Author: Erik Bjerke, CFP®, CIMA®
Erik Bjerke, CFP®, CIMA®
Senior Managing Partner, Senior Wealth Management Advisor Erik Bjerke is a founder and senior managing partner of OpenArc. Erik has been in the financial business close to 30 years and advises on billions of assets for families and companies. He is committed to delivering high-touch, personalized service to meet the needs of individual and institutional clients based throughout the United States and other parts of the world. He previously worked as a managing director for Merrill Lynch Bank of America, where he launched his career and earned the trust and loyalty of some of the most discerning clients. As lead of the Family Office and High Net Worth group, Erik focuses on integrated, multi-variable financial strategies. He approaches each high net worth client family as he would a complex corporate institution, marshalling the sophisticated resources of OpenArc for dynamic decision making in an environment of volatile financial markets and a rapidly changing world. He endeavors to help the families he serves grow and retain their wealth for three or more generations, a status achieved by only ten percent of high net worth families. Erik is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professional, a designation awarded by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. He also holds the Certified Investment Management Analyst® (CIMA®) designation. From 2021 to 2025, he was named to the Barron’s Top 100 Financial Advisors* list (Published annually Mar – April. Rankings based on data as of December 31 of prior year). He was also a member of the team that was named to the Barron’s Top 100 Institutional Consulting Teams** from 2022-2025. Erik earned a Bachelor’s degree in economics from Cornell University where he played four years of Division I football. Erik fills his home with the love of his wife, Tori, and their four children: Jordan, Piper, Ashton, and Logan. Erik is actively involved in the community through several charities. He has helped found two start-up operating charities, and he is intimately involved in the OpenArc charitable fund. With his tech charity Purposity, Erik hopes to help connect givers directly to those in need in the United States. *The Barron’s Top 100 Financial Advisors list, developed by Barron’s (a publication of Dow Jones & Company, L.P.), covers the period from January 1 to December 31 of each year, and was released in March of the following year. Neither OpenArc Corporate Advisory, LLC nor any of its advisors pay a fee in exchange for this recognition. Erik was on this list from 2021 – 2025. For more information regarding the methodology of these rankings, please visit https://www.barrons.com/advisor/report/top-financial- advisors/100/2025. **The Barron’s Top 100 Institutional Consulting Teams list, developed by Barron’s (a publication of Dow Jones & Company, L.P.), covers the period from January 1 to December 31 of each year and was released in May the following year. Neither OpenArc Corporate Advisory, LLC nor any of its advisors pay a fee in exchange for this recognition. The team name was Global Corporate & Institutional Advisory Services, Merrill Institutional Consulting and was recognized from 2022 – 2025. For more information, please visit https://www.barrons.com/advisor/report/top-financial- advisors/institutional/2025.
For decades, the traditional wealth management model has followed a familiar and predictable arc. A business is sold. A company goes public. A substantial restricted stock position vests. An inheritance is received. And only then does the advisor step in. But for the conscientious advisor, a critical question looms: by that point, is it already too late? Even if the newly prosperous prospect answers the call, and even if the advisor is retained, many of the most consequential financial decisions have often already been made. Decisions that can shape an individual’s long-term financial trajectory frequently occur years or even decades…