CRM Strategy · Data Architecture · Fractional Leadership

Your firm has
outgrown
its technology.

You know where you want to take your firm. The technology is supposed to support that. Right now, it is not. SparkPath works with RIAs, trust companies, and family offices to close that gap — building the right systems and leading the people through the change.

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25+ Years inside wealth management and financial technology
Top-tier Strategy consulting background applied to the middle market
Both. The technical plan and the people to see it through. One firm.
Trusted by RIAs · Multi-family offices · Trust companies · Breakaway teams Advisors find us through Kitces, custodian referrals, and clients who have been through a build with us
The Reality

Most technology projects end without the results you paid for.

The software gets installed. The vendor gets paid. Your team goes back to doing things the old way because nobody led the actual change.

We do something different. We stay in the room — through the planning, the build, and the messy middle — until your people are working in the new system and getting real results from it.

  • You are managing a software vendor, a data migration, and a system integration at the same time — with no one coordinating across all three
  • You have a technical partner doing the build. Nobody is protecting your interests or checking their work against your actual business goals
  • Your staff is entering the same client information into three different systems every single day
  • You know what needs to change. You do not have the time to lead it while running the firm
  • You signed a software contract and are not confident it was the right one. Nobody was on your side of that conversation
How We Work

Most firms get the technology right
and the people wrong.

A new system only works if your team actually uses it. We cover both sides — the technical design and the human side of change — so you do not end up with an expensive tool that collects dust.

The Technical Side

Dave designs the right solution.

With over 25 years inside wealth management firms and top-tier strategy consultancies — including BCG and F2 Strategy — Dave knows which tools work, which vendors oversell, and how your data needs to flow to support a growing firm. He maps the systems, architects the right solution, and makes sure you are only building what you actually need.

CRM strategy · System design · Vendor evaluation

The Human Side

Erica makes sure it actually works.

A Stanford-certified project leader whose entire career has been in financial technology and wealth management, Erica runs the engagement from inside your world. She sets the pace, keeps everyone accountable, and makes sure your team feels supported through the change — not dragged through it. Without this, most technology projects fail quietly after launch.

Fractional chief of staff · Team adoption · Breathable Governance

What Makes Us Different

We work for you. Not the vendor.

Software companies are paid to sell you software. Implementation partners are paid to build what the software company sells. We are paid by you, to protect your interests. We review contracts before you sign them. We push back on vendors when they are selling you more than you need. We stay independent so our advice stays honest.

Independent guidance · Vendor accountability · Your interests first

Services

You pay for the result,
not the hours.

Every engagement is priced at a fixed fee or a clear monthly rate. You know what you are getting before we start. No surprises on the invoice.

We fit into your world. We do not ask you to reorganize around us. Start with a single audit, or bring us in for the whole build. Either works.

The CRM Review

Your CRM — the system where your client relationships live — is either working for your firm or quietly costing you. Most firms do not know which one it is. We run a forensic review of how your CRM is set up, how your team is actually using it, and where the gaps are. You get a clear picture and a prioritized list of what to fix first.

What you get

  • A full health check of your current setup
  • Ranked list of what to fix, in what order, and why
  • Your numbers benchmarked against comparable firms
  • A clear view of what is underperforming and what it is costing you
Data Flow Mapping

If your staff is entering the same client information into multiple systems by hand — your financial planning tool, your portfolio system, your CRM — that is not a process problem. It is a design problem. We map exactly how information moves through your firm today, find every place it gets stuck or duplicated, and design a cleaner flow so the systems talk to each other and your people stop doing the same work twice.

What you get

  • A visual map of how your data moves through your firm today
  • Every point where work is being duplicated or dropped
  • A designed solution so systems connect and information flows automatically
  • A clear sequence for making it happen
The Blueprint

Before you spend six figures on a technology build, you need a plan you can trust. The Blueprint is a complete picture of where your technology stands today, where it needs to go, and the exact steps to get there. Every decision is made before the build starts — which means no surprises halfway through, no scope that quietly triples, and no rework that costs more than the original project.

