Salem Partners Wealth Management

John R. Costello serves as President of Salem Partners and oversees the wealth management division alongside the investment banking practice. The firm operates under his leadership across both the advisory and asset management arms, with investment decisions guided by the internal investment committee.

Salem Partners is structured as a hybrid: a registered investment advisor and an SEC-registered investment bank operating under the same leadership. The wealth management arm serves multiple high-net-worth families and institutions, while the investment bank advises companies on M&A and capital raising. This makes it a multi-family wealth practice integrated with a boutique investment bank, not a single-family office.

Through its investment banking origination network, Salem Partners sources private credit, commercial real estate, and private equity co-investment opportunities for its wealth management clients. The firm's advisory focus on media, technology, and healthcare creates deal flow in those sectors, though allocations are portfolio-specific and not pooled into a proprietary fund.

The firm's investment bank, which advises on M&A and capital raising in media, entertainment, healthcare, and technology, generates origination that feeds the wealth management pipeline. This banking-led sourcing model is the primary differentiator — clients gain exposure to transactions that the firm structures or advises on, which would otherwise be unavailable to individual investors.

Salem Partners constructs portfolios that include both direct co-investments and commitments to external private funds. The mix depends on client liquidity needs and risk tolerance. Direct opportunities typically arise from the investment bank's advisory mandates, while fund commitments are allocated across middle-market buyout, private credit, and real estate strategies.

Salem Partners has not publicly listed explicit avoidance criteria. However, its investment bank concentrates on media, entertainment, technology, and healthcare, and the wealth management practice's alternative sourcing reflects those sectors. Defense, heavy industrials, and commodity-driven businesses are absent from both its advisory track record and published sector focus.

The wealth management division operates as an SEC-registered investment advisor under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, with Form ADV filings available through the SEC's IAPD database. The investment bank is separately registered with the SEC and FINRA as a broker-dealer, creating a dual regulatory framework uncommon among family-wealth practices.