Don’t Do That: Don't Automate the Human Out of Your Practice with Reed Colley, Orion
Summary:
In this energizing and forward-looking episode of Don’t Do That, Kelly Waltrich sits down with Reed Colley, President of Technology at Orion, for a conversation about where the advisory industry is heading and what it takes to stay ahead of the curve.
Reed brings a unique perspective to this discussion. He founded Summit Wealth Systems with a clear vision: give advisors a single, unified platform to communicate their value proposition and serve clients more deeply, which eventually became part of something much bigger when Summit joined forces with Orion. Now, as President of Technology at Orion, Reed is leading the charge on one of the most significant technology transformations the wealth management industry has ever seen.
The heart of the episode, though, focuses on something more fundamental: the advisor-client relationship. Reed argues that AI should not replace the human elements of advice; instead, it should eliminate the noise so advisors can focus on what clients hired them to do. His “Don’t Do That” lesson cuts straight to it: stop treating the most repetitive, time-consuming parts of your workflow as inevitable, and stop ignoring the tools that can free you up to do the work only you can do.
Kelly and Reed also get into the growth mindset required to navigate this moment, what Orion Ascent will bring to the thousands of advisors attending, and why the firms and people who lean into this shift with curiosity rather than fear are the ones who will come out ahead.
Kelly and Reed cover:
00:51 The origin of Summit and the vision behind it
02:46 Why the advisor-client relationship is the only metric that matters
05:55 What it feels like to lead tech innovation during an AI revolution
06:20 How AI is enabling leapfrog innovation at Orion
09:21 Denali: Building an LLM-agnostic, enterprise-grade AI platform
12:43 Orion’s client base and earning the right to serve them
14:07 The Web 2.0 parallel and what this moment really means
17:46 How AI is changing Orion’s internal teams
18:14 Growth mindset vs. fixed mindset in a solutions revolution
21:03 How team workflows are transforming in real time
24:00 What this moment means for the next generation
27:20 Orion Ascent preview
30:31 Reed’s Don’t do That: Stop ignoring what AI can take off your plate
32:29 Don’t automate the human out of your practice
Outputs generated by Orion Denali AI should be reviewed for accuracy and appropriateness by financial professionals in all cases.
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About Our Guest:
Reed Colley joined Orion in January 2025 as President of Orion Advisor Technology following Orion’s acquisition of Summit Wealth Systems. As co-founder and CEO of Summit, Reed recognized the need to humanize wealth management by creating a modern, digital and mobile experience for advisors and their clients. Prior to Summit, Reed founded and served as CEO of Black Diamond Performance Reporting. He also founded calendar analytics platform Copilot, Do Something Great Today, and FlightPath Inc. Reed holds a Bachelor of Science with degrees in Engineering and Economics from Vanderbilt University, where he was a starting pitcher on the baseball team.
Disclaimer: Outputs generated by Orion Denali AI should be reviewed for accuracy and appropriateness by financial professionals in all cases.