With trillions flowing into private markets, ADISA is stepping up as the industry’s central force for transparency, advocacy, and innovation
The alternative investments industry has never carried more influence—or more complexity—than it does today. Advisors now operate in a marketplace fundamentally reshaped by surging investor demand for private markets, heightened regulatory scrutiny, new capital-raising models, and accelerating innovation across product structures, from non-traded REITs and BDCs to private credit, interval funds, DSTs, and emerging evergreen formats.
Amid this rapid evolution, one organization stands firmly at the center of the ecosystem: ADISA, the Alternative & Direct Investment Securities Association. For more than two decades, ADISA has played a forward-looking role in guiding professionals across non-traded and direct participation investment programs.
Today, as trillions flow into private markets, the organization’s mission is to advance higher standards of education, transparency, and advocacy across the alternative assets universe.
To understand how ADISA is shaping the next era of alternatives, Connect Money spoke with ADISA representatives Jade Miller, CEO and John Grady, Executive Director; and ADISA board members Matt Iak, Greg Mausz and Catherine Bowman, who shared insights on the organization’s mission, legislative priorities, retirement-plan considerations, and emerging technology trends.
CEO Jade Miller emphasized that success in 2026 begins with member engagement. “We want an energized membership that relies on ADISA as their trusted association and go-to source for expertise,” she said. Growth in membership, event participation, and industry influence will also serve as key benchmarks.
But Miller stressed that ADISA’s true impact must be measured across the broader alternatives ecosystem—through responsible capital raising, meaningful liquidity events, and expanded access to private markets “the right way.” When those improvements emerge at scale, she said, “it means ADISA is fulfilling its mission.”
A National Organization with Expanding Influence
Founded in 2003 in Indianapolis as the Tenant-In-Common Association (TICA) and later rebranded as the Real Estate Investment Securities Association (REISA), ADISA has evolved into a national powerhouse representing more than 4,500 key decision-makers across private markets. Its membership reflects the full breadth of the alternative investments ecosystem, spanning product sponsors, RIAs, independent broker-dealers, custodians, trust companies, attorneys, tax and compliance specialists, third-party due diligence providers, fintech and data-analytics firms, and national wealth-management platforms.
Despite this expansion, ADISA’s foundational mission has remained consistent: championing ethics, education, transparency, and constructive advocacy to strengthen the integrity and resilience of the alternative investment marketplace.
A Mission Rooted in Education
Unlike organizations that focus narrowly on policy or product-specific advocacy, ADISA is built around three pillars: education, networking, and advocacy, with a focus on industry best practices and professional development. According to CEO Jade Miller, the industry’s rapid growth has outpaced the consistency of its practices. “The alternative investment space has grown quickly, but ‘best practices’ haven’t always kept up,” she said. “We still see inconsistencies in how due diligence is conducted and communicated. We need more uniform frameworks for data disclosure, performance reporting, and conflict-management.”
“The alternative investment space has grown quickly, but ‘best practices’ haven’t always kept up.” Jade Miller, CEO, ADISA |
Miller emphasized that the education gap extends beyond advisors. “Investors also need clearer frameworks for how to interpret, compare, and evaluate private-market offerings,” she said. ADISA’s goal is to build stronger alignment among sponsors, advisors, and due-diligence providers so that investors receive information that is transparent, educational, and actionable.
A major milestone in this effort was ADISA’s acquisition of The National Due Diligence Alliance (TNDDA). The acquisition broadened access to rigorous due-diligence education and hands-on evaluation. The next step, Miller noted, involves transforming historically event-centric programming into year-round learning. “By turning event discussions into ongoing content, we’re giving the entire ecosystem more transparency and consistency in how due diligence is taught and practiced.”
Looking ahead to 2026, ADISA plans to deepen its educational focus on advisor-centric needs—technology integration, practice management, and real-world business solutions—while expanding coverage of emerging and niche alternatives, including areas like sports investing, Miller noted.
A Growing Debate: Should Alternatives Be in Retirement Plans?
