Winter & Associates

Winter & Associates

Winter & Associates was founded in 1908 and today operates as a female-owned multi-family office led by President Nicole Winter Tietel, the fourth-generation steward of the enterprise. The firm serves a discreet base of Upper Midwest families from a commercial office building the family owns at 964 Grand Avenue in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The firm runs a patient allocation model centered on private equity and real estate, layered with comprehensive financial planning, estate strategy, and risk management services. Geographic focus remains concentrated in North America. The Winter family's own balance sheet includes the commercial office building that houses the firm, residential properties in Afton, Minnesota and Naples, Florida, and a collection of antiques and historic architecture — a posture that mirrors the hard-asset emphasis in client portfolios. Nicole Winter Tietel leads a compact team that includes fifth-generation family member Shelby Birkeland as an Associate Wealth Advisor. The late Norbert F. Winter Jr., Nicole's father, previously ran the firm. The family maintains embedded ties to St. Paul's civic fabric through sustaining roles at the Junior League of St. Paul, Dodge Nature Center, and the St. Croix River Valley Foundation. The firm's structure is defined by ownership stability rather than scale. The operation is not a platform aggregating external advisors — it is a single-location, family-owned practice where the principals own the real estate, the client relationships, and the succession path. That architecture produces an unusually long time horizon, making the firm a potential co-investment or distribution partner for managers seeking durable Upper Midwest family-office relationships.