Orion has hired a new chief technology officer with a background in leading software engineering teams as the wealthtech firm seeks to remain innovative, but also advisor-friendly in a space disrupted by artificial intelligence.
Valli Nachiappan joins Orion from product-focused leadership roles in the Silicon Valley tech space. She most recently served as vice president of engineering at Zendesk, where she led the sales and customer service platform’s product teams and AI integration. She had also held lead software engineer positions at Zaplabs, a real estate-focused tech firm, and Yapstone, a payment processing firm.
She replaces former CTO Mustapha Baassiri, who decided to leave the company in January, according to a spokesperson. He had been with the firm for five years and in the CTO role for over two years.
Nachiappan will report to Reed Colley, president of Orion Advisor Technology, who said her background is well-suited to integrating Orion’s various initiatives and acquisitions, including his own Summit Wealth Systems this January.
“She has that great balance of knowledge and experience we were looking for,” Colley said. “We want people with the expertise and experience to drive that next phase of our growth, [which is] driving real impact for firms and advisors to scale and grow their businesses.”
While Nachiappan does not come from the RIA space, Colley said she wanted to return to financial services.
“I’m joining Orion as CTO because I’m passionate about using technology to solve meaningful problems, especially in finance, where the impact on people’s lives can be profound,” Nachiappan said in a statement.
Colley said her software engineering and AI expertise will complement a team stocked with RIA sector veterans, including CEO Natalie Wolfsen, who came from AssetMark in 2023. Colley previously founded and led competitor Black Diamond.
“Bringing [Nachiappan’s] expertise from the software engineering side only makes us better,” he said. “We have so much domain expertise—really as much as any firm in the space—so we can combine that with the best practices and what Valli brings from driving philosophy and doing it at scale.”
Omaha, Neb.-based Orion is working to keep pace with or ahead of a host of competitors, including Addepar, Black Diamond, Envestnet’s Tamarac, and SEI, as they all seek to capture market share among growing mega-RIAs and ambitious upstarts.
This year, Orion announced it added J.P. Morgan Asset Management separately managed accounts and model portfolios to its platform, as well as expanded capabilities for advisors working with high- and ultra-high-net-worth clients and family offices.
Colley said a key focus area for Nachiappan will be continuing to work on creating a “single pane of glass” for advisors. When he started Black Diamond, he said advisors might be toggling between two or three tools at a time. Today, they may have access to 74 tools and might jump between 13 of them daily.
“Part of the problem is getting all the data into place and doing that with an efficient workflow,” he said.
He sees AI as a “great unlocker” in creating those more streamlined systems, with Nachiappan well positioned to lead that effort.
“She brings a breadth of knowledge on how to integrate across platforms,” he said.
#Orion #Taps #Silicon #Valley #Engineer #CTO