Top Family Offices in Gainesville 2026

Key Facts About Gainesville's Wealth Advisory Market

• Gainesville supports 2 to 3 dedicated family office operations, including one true single family office (SFO) and a CPA-integrated family office division serving ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) families.
• Local family office services target families with assets ranging from $100 million to over $1 billion. Pivot CPAs explicitly serves this wealth threshold through a fixed retainer model.
• National wirehouses including Merrill Lynch, Raymond James, UBS, and Stifel maintain Gainesville branches offering UHNW-level advisory tiers that complement the limited dedicated family office presence.
• Most wealth management and advisory firms cluster along the NW 43rd Street corridor and Newberry Road in Alachua County.
• Florida's lack of state income tax continues to attract wealth from higher-tax states into North Central Florida, fueling demand for family office services.
• CPA firms and independent advisors are adding family office service tiers. Bison Wealth, founded by the Pegula Family Office, now extends family office tools to a broader client base.

Gainesville's Wealth Management Landscape

Gainesville is a university town shaped by the University of Florida, which anchors a smaller but focused wealth management ecosystem. Real estate wealth, UF-connected entrepreneurial exits, and medical-sector professionals create a concentrated pool of high-net-worth families. Unlike Miami or Tampa, Gainesville lacks dozens of competing wealth platforms. UHNW families must be more deliberate in assembling their advisory teams.

True dedicated family offices are rare here. The Collier Family Office operates as the city's most prominent SFO, managing wealth tied to The Collier Companies real estate empire. Pivot CPAs built a CPA-integrated family office division led by Kathy Devine, a partner with over 30 years of experience who has managed more than $2.5 billion for UHNW clients. Bison Wealth brings family office tools to Gainesville through its origins in the Pegula Family Office (East Asset Management).

The gap between full-service family offices and standard wealth management is narrowing from both ends. CPA firms layer estate planning, trust administration, and net worth reporting onto existing tax practices. National wirehouses offer institutional-grade research and planning frameworks through local branches. Independent firms like Koss Olinger, in business since 1969, provide multigenerational wealth planning with deep community roots. This patchwork model defines how wealthy families in the Gainesville market access family office-level services today.

Family Office Comparison at a Glance

The table below maps Gainesville's family office and UHNW advisory landscape. It distinguishes dedicated family offices from wirehouse branches and independent wealth managers. Because most local firms do not disclose assets under management publicly, the table omits that column and highlights service focus instead.

Family Office	Type	Investment Focus	Key Services	Location
Collier Family Office	SFO	Real estate, asset management, charitable giving	Investment management, succession planning, tax optimization	220 N Main St, Gainesville
Pivot CPAs, Family Office Services	CPA-Integrated FO	Tax-efficient wealth preservation, estate planning	Net worth reporting, trust administration, household payroll, foundation setup	Gainesville
Bison Wealth, Gainesville	FO-Affiliated	UHNW wealth management, legacy building	Family office tools, donor-advised funds, charitable planning	Gainesville
Koss Olinger	Independent	Multigenerational wealth, retirement planning	Wealth Navigator System, estate planning, tax planning	2700-A NW 43rd St, Gainesville
Merrill Lynch, Gainesville	Wirehouse	Diversified wealth management	Retirement income planning, estate planning via Bank of America	2850 NW 43rd St, Gainesville
Raymond James, Gainesville	Wirehouse	Financial planning, legacy planning	Investment advice, charitable giving guidance	4880 Newberry Rd, Gainesville
UBS Financial Services, Gainesville	Wirehouse	UHNW wealth management	Wealth Way (Liquidity-Longevity-Legacy) planning	Gainesville
Stifel, Gainesville	Wirehouse	Personalized investment management	Retirement planning, tax reduction, asset allocation	2770 NW 43rd St, Gainesville

Only Collier Family Office and Pivot CPAs operate as dedicated family office structures. The remaining firms offer UHNW-level services through broader wealth management platforms. Families seeking a true family office experience in Gainesville have limited but high-quality options.

Top Picks by Strategy

• Leading SFO: Collier Family Office, the only dedicated single family office in Gainesville, built to manage The Collier Companies' real estate wealth and intergenerational transfer
• Best CPA-Integrated Family Office: Pivot CPAs, offering fixed-retainer pricing and full-spectrum services from tax compliance to household staff payroll for families with $100M to $1B+ in assets
• Family Office Heritage: Bison Wealth, founded by the Pegula Family Office, brings institutional family office tools and charitable planning expertise to its Gainesville branch
• Longest-Established Advisor: Koss Olinger, serving Gainesville families since 1969 and named 2025 Greater Gainesville Chamber Business of the Year for its multigenerational planning approach
• Best for Charitable Strategy: Pivot CPAs, with dedicated services for family foundation setup, grant-making oversight, and nonprofit compliance
• Strongest Global Platform: UBS Financial Services, providing its Liquidity-Longevity-Legacy framework backed by $6.9 trillion in global invested assets

Top Family Offices and Wealth Advisors in Detail

Collier Family Office

The only dedicated single family office in Gainesville manages wealth for The Collier Companies, a major North Central Florida real estate firm headquartered at 220 N Main Street. Angela N. Tharpe took the role of Director in June 2023, bringing 18 years of service to the organization. She also serves as President of Paradigm Group Inc. and Chief of Staff to the Office of the Chair.

