Ares Wealth Management Solutions (AWMS) is a division of Ares Management, a leading global alternative investment manager. Backed by Ares' approximately $525 billion platform, AWMS delivers institutional-quality private market strategies to financial advisors. Overseeing product development, marketing, distribution, and advisor support, AWMS focuses on expanding access to private credit, equity, real estate, and infrastructure through tailored investment solutions.
Brendan McCurdy is Managing Director and Head of Marketing and Research at Ares Wealth Management Solutions. He joined Ares in 2022 from Partners Group, where he managed private markets portfolios. He previously held senior roles at Goldman Sachs and began his career at Ameriprise Financial. Brendan holds a B.A. from Hillsdale College and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Brendan is based in Denver, Colorado, where he enjoys outdoor activities including skiing, biking, and coaching his children’s soccer teams.
The Challenge: Moving Beyond Excel-Based Portfolio Models
AWMS needed a tool to gain a more precise view of portfolio risk and diversification beyond traditional Excel-based models.
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“We needed to understand exposures at both the factor and asset class level to enhance diversification. Solovis Risk Pro stood out as the most intuitive platform, offering clear factor insights and cross-asset analysis. It helped us move from broad assumptions to data-driven decisions, becoming a key differentiator in client conversations that was not previously achievable." Brendan McCurdy, Managing Director | Ares Wealth Management Solutions |
AWMS' goal is to align its financial advisor portfolio analysis with best practices in the institutional market, building a portfolio analysis tool to help advisors and their clients make informed allocation decisions.
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"We've built portfolios using Risk Pro's platform to help demonstrate how we construct from the ground up, including how much one might want to allocate to a given asset class, using an institutional asset allocation approach rooted in factor-based budgeting." Brendan McCurdy, Managing Director | Ares Wealth Management Solutions |
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"One of the most important aspects of our work is being able to sit down with advisors and show how their portfolios shift in response to specific goals or constraints. It's not just about back-end modeling, it's about enabling more thoughtful conversations and decisions. Our team can take in an advisor's existing allocations, work with their targets, and demonstrate the impact of various adjustments. Without a platform like Risk Pro, we'd be relying on a far less sophisticated Excel-based approach or we'd need a much larger team to attempt the same level of analysis. Risk Pro helps us scale this level of personalization, so we can deliver smarter, more actionable insights to our partners." Brendan McCurdy, Managing Director | Ares Wealth Management Solutions |
Real-World Insights and Thought Leadership
By providing real-time market perspectives and tools, AWMS empowers advisors to meet the evolving needs of their clients and access the full potential of private markets.
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"While Risk Pro helps us create bespoke analysis for advisors, it also informs the thought leadership content that we write and the presentations that we give on stage at industry events. The portfolios we've built for illustrative purposes give us a differentiated viewpoint and allows our insights to reflect real potential outcomes and guidance." Brendan McCurdy, Managing Director | Ares Wealth Management Solutions |
Future Priorities: Enhancing Advisor Value Through Innovation
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“Our high-touch, consultative approach, backed by Ares' more than 25 years of alternative investment expertise, helps ensure advisors can deliver durable, diversified, and tax-efficient outcomes. As the alternative investment industry evolves, we remain focused on innovating solutions for financial advisors to meet the demands of the future." Brendan McCurdy, Managing Director | Ares Wealth Management Solutions |
AWMS is taking a more granular approach to portfolio construction by breaking down sub-asset classes within its analysis. The team also plans to incorporate tax considerations as a future enhancement.