Robert Baird & Co.

The DDK Group is a team within Robert W. Baird & Co.’s Private Wealth Management practice that advises individuals (including high-net-worth clients), families, pensions and profit‑sharing plans, corporations, charitable organizations and other institutional clients. It provides a mix of consulting and portfolio services — including financial planning, discretionary and non‑discretionary portfolio management, separately managed account (SMA) programs, consolidated reporting and brokerage/custody services.

DDK typically tailors advice around client goals and risk tolerances and implements strategies through a combination of in‑house and third‑party managers, offering single‑contract and dual‑contract SMA options as well as model‑ and manager‑traded approaches; DDK also uses overlay services (e.g., Envestnet) and offers goal and tax‑management overlays where appropriate. Accounts may pursue traditional equity, fixed‑income and balanced allocations or more complex and non‑traditional strategies (including private funds and real‑asset exposures), and services range from manager selection and monitoring to fully discretionary management.

Compared with many large institutional firms, Baird also provides municipal advisory and public finance services — an activity the firm discloses as less common among peers and that coexists with its investment banking, affiliated manager and trust‑company capabilities. The brochure also discloses recent parent‑level investments and affiliate relationships (for example, new minority investments involving Reinhart and Sagard), which the firm notes can create financial incentives and related conflicts that are described in its regulatory disclosures.