The office handles capital deployment, financial planning and reporting, tax optimization, and day-to-day operational management. Its scope extends to charitable planning and intergenerational wealth transfer. Families with concentrated real estate holdings will find the Collier approach a useful benchmark for building their own SFO.

Pivot CPAs, Family Office Services

Kathy Devine leads this CPA-integrated family office division with more than 30 years of experience. Her prior role as owner of a multi-family wealth office involved managing over $2.5 billion for UHNW clients. Pivot CPAs targets families with $100 million to over $1 billion in managed assets and charges a fixed retainer fee rather than the typical AUM-based percentage.

The service range is unusually broad for a CPA firm: performance monitoring, asset allocation guidance, cash flow planning, trust structuring, bill payment, household staff payroll, insurance oversight, and concierge support. Pivot also handles family foundation setup and next-generation financial education. Senior Manager Carrie Griggs and Manager Lanae Peters round out the dedicated team. For UHNW families who want centralized financial management without relocating to a larger metro, this model eliminates the need to coordinate separate tax, reporting, and estate planning providers.

Bison Wealth, Gainesville

Institutional family office DNA sets Bison Wealth apart from most Gainesville advisors. Brad Ball founded the firm after a 35-year career in wealth management that included serving as CEO of Perimeter Capital Management and EVP of Trusco Capital, a $70 billion advisory arm of SunTrust Bank. The firm traces its roots to the Pegula Family Office (East Asset Management).

Gainesville advisors Elio Chiarelli and Brian McGinnis focus on UHNW wealth management, charitable planning, and donor-advised fund strategies. Bison also advises on private foundation structure. Families seeking family office tools without the overhead of a standalone SFO will find Bison's hybrid model practical for charitable giving and legacy building.

Koss Olinger

One of Alachua County's longest-running wealth management practices, Koss Olinger earned the 2025 Greater Gainesville Chamber Business of the Year award. The firm has served Gainesville families since 1969. Its proprietary Wealth Navigator System uses a five-step, goal-based process to create financial plans, followed by The Wealth Manager framework for ongoing monitoring. Brian Watson (CFP, CDFA), Hartley Carlson, and Emily Lusk lead client relationships.

The firm's sweet spot is multigenerational families navigating wealth transfer, business sales, or illiquid asset transitions. Services cover estate planning, tax planning, charitable giving strategy, and retirement planning. Three generations of advisors have served the Gainesville community, providing deep local knowledge of real estate dynamics and UF-connected wealth.

Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, Gainesville

The NW 43rd Street branch gives UHNW families access to Bank of America's estate planning services, a resource that standalone advisory firms cannot match. Neil Palka serves as Senior Vice President and Wealth Management Advisor, leading the Palka, Newsom & Associates team. The Baker duBois Group and Davis, Westerburg & Associates also operate from this branch.

Merrill's Gainesville office focuses on retirement income planning and guidance for concentrated stock positions. These are two common needs among business owners and executives with major equity exposure. The institutional research platform and Bank of America integration make this branch relevant for families who need both day-to-day banking and wealth preservation under one roof.

Raymond James, Gainesville

Raymond James pairs an independent advisor culture with wirehouse-scale resources. The Gainesville office at 4880 Newberry Road is led by Complex Manager Stephen F. Fricke and Branch Manager Cody Maciejewski. David A. Hanson (MBA, AIF, CRPC, CMFC) serves as Senior Vice President of Investments and holds credentials spanning fiduciary, retirement, and financial consulting standards.

The firm has delivered 151 consecutive quarters of profitability, reflecting a conservative long-term approach. Services include financial planning, investment advice, retirement planning, and charitable giving guidance. Larry Christian and Francis Flores (CFP) add depth to the advisory team. Raymond James suits families who value advisor independence backed by a firm managing $1.73 trillion in client assets through 8,900 advisors nationally.

UBS Financial Services, Gainesville

With $6.9 trillion in global invested assets, UBS provides Gainesville families access to institutional-grade research and its Wealth Way planning framework. This framework organizes financial life into three dimensions: Liquidity for short-term cash flow, Longevity for longer-term needs, and Legacy for goals beyond one's own lifetime.

The Gainesville branch connects local clients to UBS's global platform, which is strongest for UHNW families with international holdings or complex multi-entity structures. Over 160 years of operating history provides stability that smaller local firms cannot replicate. Families with wealth distributed in multiple countries or asset classes will benefit most from the firm's global reach and co-investment opportunities.

