Paradigm, Strategies in Wealth Management

Paradigm, Strategies in Wealth Management

Bill Strand launched Paradigm in 1995 to serve individuals, families, and business owners in Maple Grove and the surrounding Twin Cities communities. Kris Bentzen now runs the firm as President and Advisor, supported by a compact team that includes VP of Investments Sean Grote and Associate Advisor Mason DeJoy. The firm makes a point of assigning its small client roster to the whole team rather than a single advisor. Paradigm builds long-only portfolios anchored in equities and fixed income, layered with retirement planning and tax-aware management. The firm is explicit about what it will not touch: its website draws a hard line against “investment fads, day-trading, meme stocks, or illiquid cryptocurrencies.” Geographic focus is domestic, concentrated in Minnesota and the Upper Midwest. The five-person team operates from a single office at 11324 86th Avenue North. In 2025 the firm completed a generational handoff — founder Bill Strand retired from day-to-day work and moved into a board and shareholder role, formalizing the next-generation leadership under Bentzen. The office also fields a client service associate and a wealth management associate, reflecting the team-wide service model. Paradigm’s structural bet is the multi-advisor team serving a deliberately small client roster. Rather than silo each relationship under one advisor, the firm runs every engagement through the full group. That architecture ties the firm’s succession story — Strand’s retirement did not trigger a client transition crisis — to a service model that doubles as a retention mechanism.