The integration of alternative investments in retirement plans is now one of the most consequential discussions in wealth management, and ADISA members are deeply engaged in the dialogue. As regulators, plan sponsors, and advisors weigh diversification benefits against liquidity, transparency, and fiduciary obligations, the discussion is shifting from theoretical to urgent. With private credit, real estate, and other alternatives gaining prominence in institutional portfolios, pressure is mounting to determine how—and whether—these strategies belong in 401(k)s and other defined-contribution plans.
ADISA Secretary Catherine Bowman, who is also founder and partner of The Bowman Law Firm, noted that the market is already seeing “publicly traded investment products incorporate private market investment strategies,” a trend she expects will accelerate. She pointed out that non-traded alternatives have evolved meaningfully, with issuers now regularly striking net asset values to facilitate purchases and redemptions.
Still, Bowman cautioned that structural limits remain: “There is no public market for non-traded alternative investments, and issuers’ ability to redeem shares is limited.” Those constraints, she said, “will necessarily be a consideration for fiduciaries” determining what types of private-market exposure are appropriate for retirement plans.
Bowman emphasized that fiduciaries must conduct “robust” due diligence before adding alternatives to plan menus. They must understand underlying investments, how market shifts could impact performance, and “which risks could more negatively influence outcomes,” she said—especially when offering participants access to assets “not necessarily correlated to the moves of the public markets.”
ADISA Executive Director John Grady said several forces are driving the renewed push for alts in 401(k)s. He noted that research published during the first Trump administration encouraged expanding access to investments “that did not have the volatility of the public markets,” which “laid the groundwork” for today’s momentum.
What’s different now, he added, is that the initiative has been “picked up by the White House” and amplified by private-market sponsors, broadening the dialogue into the wider retail marketplace. This reflects the broader movement toward the “democratization” of private assets, where the same goals that support improved retirement outcomes—reduced volatility and the ability to “capture the illiquidity premium”—are driving interest among individual investors.
Grady explained that the executive order highlights a central principle: expanded access depends on whether ERISA fiduciaries can determine that a product “meets the care and prudence components of fiduciary duty.” Liquidity, valuation transparency, price volatility, and fees all factor into that assessment. While the order does not specify which alternatives qualify, Grady believes “diversified, more potentially liquid and readily valued” vehicles will be the first to gain traction.
He added that pathways including certain alternatives in retirement plans already exist—provided managers structure products to align with fiduciary standards. Additional Department of Labor (DOL) guidance, such as safe harbors or advisory opinions, could further support fiduciaries and reduce liability concerns. The executive order explicitly encourages federal agencies to “constructively engage” in expanding access, and Grady expects the DOL to use “all of the tools at their disposal” to develop responsible frameworks for integrating private market strategies into retirement plans.
Looking ahead five to ten years, Bowman expects allocations to alternatives within retirement plans to steadily expand as regulators lay out clearer guidelines. She noted that as federal agencies issue the “guidance and guardrails” called for under President Trump’s executive order, fiduciaries will gain more confidence in determining the appropriate role of private-market strategies in defined contribution plans.
Bowman stressed that there is no single target allocation that fits all participants. “The ‘right’ percentage will differ depending on the plan participant’s investment objectives,” she said, adding that fiduciaries must also be fully informed about “the investment products” they are selecting.
Still, she believes alternatives will have a place in most portfolios, emphasizing that “there should be room for at least a little exposure to alternative investments” across participant demographics “and the younger the participant, the more room there is for exposure.”
Technology: The Critical Enabler of the Next Generation of Alternatives
Technology is reshaping private markets, and ADISA represents one of the most important frontiers for industry improvement. According to ADISA President Matt Iak, who is also President, Capital Markets at U.S. Energy Development Corporation, technology is finally helping alternatives “close the gap between investor demand and the operational realities” of offering sophisticated private-market solutions.
Iak pointed to major advances in digital onboarding, data transparency, and AI-driven analytics—tools that give advisors the efficiency, clarity, and confidence they’ve long needed. Sponsors, he noted, are also leveraging technology to scale education, enhance compliance, and deliver more timely information.
