Cerity Partners enters Iowa with Gilbert & Cook deal
The acquisition of $2 billion Gilbert & Cook extends a shopping for spree for the ultra-high-net-worth agency that has already touched six states this yr.
Cerity Partners has unveiled a big growth by way of a merger with a West Des Moines agency, its newest transfer in a 2026 shopping for spree that has touched Texas, California, Illinois, Tennessee, Oregon and now the Midwest’s heartland.
Cerity Partners and Gilbert & Cook introduced their settlement to merge on Friday, marking Cerity’s first entry into the Iowa market.
Gilbert & Cook, based in 1993 and primarily based in West Des Moines, will function below the Cerity Partners identify going ahead and can contribute roughly $2 billion in property below administration to the agency.
The deal provides Gilbert & Cook’s shoppers entry to Cerity’s broader menu of companies, together with commerce proprietor advisory, multigenerational property planning, personal household workplace work, divorce monetary planning and personal bourses investing, in keeping with the announcement.
“Gilbert & Cook has constructed an impressive popularity primarily based on belief, experience, and an unwavering dedication to their shoppers,” stated Claire O’Keefe, companion and head of companion improvement at Cerity Partners. “By bringing our corporations collectively, we’re strengthening our potential to ship deeply personalised, built-in wealth recommendation whereas increasing our attain into the Des Moines group.”
“For greater than 30 years, our mission has been centered on constructing relationships – with our shoppers, with each other, and with the group we’re proud to name residence – to assist shoppers navigate life’s monetary selections by means of trusted and considerate steerage,” added Linda Cook, founder and managing companion of Gilbert & Cook. “At the center of the choice to affix Cerity Partners was a powerful alignment in values and philosophy.”
The Gilbert & Cook merger is Cerity’s newest addition to its stepped-up calendar yr for offers. The agency opened 2026 by acquiring Austin Private Wealth in Texas and SOL Capital Management, a Maryland advisory based in 1987, earlier than broadening into institutional consulting by means of a merger with Seattle-based Verus Investments that added roughly $1.2 trillion in advisory property to the platform.
March introduced two extra additions within the Chicago space and Southern California, April added a Tennessee foothold by means of a cope with Covenant Partners, and by June the agency had absorbed a Torrance, California tax and CPA observe into its El Segundo workplace. July noticed Cerity push into the Pacific Northwest for the primary time with a merger involving Portland-based Cordant Wealth Partners.
Cerity additionally bolstered its C-suite in July, when the agency named Will Peng as its first chief innovation officer, tasking him with knitting collectively a service mannequin throughout a agency that has grown quickly by means of M&A.
The agency hit a snag in April, nevertheless, when the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund dropped Cerity as its funding advisor primarily based on issues over the personal fairness possession behind its new dad or mum firm. Cerity is presently majority-owned by personal fairness sponsor Genstar Capital, with further minority stakes held by Warburg Pincus and Lightyear Capital, and administration and staff retaining the remaining shares.
Cerity’s growth comes alongside a broader acceleration throughout the registered funding adviser business. According to Echelon Partners’ first-quarter 2026 RIA M&A Deal Report, Cerity closed 5 offers within the first quarter alone, placing it on tempo to considerably exceed its full 2025 whole of seven transactions.
Echelon counted 142 transactions within the first quarter, a brand new quarterly file that topped the prior excessive of 125 offers set in each the third and fourth quarters of 2025. Average property below administration per deal reached $1.8 billion within the first quarter, the best degree since 2021, whereas whole transacted property hit $1.67 trillion, greater than double the $805 billion recorded within the first quarter of 2025.
