CAREY FORTNAM

As a Private Wealth Investment Manager with The Pearce Group at Merrill, I serve as a trusted consigliere to families, entrepreneurs, and business owners who built their success through discipline, risk-taking, and vision. Together, we design strategies that align knowledge, values, and purpose — helping to ensure their wealth creates lasting impact.

I was raised with a strong moral compass that placed integrity and loyalty above all else. Those values guide every decision I make. I also lost my sister and best friend — one of the most remarkable people I’ve ever known — to cancer. She was a fighter whose mental toughness, grace, and will to win for her family left a lasting imprint on me. Her strength deepened my commitment to lead with purpose and conviction.

Before joining Merrill, I spent two decades building capital-markets expertise at three prestigious bulge bracket investment firms. Bluerock Capital Markets, AllianceBernstein, and Columbia Threadneedle. At Bluerock, I specialized in institutional private equity real estate and private credit; at AllianceBernstein, I worked with portfolio managers in high-yield, global rates, structured credit, and municipal debt; and at Columbia Threadneedle, I broadened my perspective across multi-asset and alternative disciplines. I served on exclusive advisory councils and editorial boards, and was a top national performer.

I hold the CIMA®, CRPC®, CEPA®, and SE-AWMA® designations, but my most meaningful credential is the trust our clients place in me — the opportunity to advise them not only on investments but on the legacy they wish to build. One reason people choose to invest with us is simple: people invest in character.

Within The Pearce Group, one of Merrill’s most distinguished Private Wealth Management teams, we operate as one voice — more than 20 professionals with nearly 300 years of combined experience. Known for precision, discipline, and unified execution, we bring clients behind the proverbial red velvet rope — providing access once reserved for institutions, pensions, and endowments.

We combine the strength of an institutional platform with the unity and integrity of a family office.

As a Private Wealth Investment Manager with The Pearce Group at Merrill, I serve as a trusted consigliere to families, entrepreneurs, and business owners who built their success through discipline, risk-taking, and vision. Together, we design strategies that align knowledge, values, and purpose — helping to ensure their wealth creates lasting impact.

I was raised with a strong moral compass that placed integrity and loyalty above all else. Those values guide every decision I make. I also lost my sister and best friend — one of the most remarkable people I’ve ever known — to cancer. She was a fighter whose mental toughness, grace, and will to win for her family left a lasting imprint on me. Her strength deepened my commitment to lead with purpose and conviction.

Before joining Merrill, I spent two decades building capital-markets expertise at three prestigious bulge bracket investment firms. Bluerock Capital Markets, AllianceBernstein, and Columbia Threadneedle. At Bluerock, I specialized in institutional private equity real estate and private credit; at AllianceBernstein, I worked with portfolio managers in high-yield, global rates, structured credit, and municipal debt; and at Columbia Threadneedle, I broadened my perspective across multi-asset and alternative disciplines. I served on exclusive advisory councils and editorial boards, and was a top national performer.

I hold the CIMA®, CRPC®, CEPA®, and SE-AWMA® designations, but my most meaningful credential is the trust our clients place in me — the opportunity to advise them not only on investments but on the legacy they wish to build. One reason people choose to invest with us is simple: people invest in character.

Within The Pearce Group, one of Merrill’s most distinguished Private Wealth Management teams, we operate as one voice — more than 20 professionals with nearly 300 years of combined experience. Known for precision, discipline, and unified execution, we bring clients behind the proverbial red velvet rope — providing access once reserved for institutions, pensions, and endowments.

We combine the strength of an institutional platform with the unity and integrity of a family office.