<h3>With Leah Sciabarrasi—President/Managing Partner, Wealth Advisor, Crestwood Advisors</h3> <h3>Overview</h3> <p><em>Jason Diamond speaks with Leah Sciabarrasi of Crestwood Advisors on building an $8B firm from inception, including how her role evolved, how leadership alignment shapes scale, and how sustained growth is achieved without disrupting the client experience.</em></p> <h3>Listen in&#8230;</h3> <p><a href="https://hubs.ly/Q03PPyKx0" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>&#62;</strong> Download a transcript of this episode…</a></p> <p><i data-stringify-type="italic">NOTE: The views and opinions expressed by the guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Diamond Consultants. </i><i data-stringify-type="italic">Neither Diamond Consultants nor the guests on this podcast are compensated in any way for their participation.</i></p> <h3>Watch&#8230;</h3> <p>https://youtu.be/DhYu0AYJUcY</p> <h3><b data-stringify-type="bold">About this episode&#8230;</b></h3> <p>There’s a point in this business when success creates a new set of decisions.</p> <p>You can keep building a great practice—serving clients well, growing steadily, and keeping things relatively simple. Or you can make the shift to building an enterprise, where everything changes: how you manage people, create structure, stay aligned, and think about the long term.</p> <p>And once you go down that path, there’s no hiding the gaps.</p> <p>In this episode, Leah Sciabarrasi, President and Managing Partner at Crestwood Advisors, recognizes that full well. Leah has been at Crestwood since day one—joining the firm at inception in 2003 and helping grow it from three people and zero assets to over $8B today.</p> <p>Beyond the firm’s extraordinary growth, the real story is how deliberately that growth was achieved and how closely it’s been tied to the client experience along the way.</p> <p>Because Crestwood didn’t grow through a single moment or a series of big moves. It’s been a steady evolution, growing client by client, integrating new capabilities, and investing ahead of where the business was at any given point in time.</p> <p>And all of it anchored in a simple idea: grow in a way that the client doesn’t feel it.</p> <p>In this conversation, Leah shares what it really looks like to build beyond a practice into an enterprise, including:</p> <ul> <li>The evolution of her role—and how she transitioned from doing the work to designing the environment where the work happens.</li> <li>Key decisions and inflection points—and how they specifically relate to their growth.</li> <li>Their Focus Financial partnership—and how that allows them to embrace the “boutique-at-scale” model.</li> <li>Alignment at the leadership level—and why it’s critical, particularly as complexity increases.</li> <li>Scaling without compromise—and how culture, structure, partnership, and private equity are vital to ensuring continuity in the client experience.</li> </ul> <p>It’s a story designed for advisors and business owners alike—and it demonstrates that, at a certain size, growth isn’t just about getting bigger, but about building something that can sustain it.</p> <p><strong><em>Want to learn more about where, why, and how advisors like you are moving? </em></strong><a href="https://www.diamond-consultants.com/contact-us/"><strong><em>Click to contact</em></strong></a><strong><em> us or call 908-879-1002.</em></strong></p> <h3><b data-stringify-type="bold">Related Resources</b></h3> <p><strong><a href="https://www.diamond-consultants.com/intentional-growth-how-top-advisors-build-businesses-that-last/">Intentional Growth: How Top Advisors Build Businesses That Last</a><br /></strong>Strong markets can drive growth, but durable wealth management businesses are built with intention. Jason Diamond outlines five practices top advisors use to create scalable firms designed to last.</p> <p><strong><a href="https://www.diamond-consultants.com/the-best-of-the-best-10-ways-top-advisors-are-growing-their-businesses/">The Best of the Best: 10 Ways Top Advisors Are Growing Their Businesses</a><br /></strong>A “Top 10” list of firm-level innovations and grassroots methodologies from some of the most successful advisors, teams, and firm in the business. Listen in to spark ideas designed to drive greater growth.</p> <p><strong><a href="https://www.diamond-consultants.com/tools-and-resources/landscape-at-a-glance/">Wealth Management Landscape at a Glance</a><br /></strong>The wealth management industry offers more options than ever, making it challenging to identify and compare the various models. We created an “at a glance” continuum infographic—to help you navigate the different models and understand how their features stack up.</p> <h3>Leah R. Sciabarrasi, CFP®<br />President/Managing Partner, Wealth Manager</h3> <p>Leah helped form <a href="https://www.crestwoodadvisors.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Crestwood</a> at its inception in 2003 and is a Wealth Manager and President/Managing Partner. Leah has been working with individuals and families to define and implement their strategies around wealth for over 20 years.  She manages the Wealth Management team at Crestwood Advisors and, as President/Managing Partner, helps guide &#38; implement strategic planning initiatives for the firm. Leah has a BA from Brandeis University, is a Certified Financial Planner™ practitioner with experience in comprehensive financial planning for high-net-worth clients and has been named multiple times to Boston Magazines “Five Star Wealth Managers”*. She is a member of the Financial Planning Association, the Boston Estate Planning Council, The Boston Club, the Executive Council of the Ellevate Network and regularly serves on industry panels.  Leah previously served as Co-Chair of the Professional Advisory Council for The Boston Foundation and has been involved for many years with EMPath, formerly serving as Chair of the Board.  Additionally, she currently serves as a Board Member for PSC Partners Seeking a Cure and concurrently engages in extensive patient advocacy work. Leah resides in Andover, MA with her husband and three children.</p>