Founded to connect.
Led by Reason.
Reasoned Advisory is named to reflect two values: a) your reason must guide direction, and b) to get there takes influence and action supported by sound reasoning.
The growth in resources paired with the increasing complexity and uncertainty for America’s critical institutions fostered the need for a niche service that focuses on binding strategies. This work seeks a cohesive interplay for the work of many specialists in areas like treasury, FP&A, enterprise risk, investments, debt, etc. To advance the care of resources, Reasoned Advisory builds decision frameworks, analytics, and communication structures. As required by this work, clients are promised senior leadership throughout—no handoffs, no distractions.
For certain client demands, Reasoned Advisory may recommend bringing in trusted firms with shared values. Much of this work integrates various disciplines by its nature, but the best in each field do not reside under the same firm. These elite-level advisors can provide a powerful dose of solution agility and creativity from combined efforts. This approach not only scales solutions to match client needs but also ensures full transparency—when we recommend a firm, clients know our role in the arrangement. No hidden incentives, just clear and trusted guidance.
David Ratliff, CFA
Principal & Founder
Risk and Resource Strategist
Dave has a talent for making the complex approachable, making him a sought-after expert in this field. During his time as a bulge bracket investment banker, he was commonly entrusted with unique and novel financing and M&A structures, contributing to Bond Buyer’s Deal of the Year in one case. Later as a management consultant, his experience and creativity helped shape the firm by authoring and leading three service lines including risk and resource strategies, investment platform approach, and the firm’s first cloud-based web platform focused on empowering clients managing over $35 billion of debt and swaps.
Decades of experience serving health care, higher education, and nonprofits led Dave to a realization: something critical was missing for client decisions, and existing consultants weren’t addressing it. At a time when senior leadership of critical institutions struggled to improve narrowing margins and cope with various stressors, trusted advisory relationships were unavailable with the capacity and objectivity to connect the bigger picture with the specialized work. Reasoned Advisory was founded to bridge that gap. While specialists and broad-scope firms serve a purpose, a connective generalist best integrates decisions impacting multiple areas.
Dave has a passion for his life’s work and shares the adventure with his wife and kids, but that’s another story altogether.
“The value of empowering an advisory consultant is ‘Priceless.’
Time, the most important resource, is mostly impacted by the one missing element, ‘Reliability.’
Accuracy, accountability and clearly defined inputs measure ‘Success.’
And so, David Ratliff possesses it All, having succeeded several consults, personally.
Journey on, David, and make others, like me, fulfill their mission.”
— STU SILBERG, FORMER BOARD MEMBER AT UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND MEDICAL SYSTEM AND UNIVERSITY OF BALTIMORE FOUNDATION