Zemenick & Walker

Zemenick & Walker

Founded in 1987, Zemenick & Walker has operated in St. Louis for nearly four decades as a registered investment advisor for wealthy families and individuals across 30 states. The firm does not trace its wealth to a single family fortune; instead, its capital base aggregates the assets of 271 client relationships, primarily high-net-worth families, foundations, and institutions. Chairman Chris Griesedieck and President John Johnson represent a leadership group with tenures stretching back to the 1990s, offering continuity rare among RIAs of its size. Zemenick & Walker runs a multi-asset-class program spanning U.S. equities, fixed income, private equity, and real estate. By structuring itself as a fiduciary and fee-only advisor, the firm avoids product-issuer conflicts that shape advice at many bank-owned wealth managers. It retains an unusual operational signature: a strictly non-discretionary posture. Clients must approve every trade before execution, which the firm frames as a feature, not a limitation, for families that want to retain full control over capital deployment. The portfolio management group, including CFA charterholders Jonathan Best, Joseph Bonastia, and CFP-certified officers, executes this mandate across direct securities, funds, and private placements. The geographic footprint spans the Midwest through the firm's Brentwood Boulevard headquarters, while direct client relationships stretch from coast to coast. Per the firm's most recent Form ADV, dated December 31, 2025, total assets under management reached $2.63 billion. The eleven-person team listed on the firm's website includes a six-member investment committee and five administrative professionals. Denise Suria, a senior portfolio administrator, has served since 1988, the year after founding. No adjacent philanthropic foundation or club-investment vehicle is publicly disclosed. A recent operational marker: the firm's AUM grew from the level disclosed in prior periods, reflecting organic accumulation rather than a merger or acquisition. What genuinely distinguishes Zemenick & Walker is its non-discretionary structure scaled to over $2.6 billion. Most RIAs of this size retain full trading authority; here, the absence of discretion is the organizing principle. Combined with fee-only compensation and a fiduciary standard, the architecture deliberately removes the advisor's ability to act without explicit client consent, aligning the firm's growth with a high-trust, high-oversight service model for families who want a partner, not a replacement, for their own judgment.