, like, you know, lifting the weights, doing that stuff.

[00:13:29] Chip Kispert:

I, I’d rather play tennis. Um, about 13 or 14, I really got into golf and started playing a lot of golf. Um, and that’s become kind of my passion and talk about something that just I digest into. And, um, I don’t think about anything else when I get out there. And for four, for three and a half hours, four hours.

[00:13:51] RJ Malyk:

I think that’s a great thing to be able to just leave part of your life behind and just be able to focus and relax and, and really it clears your mind does, so when you come back, you’re ready to go because sometimes you can get into a, a cycle, especially, you know, when I was in management it was almost, uh, management.

[00:14:12] RJ Malyk:

Also, when I was doing a morning show, I was constantly thinking about. What am I gonna talk about next on the next morning show? Or as a manager, I was thinking about, okay, what’s the next promotion? Or how, how are we gonna get more listeners and things like that. And it was almost like you, you were never off.

[00:14:29] RJ Malyk:

And I think that can lead to burnout.

[00:14:31] Chip Kispert:

Oh. And you know, I know during the winter here, you know, and my chief of staff, Sarah Fisher, she’s, uh, listen, she’s, uh, she does so much for us and. As sad as this may sound, we tend to work seven days a week during the winter. Um, just because we have with our round tables, uh, consulting with a lot going on, it’s all good stuff, right?

[00:14:58] Chip Kispert:

It’s really good stuff. But you gotta, you gotta turn the switch and you gotta take some time and, uh, you know, be able to take it from there and, and recharge the batteries. Yeah, that’s

[00:15:10] RJ Malyk:

important. Um, what, uh, what can you point to as a, as either your proudest or, uh, something you’re really proud of as far as an achievement is concerned?

[00:15:22] Chip Kispert:

You know, I think one of the things, so we host the Beacon Roundtable series, so if I’m looking professionally at something that, that. Our organization has created, it’s created what I feel is the best, uh, uh, event series in the business. Um, you know, we created our round tables because I would go attend conferences and I felt like they were a 90 degree bounce off.

[00:15:55] Chip Kispert:

Right? You meet somebody. You talk for 35 seconds, you know, 30 to 90 seconds, whatever. And then you try, you know, you wanna engage with ’em again. And guess what? You went to dead space. Um, back, you know, around 2010, I partnered with Peter Montoya. Megan McCartan and we started the, the, the round tables. Um, Peter was actually the, the, the, um, he, he funded them initially and got me into doing ’em.

[00:16:29] Chip Kispert:

And then pretty much 2010, 2011, Megan and I took ’em over. And then, um, I took ’em completely over when she went over to Hightower, I wanna say 2014, 2015. Um, so I. The, the round tables where we bring people together, we dive into deep discussion. Um, there is a, a, an environment of sharing amongst. Competitors really for 30 hours.

[00:17:01] Chip Kispert:

It’s people acknowledging they have similar challenges and working together to find, to think through solutions to those as well. I. They educate one another on things that they’re going through, right? And, and then our partners. So one of the things I always found as well is when you attend a conference, you know, you’d have a a vendor and then you’d have an attendee and the two NA should meet, shall not meet.

[00:17:31] Chip Kispert:

And we bring everybody together because guess what? Those partners bring thought leadership as well. Yeah. And so literally our round tables bring people together, uh, in a community that shares and helps one another, and that’s rich and rewarding to me.

[00:17:52] RJ Malyk:

Yeah. Excellent. Excellent. Okay, final question. We, this is your first podcast.

[00:17:59] RJ Malyk:

What, [00:18:00] what can you tell a, a person who’s just tuning in what they can look forward to on subsequent, uh, podcasts with you and I?

[00:18:08] Chip Kispert:

Rj, great question. Um, so I’ll break it down to a couple different things. So number one, uh, we’re gonna bring interesting people on, people that know subject matter. Um, we’re gonna balance between, um, wealth firm folks, uh, and provider folks we are going to.

[00:18:30] Chip Kispert:

And three, we are going to touch on the issues that are impacting, uh, enterprise wealth firms. Today and we are also gonna look at, uh, at the trends that we see coming down the pipe. So we wanna elevate everybody’s knowledge base and ultimately kind of get back to our philosophy of making the people that we work with, the people we interact with 1% better every day.

[00:19:00] RJ Malyk:

Excellent. Okay. Uh, how about some contact information? How can people get in touch with you?

[00:19:06] Chip Kispert:

Super easy. Go to beaconstrategiesllc.com, uh, or go to my LinkedIn profile at Chip Kispert.

[00:19:16] RJ Malyk:

Excellent. Okay. Uh, thanks, uh, chip. Appreciate it. And thank you for listening to the Beacon Strategies Podcast. We ask you to share this podcast rated and leave a review because this actually helps others find the show.

[00:19:28] RJ Malyk:

Again, thank you for listening and for Chip Kispert and everyone at Beacon Strategies. I’m RJ Malyk, and we look forward to you joining us for the next podcast.