Investment Trends Shaping Gainesville's Wealth Market

Real Estate Wealth and SFO Formation

The Collier Companies' property portfolio is the most visible example of how North Central Florida real estate drives family office activity. Real estate remains the dominant wealth source in Gainesville. Families with concentrated property holdings increasingly need SFO-level services for asset management, tax optimization, and intergenerational transfer. Unlike South Florida's condo-driven market, Gainesville's wealth ties to student housing, commercial property, and land development fueled by UF's growth.

CPA Firms Filling the Family Office Gap

Pivot CPAs represents a model gaining traction in secondary markets where standalone private wealth offices are scarce. By adding family office services (net worth reporting, trust administration, foundation management) to an existing CPA practice, firms serve UHNW families who would otherwise need to look to Jacksonville, Tampa, or Miami. The fixed retainer fee model also appeals to families skeptical of AUM-based pricing, where costs rise as portfolios grow.

Florida's Tax Advantage Accelerating Wealth Migration

Florida's zero state income tax continues to pull wealthy families from states like New York, California, and Illinois. Gainesville benefits from this trend, especially among UF alumni and retirees who prefer a lower cost of living compared to South Florida metros. This inflow creates demand for estate planning, dynasty trusts, and asset protection strategies that leverage Florida's homestead exemption and favorable trust laws. Koss Olinger and Pivot CPAs both report growing client bases from out-of-state relocations.

Next-Generation Financial Education and Succession Planning

Several Gainesville firms (Pivot CPAs, Koss Olinger, Raymond James) now offer financial literacy programs for next-generation family members. This reflects the national trend of $84 trillion in expected wealth transfer over the coming decades. In a university town where heirs may be UF students or recent graduates, local advisors can engage the next generation earlier than firms in markets where heirs live far from the family's primary advisor.

How to Evaluate a Family Office in Gainesville

Start by distinguishing true family office services from rebranded wealth management. In Gainesville, only Collier Family Office and Pivot CPAs operate with dedicated family office structures. Other firms market UHNW advisory tiers that may lack consolidated reporting, family oversight frameworks, or trust administration. Ask whether the firm can coordinate with external attorneys, CPAs, and investment managers as a central hub.

Fee transparency matters more in a small market where options are limited. Pivot CPAs uses a fixed retainer, while wirehouses typically charge AUM-based fees of 0.25% to 1.5%. For a $200 million portfolio, that difference can mean $500,000 or more annually. Request a clear breakdown before engaging.

Evaluate whether the firm handles multi-entity family structures. Gainesville's UHNW families often hold wealth in LLCs, trusts, foundations, and operating businesses. A firm that can only manage a single brokerage account will not meet these needs. Collier Family Office and Pivot CPAs both manage complex entity structures, including direct investments in real estate and private companies.

Consider geographic reach. A Gainesville-based advisor with strong local real estate knowledge may lack the global platform of UBS or the institutional estate planning of Merrill Lynch with Bank of America. Families with assets beyond North Central Florida should assess whether their advisor can coordinate nationally or if they need a second firm for out-of-state holdings.

Check credentials and regulatory standing through FINRA BrokerCheck. In a market with fewer than a dozen UHNW-capable firms, reputation risk is higher because switching costs for complex estate structures are steep.

Which Family Office Fits Your Needs?

UHNW families with $100 million or more in assets and complex structures spanning real estate, trusts, and foundations should focus on Pivot CPAs or Collier Family Office. Pivot's CPA-integrated model handles tax compliance, net worth reporting, and household management under one retainer. Collier demonstrates how a real estate family can build a purpose-built SFO. Both offer the coordination that standard wealth managers lack.

Business owners preparing for liquidity events or navigating concentrated equity positions have strong options in Koss Olinger and Merrill Lynch. Koss Olinger's 55-year track record with illiquid asset transitions complements Merrill's institutional guidance on concentrated stock positions. Families planning charitable giving strategies should explore Bison Wealth's donor-advised fund and private foundation advisory services.

Next-generation wealth holders and families relocating to Gainesville from higher-tax states will benefit from firms that combine Florida tax planning with long-term wealth transfer strategy. Raymond James and UBS both offer legacy planning frameworks, while Pivot CPAs provides financial education programs for heirs. The key decision in this market is whether to build a local advisory team from multiple specialists or anchor with one broad-service provider and supplement as needed.

Methodology

This guide to family offices in Gainesville, FL draws on publicly available data covering family office operations, wealth advisory firms, and wirehouse branches serving the Gainesville and Alachua County market. Office profiles reflect service offerings, leadership, and specializations as disclosed by each firm. AUM figures appear only where firms have publicly stated them. Offices were selected based on their relevance to UHNW families seeking family office-level services in North Central Florida. The guide distinguishes dedicated family offices, CPA-integrated divisions, family office-affiliated advisors, and wirehouse branches. Data reflects information available as of early 2026 and may not capture recent changes in personnel or service offerings.