Michael Hoover and the Private Equity Era: How Capital is Reshaping the Advisory Profession & Family-Owned Businesses

For most of modern history, the advisory profession has been defined more by relationships than by capital. Accounting firms, law firms, registered investment advisers, and multi-disciplinary practices expanded slowly, from one generation to the next.

The ownership structure reflected the partnership model, with ownership by partners and managing directors. The decision-making process reflected professional expertise, relationship building, and an understanding that the work would be carried out over several years, sometimes decades.

Michael Hoover has experienced the private equity era and transformation first-hand within his current role at Rockefeller Capital Management, which brought inViking Global Investors in 2018 and recently went through a recapitalization in October 2025. As a CPA and Family Office Counselor at Rockefeller Capital Management, Hoover oversees a team of counselors and advises families whose wealth and balance sheet is a result of entrepreneurship, business exits, investments and/or generational wealth. 

Private equity (PE) has entered the advisory sector in a big way, and the way companies are owned, grown, and controlled is being completely reshaped. Since the mid-2010s, there have been hundreds of accounting practices and registered invest advisors (RIAs) acquired by private equity-financed platforms. By the end of 2025, nearly half of the top 30 public accounting firms had a partial ownership by private equity with a record-setting 83 transactions occurring in the accounting sector alone in 2025 .“The advice industry is changing very rapidly and what matters most is maintaining a tailored client-first and advisory mindset,” Hoover states.

Why Private Equity Came Knocking

It is not random, and certainly not speculative, that private equity has been drawn to advisory firms. There is a clear alignment between the business models of registered investment advisors and accounting practices that has made them attractive to outside capital. Recurring revenue streams, long lasting client relationships, and opportunities for consolidation all create a compelling argument. 

Demographic forces have further accelerated this interest. Many firm founders are approaching retirement without clear internal succession plans. In these circumstances, a transaction with a private-equity-backed platform can provide liquidity, operational expertise, and continuity for clients when thoughtfully structured. “Private equity has brought professionalism to certain areas of the industry that needed it,” notes one industry official. “There’s no doubt that capital has driven efficiency and growth.”

Private Equity Isn’t Just Impacting Professional Services Firms

While increased private equity activity has received significant attention in the advisory industry, similar ownership and succession dynamics have been unfolding across a wide range of industries. Family-owned and multigenerational businesses—many of which were founded with long-term horizons and no intention of sale—are facing demographic and operational challenges.

With the ‘great wealth transfer’ in play, Deloitte’s Family Business Insights revealed that a family business ownership shake-up is underway as 26 percent of family businesses plan to bring in outside investment/private equity, 19 percent expect to increase ownership among non-family management’s ownership, 12 percent plan to go public, and 3 percent aim to sell their business. In many cases, the drivers of these transactions are consistent: founder retirement, balance-sheet concentration, and the need for professionalized infrastructure. In these instances, private equity has often entered not to replace existing operators, but to facilitate ownership transitions and provide resources for continued operations.

Family-Owned and Multi-Generational Businesses

Family-owned businesses represent a substantial segment of the global economy. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), family-owned businesses  contribute to over 70 percent of global GDP and about 60 percent of global employment. However, they often encounter critical challenges during generational transitions, such as leadership gaps, financial constraints, and conflicting visions among family members and/or other stakeholders. Private equity firms can be one alternative that families consider, which can be instrumental in addressing these challenges and facilitating successful succession planning. It is important to recognize that families considering these alternatives are not simply choosing between selling the company and retaining control.

Private investments may help with systems, management, and strategic development that would otherwise be difficult to organically fund. Multiple academic studies have found that private equity-owned companies outperform their peers—not only by delivering better financial returns but also by making transformative operational improvements. On average the companies private equity firms invest in achieve productivity gains of 8 to 12 percent in the first two years after their acquisition—far outpacing the 2 to 4 percent gains that family-owned businesses and/or public companies typically see.

Typically, within many private equity infusions, a degree of family ownership, representation, or clear governance rights can be preserved for the family regarding their culture while allowing them flexibility with finances. The best results are often the product of a clear strategy. Those families who have defined their own goals of a transaction—control, culture, job legacy, and community impact—are best served to structure a transaction on those terms. When everyone is aligned upfront, a private equity–backed transaction can maintain continuity rather than force change.

Parallels With the Advisory Profession

The private equity investment experience in the family-owned business industry seems to have a close parallel with what is occurring in the advisory profession. Both are relationship businesses. Both are based on trust, continuity, and the work extending over a period of years rather than quarters. Complexity has increased on multiple fronts—regulation, technology, and operations—and there may come a point when scale begins to matter. This is where private equity funding appears to solve not necessarily a different approach to the work, but helps with issues of size and succession.

This convergence appears in Michael Hoover’s dealing with his clientele. A number of the families and clients Hoover advises are business owners and/or stakeholders and have engaged in private equity transactions. “To secure future success, many business owners and families are embracing strategic investment and transition planning to build on their existing legacy,” Hoover asserts.

Capital in Service of Continuity

Private equity is the most effective as a tool rather than a thesis because it adds structure and flexibility. Private equity may provide options where none existed. However, private equity does not substitute purpose, governance, and communication.

Injection of third-party capital will necessarily bring some issues to the forefront. Planning will become a lot more important, different views across generations will become difficult to dodge, and overall transparency will no longer be a choice.

The presence of capital doesn’t diminish the place of judgment or values. It enhances it. The source of capital is less significant than the function it is meant to perform—and what values the possessors seek to safeguard while performing the function. 

Stewardship in a Period of Transaction

Today’s private equity landscape is shaped by demographic changes, economic uncertainty, rising complexity, and growing succession needs. Ownership structures evolve, often suddenly. The ambitions that underlie these changes remain remarkably constant. Families and entrepreneurs are not focused on growth alone. They are building something that lasts but also continues to move forward.

Michael Hoover affirms, “This mindset is at the heart of what I do—from serving families pre or post transaction to working with them on issues of wealth planning, governance, legacy, and succession.” The aim is not growth or a lack of change for its own sake, but a strategic alignment between capital and purpose.

As ownership structures evolve, the takeaways will come to those who set out to use capital with purpose. Private equity is just one of the several tools available to preserve what is important while planning for the future.