Nov 24, 2025
Our continuing exploration of the intersection of private wealth and alternatives takes us to Future Standard, one of the largest distribution platforms bringing the wealth channel exposure to the middle markets.
Michael Kelly is Co-President and Chief Investment Officer of
Future Standard, a $90 billion alternative asset manager focused on
private middle-market strategies for the wealth channel. Michael
has been in the alternatives industry for three decades, starting
as an analyst under Lee Cooperman and Julian Robertson, helping
build FrontPoint Partners, which began the institutionalization of
hedge funds, serving as CEO of ORIX USA, where he led the
acquisition of $250 billion global asset manager Robeco, and for
the last decade turning to the democratization of alternatives.
Our conversation covers Michael’s path from working in hedge funds
to building alternative asset businesses, including lessons about
incentives, leadership, and culture. We then discuss his pivot from
the institutional market to the wealth channel, and the growth from
a single strategy at Franklin Square with $12 billion in assets to
a full suite of strategies under the rebranded Future Standard with
$90 billion across private credit, private equity, real estate,
infrastructure, and multi-asset investing. Michael also shares his
views on performance expectations and what the flood of new capital
means for the institutional market.
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