Balentine Expands Family Office Offering with Key Appointment

Atlanta, G.A. — Balentine announced today it’s expanding its suite of services with the appointment of Mark Bell, Ph.D., as Head of Family Office Services and Private Capital. A fixture of the Atlanta business community, Bell brings deep experience in asset management, private capital, and family office management.

“It takes just a few minutes after meeting Mark Bell to understand why he has been so successful in our industry,” said Brittain Prigge, CFA, President & Head of Relationship Management. “Mark is one of the most intelligent, most delightful, and most interesting people I’ve ever met. His experience with entrepreneurs and high-net-worth families, in particular, makes him well equipped to expand our multi-family office platform at Balentine. More importantly, Mark is a great cultural fit. We are dogmatic at Balentine about making sure all prospective employees understand and value the culture we have been so deliberate about creating.”

As Balentine approaches a decade in business, the employee-owned company is expanding its services and solutions for complex families. This follows the recent launch of Balentine Blueprint^™, a proprietary financial planning methodology the firm created for its clients. It also builds on the gains Balentine is making in the Southeast with presence in its second office in Raleigh, NC, where they oversee nearly $1B in assets under advisement. This growth comes despite the firm having launched during the Great Recession. “We knew that starting a business during the depths of the financial crisis wouldn’t be easy, but over the last nine years we’ve nearly tripled our employee count and grown from zero to almost $3 billion in assets under management,” remarked Balentine Chief Executive Officer Adrian Cronje, Ph.D., CFA.

In addition to an impressive career in asset management, Mark Bell was a lecturer at the University of Oxford in England where he earned a doctorate in history and is an adjunct professor at the Center for Alternative Investments at the Goizueta Business School of Emory University. This diverse experience, in addition to Bell’s civic involvement with social and cultural organizations, make him a powerful addition to Balentine’s strategic plan to extend beyond investment management. “Balentine’s Family Office practice will formalize and augment many of the services the firm has traditionally offered clients,” said Mark Bell. “The formalization of this offering is in response to clients who have recognized the need for support coordinating and managing their assets but want to avoid the costs and complexity of establishing a single family office. Our goal is to help these clients address the human capital and administrative aspects of their wealth, in addition to supporting their financial planning and investment management needs.”

Since Balentine was founded in 2009, the firm’s staff has nearly tripled to 38 professionals and it has opened an office in Raleigh, NC, that has earned enthusiastic market acceptance. To keep pace with all the recent growth, Balentine leadership is actively considering office expansion in the Atlanta area.

About Balentine

Balentine is an employee-owned financial management firm headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with a second office in Raleigh, North Carolina. Offering comprehensive wealth management services for families and global asset allocation strategies for institutions, Balentine seeks to deliver an exceptional client experience in addition to consistent long-term investment results. For 30 years, the Balentine legacy has been one of innovation, service to clients, and service to the community. Forbes, Barron’s, Financial Times, and InvestmentNews have recognized Balentine as a top financial planning and advisory firm. Balentine is a registered investment advisor with the Securities and Exchange Commission.