Natalie Wolfsen is chief executive of Orion and a member of its board. She joined in October 2023 after nearly a decade at AssetMark, including two years as that firm's CEO, and is known for product and commercial leadership aimed at independent advisors. Barron's has named her among the 100 Most Influential Women in U.S. Finance for 2024, 2025, and 2026.
Early career
She began in New York City as an analyst at Douglas Smith Management Consulting, then moved to American Express in payments marketing. In the fall of 1998 she co-founded a tech startup, Invenet, that failed after about six months. She returned to the San Francisco Bay Area, chose a lower-paid brokerage role over staying in payments, and later said that curiosity-led move shaped the rest of her career. She holds a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MBA from UCLA.
Schwab, Pershing, and First Eagle
She spent about a decade at Charles Schwab in product development, strategy, and segment management, including as a vice president. She then served about two and a half years at Pershing as managing director and head of product management and development, and more than two years at First Eagle Investment Management as senior vice president and head of marketing and product development.
AssetMark and Orion
She joined AssetMark in 2014 as chief commercialization officer, later became chief solutions officer, and was named CEO in 2021. Orion's board appointed her CEO effective mid-October 2023 as founder Eric Clarke stepped back. She has told Financial Planning that the rule she gives younger people is to pick a growing industry they find fascinating, because hard work in that combination tends to produce a career.
"When you're interested in what you're doing and you're excited by it, the monetary rewards, they come," she said of leaving payments for brokerage after Invenet failed.