Americana Partners, a Houston-based registered investment adviser with $12.1 billion in client assets as of Jan. 31, has formally launched a dedicated family office group. The new unit, called Americana Partners Family Office Group, combines a Southern California ultra-high-net-worth team and an accounting firm acquired earlier this year into a single multi-family office practice with national ambitions.
Matt Celenza, a managing director and partner whose team is based in Southern California, will lead the group. The practice is designed for entrepreneurs, business owners, and executives with complex, multigenerational wealth, offering a single point of contact for coordinating business ownership, liquidity events, taxes, estate planning, lending, and philanthropy.
“People often assume that once you've accumulated significant wealth, the hard part is over. In reality, that's when the real complexity begins,” Celenza said in a statement. “Many of our clients have spent decades building a business or creating extraordinary wealth, only to discover that their biggest challenge isn't generating returns – it's coordinating the many financial decisions involved in multi-generational planning.”
The launch comes as the term “family office” has become increasingly common across the wealth management industry, often used loosely to describe a range of service offerings. Jason Fertitta, chief executive and founding partner of Americana, emphasized that an effective family office model requires more than a broad menu of services. “It requires a coordinated team that understands how every financial decision fits within a family's broader goals,” he said.
The family office group’s roots trace back to Americana’s March 2025 acquisition of Boulevard Family Wealth, which marked the firm’s first location outside Texas. Celenza founded the Los Angeles-area firm, which built investment, tax, and estate strategies for clients with $100 million or more in investable assets. A year later, in March, Americana acquired NRT Consulting, an accounting and consulting firm founded in 2018 by Chris Ginsbach, Leah Primera, and Katie Rossman. NRT handles accounting, bill pay, and cash-flow forecasting for clients’ operating businesses and personal holdings.
The past two years have been transformative for Americana. In October 2024, the firm welcomed Lovell Minnick Partners as a majority shareholder, a transaction that valued the firm at a time when it reported $8.5 billion in assets. The deal left founders and management with significant ownership. In March, Americana named Mike Mitchell as chief financial officer, a role that includes financial strategy and M&A. Mitchell previously served as CFO of Merit Financial Advisors, where he oversaw more than 30 acquisitions.
The move reflects a broader trend in the independent wealth management space, where firms are increasingly building multi-family office capabilities to serve wealthy clients. Similar initiatives have been seen at other firms, such as AlphaCore's acquisition of Streamline Family Office and Corient's purchase of FortCay. Americana, which operates within the Dynasty Financial Partners network, is positioning its family office group as a national offering, aiming to attract clients across the country.
With the launch, Americana joins a growing list of RIAs that are formalizing family office services. The firm’s leadership believes that the coordinated approach will differentiate it in a crowded market. “An effective family office model is defined by more than the breadth of services it offers,” Fertitta said. “It requires a coordinated team that understands how every financial decision fits within a family's broader goals.”
