The Foundation
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Ironwood Strategic Partners is a boutique consulting firm helping financial services organizations navigate growth, complexity, and regulatory expectations with clarity and confidence. We work with leadership teams who want practical guidance, disciplined execution, and infrastructure that supports the business rather than slows it down.
Founded by a former CEO and Chief Compliance Officer, Ironwood was built to bridge a common gap in the industry: strategy, operations, and compliance are too often treated as separate disciplines. Firms are frequently given frameworks that look good on paper but fail in practice, or compliance programs that meet requirements while quietly introducing friction and inefficiency. Our work is focused on changing that dynamic.
We bring an operator’s perspective to every engagement—grounded in accountability, regulatory scrutiny, and the realities of running a firm. Ironwood partners closely with executives to design practical, right-sized infrastructure that aligns people, process, and platform. The result is governance that is exam-ready, operations that scale with growth, and systems teams can actually execute day to day.
Our clients include broker-dealers, RIAs, and founder-led firms across the country. Whether navigating a transition, preparing for regulatory scrutiny, or building for the next phase of growth, Ironwood helps firms replace complexity with structure and move forward with discipline, clarity, and steady execution.
IRONWOOD
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Daniel Padilla is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Ironwood Strategic Partners. He brings more than two decades of senior leadership experience operating regulated firms at the executive level, including service as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Compliance Officer, with deep exposure across trading, supervision, operations, and platform development.
Throughout his career, Daniel has led organizations through periods of growth, regulatory scrutiny, and operational transformation. He has worked directly with regulators, custodians, clearing firms, advisors, and internal leadership teams to design and implement supervisory infrastructure, compliance programs, and operating models that scale with the business while remaining grounded in real-world execution.
Daniel’s background includes in-depth, hands-on trading experience, which informs a pragmatic approach to governance and oversight. He understands how market activity, advisor behavior, and regulatory expectations intersect in practice, and designs controls and workflows with that reality in mind—ensuring programs are exam-ready without introducing unnecessary friction.
Known for bridging the gap between strategy and execution, Daniel has built and refined compliance architectures, operational workflows, and technology integrations that emphasize clarity, accountability, and disciplined follow-through. His work focuses on simplifying complexity, strengthening governance, and aligning infrastructure with long-term business objectives.
At Ironwood Strategic Partners, Daniel partners closely with CEOs, COOs, CCOs, and founder-led leadership teams during moments that matter—growth initiatives, regulatory change, organizational transition, or operational strain. His approach is collaborative, measured, and operator-led, helping firms move forward with confidence under scrutiny.
Daniel is based in Florida and advises financial services firms nationwide.
Daniel Padilla
Founder & CEO, