Steward Partners Celebrates Leadership Recognition of Jim Gold and Greg Banasz in 2025 WealthManagement.com Industry Awards

Industry acknowledgment underscores Steward Partners' commitment to leadership and innovation

STAMFORD, Conn., Sept. 5, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Steward Partners, an employee-owned independent financial services firm specializing in comprehensive wealth management solutions, celebrates the finalist recognitions of Chief Executive Officer, Jim Gold, and Chief Marketing Officer, Greg Banasz, as 'Chief Executive Officer of The Year ($25Bn+ AUM)' and 'Chief Marketing Officer of The Year', respectively, for Individual RIA Firms in the 2025 WealthManagement.com Industry Awards (the "Wealthies"). Now in its 11^th year, the Wealthies is the only awards program of its kind recognizing the individuals and organizations that drive innovation in wealth management. The awards celebrate outstanding achievement in bringing new solutions to market and making a meaningful difference in the daily success of financial advisors.

"On behalf of all our partners, I am proud to congratulate Jim Gold and Greg Banasz on this well-deserved recognition," said Hy Saporta, President and Chief Operating Officer at Steward Partners. "Their vision and leadership have not only set new benchmarks for Steward Partners but have also helped redefine what success looks like across the wealth management industry. This honor reflects their unwavering commitment to our advisors, clients, and culture, and we are proud to celebrate the extraordinary impact they continue to make."

As 'Chief Executive Officer of the Year,' Jim Gold has been recognized for his vision, integrity, and high performance in leading Steward Partners through new challenges and opportunities. His leadership has had a measurable impact on the firm, its advisors, and the broader wealth management industry, including advancing employee engagement, fostering leadership development, and earning respect across the industry.

Greg Banasz, honored as 'Chief Marketing Officer of the Year,' has been celebrated for his creativity, strategic vision, and leadership in elevating Steward Partners' brand. Over the past year, his efforts have driven measurable impact through innovative marketing campaigns, thought leadership initiatives, and contributions that strengthen both the firm and the broader wealth management community.

For the full list of 2025 WealthManagement.com Industry Awards winners, visit https://informaconnect.com/wealth-management-industry-awards/winners/. 

Since its launch in 2013, Steward Partners has solidified its place as one of the industry's fastest-growing and most influential RIA firms. Recently, the firm earned a spot on Inc. 5000's list of fastest-growing private companies for the fifth time. Additionally, the firm was recently listed 28^th on Financial Advisor Magazine's 2025 Top RIA and RIA Discretionary and Non-Discretionary AUM Rankings and was named as a 2025 Excellence Awardee for InvestmentNews' Thrivent Employer of Choice, as well as recognized on Washington Business Journal's 2025 Best Places to Work List and USA TODAY's Best Financial Advisory Firms 2025 list. Additionally, in 2025 several Steward Partners advisors and teams were honored on Forbes | SHOOK's 2025 Best-In-State Next-Gen Wealth Advisors, 2025 Best-In-State Wealth Advisors and Best-In-State Wealth Management Teams lists, underscoring the firm's commitment to delivering exceptional client outcomes through collaborative, team-based service. Additionally, many advisors earned a spot on InvestmentNews' Top Financial Advisors in the USA list and celebrated its fifth consecutive appearance on Barron's latest Top 100 RIA Firms list, securing an impressive 18th ranking. These achievements reflect Steward Partners' continued momentum, client-first culture, and dedication to excellence in wealth management.

About Steward Partners
Representing some of the U.S.'s top advisors, Steward Partners is a full-service, employee-owned, independent financial services firm that offers wealth management solutions for families, businesses, and multigenerational investors. Established in 2013, the firm fosters a positive, transparent culture of camaraderie and excellence that has fueled its substantial growth in a highly competitive industry. With its commitment to exceptional client service and forward-thinking partnerships, the firm was ranked as the #18 RIA in the country in Barron's Top 100 RIAs for the year 2024. Offering services such as comprehensive wealth planning, private banking, institutional consulting, and business solutions, the firm was responsible for over $43 billion in client assets as of July 2025.

To learn more about Steward Partners, visit www.stewardpartners.com.

About Wealth Management.com and the Wealth Management Industry Awards
WealthManagement.com, an Informa business, provides everything wealth professionals need to know to stay knowledgeable about the industry, build stronger relationships, improve their practice, and grow their business. WealthManagement.com offers financial services organizations a broad array of marketing services designed to help them influence the industry's leading audience of wealth management professionals.

Now in its 11^th year, the Wealth Management Industry Awards recognize outstanding achievements by companies, organizations and individuals that support financial advisor success. Winners are selected based on quantitative measures including scope, scale, adoption, and feature set, along with qualitative measures such as innovation, creativity, and user experience.

About Inc. and the Inc. 5000
About Inc. Media
The world's most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools, connections, and community to build great companies. Its award-winning multiplatform content reaches more than 50 million people each month. Its prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The global recognition that comes with inclusion in the 5000 gives the founders of the best businesses an opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers, and the credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent. For more information, visit www.inc.com. 

Inc. 5000 Methodology
Companies on the 2025 Inc. 5000 are ranked according to percentage revenue growth from 2021 to 2024. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2021. They must be U.S.-based, privately held, for-profit, and independent – not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies – as of December 31, 2021. (Since then, some on the list may have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2021 is $100,000; the minimum required revenue for 2024 is $2 million. As always, Inc. reserves the right to decline applicants for subjective reasons. They represent the top tier of the Inc. 5000, which can be found at http://www.inc.com/inc5000. Steward Partners nor its affiliates paid a fee to Inc. Magazine in exchange for the ranking.

About Forbes | SHOOK
For the 2025 list, SHOOK considered advisors born in 1986 or later with a minimum of four years of experience. Eligible advisors have built or led practices, joined teams, and are recognized as emerging leaders or a combination of both. The ranking algorithm incorporates qualitative factors gathered through telephone and in-person interviews to assess best practices. Additional criteria include client retention, industry experience, professional credentials, compliance record reviews, firm nominations, and quantitative data such as assets under management and revenue generated. Investment performance is excluded due to varying client goals, risk tolerances, and the limited availability of audited performance reports. Data provided by SHOOK® Research, LLC. Data as of 3/31/25.

SHOOK is completely independent and objective and does not receive compensation from the advisors, firms, the media, or any other source in exchange for placement on a ranking. SHOOK is funded through conferences, publications and research partners. Since every investor has unique needs, investors must carefully choose the right advisor for their own situation and perform their own due diligence. SHOOK's research and rankings provide opinions for how to choose the right financial advisor and not indicative of future performance or representative of any one client's experience. Portfolio performance is not a criterion due to varying client objectives and lack of audited data. Remember, past performance is not an indication of future results.

About Financial Advisor Magazine's 2025 Top RIA and RIA Discretionary and Non-Discretionary AUM Rankings
The Financial Advisor Magazine 2025 RIA Ranking recognizes independent registered investment advisory firms that demonstrate growth, scale, and consistent service delivery across a range of metrics. Rankings are based on year-end data collected through a voluntary survey, focusing on firm size, service offerings, and operational trends. Key indicators include increases in discretionary and nondiscretionary assets under management, client relationships, and assets under advisement not captured on a firm's ADV. Additional factors such as staffing levels, multi-custodial capabilities, and business model evolution also inform the ranking. Neither Steward Partners nor its Wealth Managers pays a fee to Financial Advisor Magazine in exchange for the rating

About the Washington Business Journal's Best Places to Work
The Washington Business Journal's Best Places to Work program honors the top employers in the Greater Washington area that are creating exceptional workplace cultures. Rankings are determined exclusively by employee feedback gathered through an independent survey conducted by Quantum Market Research. The survey measures employee engagement and satisfaction across key areas such as leadership, culture, communication, and benefits. Companies that make the list are recognized for their ability to foster a work environment where people feel valued, supported, and motivated to succeed. This award is not awarded based on investment advisory services rendered. This ranking is not indicative of any advisor's future performance, is not an endorsement, and may not be representative of individual clients' experience. Neither Steward Partners nor its affiliates paid a fee to Washington Business Journal in exchange for the ranking.