However, the industry remains far from fully connected. “We’re still a long way from the ecosystem we ultimately need,” Iak said. Systems operate in silos, processes remain manual, and data is fragmented across transfer agents, broker-dealers, and onboarding platforms. Blockchain, once viewed as a universal solution, has “not taken hold in any meaningful way,” though Iak believes AI-powered innovation may eventually make blockchain-enabled infrastructure viable.
Despite these challenges, Iak is optimistic. “With fintechs and established service providers investing heavily in solutions, it’s only a matter of time before we see meaningful progress,” he said. He added that true transformation will require not only better systems, but also better educational tools—frameworks that help advisors understand alternatives “on a deeper level” and engage clients with real-time, product-specific insights.
ADISA is “a beacon of a free marketplace—where transparency wins and the best solutions rise to the top.” Matt Iak, President, ADISA |
The Road Ahead: Operational and Custody Innovation
Greg Mausz, ADISA Board member and COO & Senior Managing Director at Skyway Capital Markets, noted that the next wave of meaningful innovation will focus on building the security, custody, and reporting systems needed to make private-market investments workable inside 401(k) plans. While alternatives have long been available in IRAs, he said the employer-sponsored retirement system requires far more robust infrastructure.
“People should be the top priority — but specifically the right people.” Greg Mausz, Director, ADISA |
According to Mausz, the challenge—and opportunity—is developing technology and operational processes that can support the full lifecycle of alternative assets within defined contribution plans, from onboarding and valuation to ongoing oversight and participant reporting.
“Operational and custody innovation will be a major driver of adoption,” Mausz said. “The industry is moving toward standardized data formats, digitized onboarding, and custody models built for fractional ownership, automated reconciliation, and transparent valuation methodologies.”
Mausz added that “operational rigor will be a differentiator.” As investors and fiduciaries demand greater transparency, firms will need to deliver clean, auditable data, standardized reporting, and seamless API-level connectivity with custodians, administrators, and recordkeepers to reduce friction across the system.
He noted that while many alternative strategies are not designed to offer daily liquidity, emerging mechanisms—such as periodic redemption windows, queueing protocols, and NAV-based pricing—can help strike a practical balance between participant liquidity needs and the inherently long-term nature of private-market investments.
Mausz said that if firms must choose one priority area for 2026—technology, people, or process—the answer is clear: “People should be the top priority — but specifically the right people.” He emphasized that firms need professionals who pair deep expertise in alternative investments with “a forward-looking understanding of operational innovation and regulatory change.”
At the same time, Mausz noted that processes cannot remain static. As new technology reshapes the industry, firms must refine workflows to improve efficiency and strengthen oversight. But he cautioned against the assumption that more technology automatically solves problems. “Choosing the wrong platform can increase operational risk and add complexity for advisors, operations teams, and compliance,” he said. Firms must be highly strategic in how they build their tech stack.
Looking ahead, Mausz stressed that the industry can no longer rely on periodic upgrades or one-off improvements. “The future will demand continuous enhancements across people, process, and technology,” he said, pointing to the accelerating pace of AI, the growing complexity of custody structures, and mounting competitive pressure.
ADISA’s Vision for 2026 and Beyond
As private markets expand in scale, sophistication, and mainstream adoption, ADISA is positioning itself to play an even more influential role in shaping the future of the industry. According to Iak, ADISA’s greatest strength is its ability to bring “sponsors, advisors, regulators, and service providers to the same table,” enabling practical guidelines and promoting best practices. “As access expands,” he said, “safeguards must expand with it.”
While ADISA is not a regulator, it can raise expectations across the ecosystem by spotlighting the best ideas and most experienced voices. Iak described ADISA as “a beacon of a free marketplace—where transparency wins and the best solutions rise to the top.”
ADISA’s Miller emphasized the growing importance of incorporating alternative investments into well-constructed client portfolios. “As the market evolves, one thing has become abundantly clear – alternatives are essential to building resilient portfolios and long-term investor outcomes. ADISA’s role is to bring the alternative investments community together, deepen education, and champion responsible innovation across this growing sector,” she said.
