Coldstream Capital Management

Howard Coleman serves as Chief Investment Officer and leads the investment committee, with Managing Director Lee Boudouris overseeing institutional research and manager due diligence (per the firm's Form ADV). CEO Kevin Fitzwilson sets the firm's strategic direction but is not the primary day-to-day portfolio decision-maker.

Coldstream sources through long-standing general partner relationships built since the 1996 founding, with a particular emphasis on managers who provide co-investment rights to substantial limited partners. The firm's Pacific Northwest location gives it differentiated access to regional real estate developers and middle-market credit originators that are not broadly marketed to East Coast allocators.

Coldstream is a registered investment advisor, not a single-family office. Its client base includes individual tech founders and multigenerational families whose needs resemble single-family office services, but the firm also serves a broader high-net-worth client roster. The WaFd bank relationship adds commercial banking capabilities that approximate family-office-style concierge services.

The firm pursues co-investment opportunities alongside institutional managers for clients who meet qualified purchaser thresholds, particularly in real estate debt and middle-market private credit. These co-investments are typically structured through single-purpose vehicles or direct note participations, allowing clients to avoid the second layer of fees that comes with a pure fund-of-funds approach (public record, per the firm's regulatory filings).

WaFd, Inc., the publicly traded parent of Washington Federal Bank, acquired Coldstream and has since rebranded the entire wealth management division under the Coldstream name. Coldstream operates as a separate RIA subsidiary, maintaining its fiduciary obligations independent of the bank's lending activities. The structure allows Coldstream advisors to serve clients without a requirement to cross-sell bank products.

The firm has historically avoided early-stage venture capital, given its client base's existing concentrated technology exposure from equity compensation at employers such as Microsoft and Amazon. Coldstream also tends to exclude commodity-focused hedge fund strategies, preferring private credit and income-producing real assets for the alternatives sleeve (based on public manager selection patterns).

Yes. Coldstream Charitable, an affiliated entity, advises Pacific Northwest families on donor-advised fund strategy, foundation structuring, and charitable remainder trusts. The philanthropic arm operates alongside the investment advisory business but is structurally separate from the WaFd banking operations.