What you get

  • A clear picture of what your technology needs to become
  • A phased plan with decisions already made
  • The risks identified and addressed before they cost you
  • Everything a builder needs to execute without confusion
Fractional Chief of Staff & Execution

This is where Dave and Erica work together as one team inside your firm. Dave protects your interests with every vendor and every contract decision. Erica keeps the project moving, the people aligned, and the momentum steady. You receive regular, plain-language updates on exactly where things stand — and you stay focused on running your business while we run the build.

What you get

  • Someone protecting your interests with vendors every step of the way
  • A project that stays on track without your constant attention
  • Your team guided through the change without burning out
  • Clear updates — no technical jargon, no surprises
About SparkPath

Strategy without the vendor agenda.
Execution without losing the people.

SparkPath started as Erica's practice, built on years of leading technology initiatives inside large fintech companies. As she narrowed her focus to wealth management, a clear gap emerged: firms needed someone who could both design the right solution and lead the people through the change. Dave joined to close that gap — bringing deep strategy consulting and data architecture experience to a firm that was already built around doing this work differently.

Founder · Fractional Chief of Staff
Erica Smigielski

Erica founded SparkPath Consulting after a career spent leading complex, cross-functional initiatives for large financial technology companies — the kind that required bringing executive teams, technology partners, and frontline staff into alignment around a single direction. Over the last six-plus years, she narrowed her focus exclusively to wealth management firms, where that same discipline turned out to be exactly what was missing.

She is a Stanford-certified Advanced Project Manager and a Certified Group Facilitator. Her approach to leading these engagements starts with the people doing the work — understanding the challenges they face today and meeting them where they are, so they become active participants in the change rather than bystanders to it.

Erica also writes and speaks through SparkPath Guidance →
Co-Founder · CRM Strategist & Data Architect
Dave Smigielski

Dave brings over 25 years of experience across wealth management firms and top-tier strategy consultancies — including Springboard Advisory Group, BCG, and F2 Strategy — to every SparkPath engagement. That background gives him deep fluency in technology transformation, business strategy, operational excellence, and Salesforce strategy for wealth management firms. He joined SparkPath to bring that depth to the firms that need it most: growth-minded RIAs navigating real technology decisions without a trusted advisor in their corner.

Dave works exclusively for the firms he advises, not for the vendors selling to them. He architects technology solutions that align precisely with how each firm operates — ensuring that what gets built fits the firm's unique ways of working, not the other way around.

Who We Work With

If you have said any of this,
we should talk.

"We are transitioning from Wealthbox to Salesforce and I have no idea if we are doing this right."

Outgrowing your CRM is a signal worth paying attention to. We help you evaluate whether the move is right, protect your interests through the transition, and land on a platform that fits your firm's unique way of serving clients.

"We are in the middle of a technology build and no one is driving it."

This is exactly what fractional leadership exists for. We step in, learn your project, and keep the execution partners accountable until you are fully staffed or through to go-live.

"Salesforce wants us to sign before end of quarter. I feel like I am being pressured into something."

You are. Let us look at the proposal. We decode the licensing structure, identify what you actually need versus what they are selling you, and give you a negotiation position before you sign anything.

"We are growing by acquiring advisors and need to scale our operational onboarding. Our systems were not built for this."

Inorganic growth puts immediate pressure on every system in your firm. We map what you have, design what you need, and sequence the integration so your new advisors are operational — and nothing falls through in the process.

"We spent $200,000 on a CRM implementation. The system is live. Nobody is using it."

Most implementations fail because they were built to the vendor's standard — not around how your firm actually works or how your team serves clients. We have recovered projects exactly like this, and we know what it takes to rebuild adoption without tearing down what was built.

"My CRM is not integrated the way I need it to be. Every time I ask someone to fix it, I get a different answer."

Integration across your CRM, portfolio management system, custodian feeds, and financial planning tools is where most RIA tech stacks quietly break. Data Flow Mapping gives you the exact architecture to fix it once and maintain it cleanly.

Get Started

Tell us where the project stands.
We will tell you what we see.

The first conversation is a straight read on your situation. No pitch. No proposal until we both know it makes sense.

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