About USA Today and Statista Best Financial Advisory Firms
USA TODAY and Statista selected the Best Financial Advisory Firms in 2025 based on two dimensions: recommendations by clients and peers and a firm's growth of Assets under Management (AUM). The recommendations were collected via an independent survey sent to over 30,000 individuals. The development of AUM was analyzed in both the short- and long-term based on publicly available data (Short-term AUM development was calculated over a twelve-month period from January 2024 to January 2025, while long-term development spanned a five-year period from 2020 to 2025). In the consideration for the top 500 RIA firms, recommendations had a weight of 20% while the development of AUM had a weight of 80% (short-term and long-term growth were weighted 30/70) to derive the final score. Steward Partners nor its affiliates paid a fee to USA Today or Statista in exchange for the ranking.

About Forbes | SHOOK
2025 Forbes Best-in-State Wealth Advisors
Forbes Best-in-State Wealth Advisors ranking was developed by SHOOK Research and is based on in-person, virtual and telephone due diligence meetings to evaluate each advisor qualitatively, a major component of a ranking algorithm that includes: client retention, industry experience, review of compliance records, firm nominations; and quantitative criteria, including: assets under management and revenue generated for their firms. Investment performance is not a criterion because client objectives and risk tolerances vary, and advisors rarely have audited performance reports. Rankings are based on the opinions of SHOOK Research, LLC and are not indicative of future performance or representative of any one client's experience. Neither Steward Partners Investment Solutions, LLC nor its Wealth Managers pay a fee to Forbes or SHOOK Research in exchange for the ranking. For more information, see www.SHOOKresearch.com

About Forbes | SHOOK
2025 Forbes Best-In-State Wealth Management Teams
Data provided by SHOOK^® Research, LLC. Data as of 3/31/24 Source: Forbes.com (January, 2025). Forbes Best-in-State Wealth Management Teams ranking was developed by SHOOK Research and is based on in-person, virtual and telephone due diligence meetings and a ranking algorithm that includes: a measure of each team's best practices, client retention, industry experience, review of compliance records, firm nominations; and quantitative criteria, including: assets under management and revenue generated for their firms. Investment performance is not a criterion because client objectives and risk tolerances vary, and advisors rarely have audited performance reports. SHOOK's research and rankings provide opinions intended to help investors choose the right financial advisor and team, and are not indicative of future performance or representative of any one client's experience. Past performance is not an indication of future results. Neither Steward Partners Investment Solutions, LLC nor its Wealth Managers pay a fee to Forbes or SHOOK Research in exchange for the ranking.. For more information, please see www.SHOOKresearch.com. SHOOK is a registered trademark of SHOOK Research, LLC.

About InvestmentNews' Top Financial Advisors in the USA
To compile the second annual Top Advisors list, InvestmentNews first solicited nominations from advisors, industry professionals, and clients. Only advisors nominated were eligible for the list. All information on the nominees had to be verified by their compliance team before it could be accepted. The final list was determined based on each advisor's weighted ranking in overall AUM, AUM growth, and client growth (between August 2023 and August 2024). The InvestmentNews team assigned a ranking to each advisor in each category and then calculated a combined score to determine the advisor's final placement on the 2025 Top Advisors list. Neither Steward Partners nor its affiliates paid a fee to InvestmentNews in exchange for the ranking.

About Barron's Top 100 RIA Firms
Steward Partners has been recognized from 2020-2024. Barron's is a registered trademark of Dow Jones & Company, L.P. All rights reserved. Participation in this ranking is by invitation only and limited to firms that meet the minimum eligibility requirements. Barron's selected firms that manage 2% or more of the total assets of all ranking applicants. This year, that creates a threshold of $70 billion in assets. Participating firms were evaluated and ranked on a wide range of quantitative and qualitative data, including: assets overseen by the firm, revenue generated by the firm, level of technology spending, number of clients, size of staff, diversity across staff, and placement of a succession plan. The ranking may not be representative of any one client's experience, is not an endorsement, and is not indicative of the advisor's future performance. Neither Steward Partners nor any of its Financial Advisors pay a fee in exchange for this award/rating. Barron's is not affiliated with Steward Partners.

Securities are offered through Steward Partners Investment Solutions, LLC ("SPIS"), registered broker/dealer, member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services are offered through Steward Partners Investment Advisory, LLC ("SPIA"), an SEC-registered investment adviser. SPIS, SPIA, and Steward Partners Global Advisory, LLC are affiliates and collectively referred to as Steward Partners.

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SOURCE Steward Partners