# Welch & Forbes

Welch & Forbes is a Multi Family Office based in Boston, United States.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Multi Family Office
- **Headquarters:** Boston, United States
- **Region:** North America
- **Address:** Old City Hall, 45 School Street – 5th Floor, Boston, MA 02108
- **Founded:** 1838
- **Assets under management:** $9.4 billion (per the firm, 2026)
- **Website:** welchforbes.com
- **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/welch-and-forbes-llc

## Regulatory record

- **CRD number:** 115119
- **SEC file number:** 801-60532
- **Registration status:** Registered
- **Latest Form ADV filing:** 2026-05-19T00:00:00.000Z
- **Reports private funds:** Yes
- **Private funds reported:** 0
- **IAPD record:** https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/115119

## About

Welch & Forbes opened its doors in 1838 as a law practice serving Boston's industrial families, evolving over 19 decades into a specialized multi-family office that blends discretionary investment management with in-house trust, tax, estate, and philanthropic services. The firm remains headquartered in Boston's Old City Hall building and serves foundations, trusts, and families, applying an integrated counsel-first model that few other multi-family offices match in institutional continuity. The investment strategy runs across public equities, fixed income, venture capital, and private equity, with an explicit focus on capital preservation rather than opportunistic growth. Confirmed venture exposure targets sectors that include ESG and semiconductors, though the firm does not publicly disclose individual portfolio company names or fund commitments. On the public side, a team of portfolio managers—averaging over 25 years of professional experience—constructs bespoke separately managed accounts rather than routing capital through commingled vehicles, a design that keeps tax sensitivity and family-specific liquidity requirements at the center of every allocation decision. The firm reports 60 total staff members as of March 2026, with dedicated in-house teams for trading, tax preparation, estate settlement, compliance, and marketing. Drew Schneller serves as Chief Investment Officer, while Director of Research Adrienne Silbermann oversees manager selection and asset-class diligence. Although Welch & Forbes operates from a single Boston office, it maintains a direct relationship threshold: prospective clients must invest at least $3 million, a minimum set to preserve the personalized service model rather than scale asset gathering. In May 2026, the firm published its latest economic outlook and an investment review memo titled "Reviewing Asset Allocations: Staying Grounded During Market Changes," signaling continued active management of client portfolios through volatile conditions. Welch & Forbes distinguishes itself through an organizational architecture that embeds a fully staffed tax department, a fiduciary trust unit, and an estate-settlement practice directly alongside portfolio managers—eliminating the coordination gaps common when clients farm out these functions to separate law firms and custodians. With no external parent, no private-equity sponsor, and no publicly disclosed plans to expand geographically, the firm operates as a self-contained fiduciary compound whose only commercial incentive is the retention and intergenerational transfer of client relationships.

## Sectors

- ESG
- Semiconductors

## People

- Drew M. Schneller — Chief Investment Officer, Portfolio Manager
- Adrienne G. Silbermann — Director of Research, Portfolio Manager

## Questions

### Who makes investment decisions at Welch & Forbes?

Drew M. Schneller holds the Chief Investment Officer title and serves as a portfolio manager alongside Adrienne G. Silbermann, the Director of Research. Their strategy team constructs bespoke portfolios that weight capital preservation, tax efficiency, and intergenerational transfer above relative benchmarks—reflecting the firm's trust-company heritage more than a traditional asset-management culture.

### What makes Welch & Forbes structurally different from a typical wealth management practice?

The difference is the permanently co-located fiduciary infrastructure: a fully staffed tax department, an in-house estate-settlement unit, and a trust-administration desk sit alongside the portfolio managers. Clients do not need to route decisions across separate law firms, accountants, and custodians—Welch & Forbes absorbs those functions, a model that dates back to its origin as a 19th-century law practice.

### Where does the underlying client wealth come from?

The firm's origin lies in a Boston law practice that served 19th-century industrial families, and that lineage still defines the bulk of client relationships today. Although Welch & Forbes does not name current client families, its multi-generational focus, estate-settlement group, and philanthropic advisory unit indicate that much of the $9.4 billion in assets under management represents inherited wealth now on its third or fourth turnover.

## Related profiles

- [Holl & Company](https://altss.com/profile/holl-and-company-edward-holl-family-office)
- [H.M Payson](https://altss.com/profile/hm-payson)

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Last updated: 2026-06-03T20:00:00.000Z

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