Madison, IN Office

The DDK Group is a team within Robert W. Baird & Co.’s Private Wealth Management department that serves individuals (including high net worth clients), corporate and business clients, pensions and profit‑sharing plans, and charitable organizations. The firm’s March 2026 Brochure describes a range of services including financial planning and consulting, discretionary and non‑discretionary portfolio management, separately managed account programs (DDK Recommended Managers, Baird SMA Network, Dual Contract), wrap programs, and custody and brokerage services.

Baird’s advisory work is delivered through a mix of manager‑traded and model‑traded SMA strategies, overlay management, tax‑management and direct‑indexing capabilities, and unified fee arrangements that separate advice and portfolio fees. The Brochure describes ongoing manager selection and monitoring by home‑office investment professionals, and notes the use of internal research and tools — including disclosures about the use of artificial intelligence — in formulating client advice.

Compared with many large peers, Baird highlights a number of distinctive features: it reported approximately $394 billion in regulatory assets under management as of December 31, 2025 and its Brochure discloses recent strategic minority investments and partnerships (for example in Reinhart Partners and Sagard affiliates) that create affiliations the firm may recommend. The Brochure also indicates the firm provides municipal advisory services — an activity that is relatively uncommon among large institutional advisers — and discloses other structural details (such as its broker‑dealer affiliation, cash sweep arrangements and trust alliances) that clients should consider when evaluating potential conflicts and service options.