Featured Event Rethinking innovation: Key insights from New York

Breakthrough brought together industry leaders, investment experts, and peers from New York’s largest wealth management firms to rethink innovation. From mainstage discussions to interactive sessions, attendees explored how purposeful progress — not disruption alone — has been shaping the industry’s future. It was a day of bold ideas and forward-looking conversations.

Jamie Siminoff didn’t find funding on Shark Tank for Ring, the home-security company now known for its ubiquitous doorbells. His clear-cut mission drives the company toward its goal and drives home the notion that a focused strategy can be transformative. Artificial intelligence emphasizes that point, making a well-defined product even more important.

Katherine Grant, Senior Portfolio Manager for LGT Capital Partners, understands how public and private markets differ. While both rely on data to find opportunities, private market data is much more fragmented and unstructured. But private market data collected and standardized over time creates a knowledge base that can be used to create value.

Robert Leshner, Superstate CEO and Co-Founder, sees tokenization gaining momentum as blockchain infrastructure improves and assets move on chain. It started with stablecoins, the first programmable asset derived from traditional markets, and continued with tokenized Treasury funds, private funds, and offshore funds. Tokenization is gaining traction.

Steve Kurz, Galaxy’s Global Co-Head of Digital Assets, believes the market has evolved since the launch of spot crypto ETPs. During last year's digital asset drawdown, the financial industry built out digital infrastructure to serve the sector going forward. The architecture can now better support the platforming of crypto holders.

Eric Balchunas, Senior ETF Analyst at Bloomberg, thinks this year’s ETF outlook beats last year’s. And last year was a good year. ETFs set flow, volume, and launch records in 2025 and were on pace to break those records as recently as July¹. While assets remained largely in passive funds, active funds were seeing increasing flows and nearly all the launches as of early 2026².

Helina Croft, Head of Global Commodity Strategy at RBC Capital Markets, and David Hemming, Global Head of Alternatives ETFs and Index Investments at Invesco, understand that the war with Iran may not end soon. Oil is moving inefficiently, and refining issues are contributing to higher prices at the gas pump. Iran is feeling the pain of the blockade but sees no reason to give up.

Jeff Hancock, Stanford professor and Founding Director of the Stanford Social Media Lab, thinks AI is changing teamwork. While people can explore topics more deeply, interactions with AI have started to displace interactions with teammates. Fewer interactions can erode trust, the foundation of teamwork. Collaboration, however, can help maintain and strengthen relationships.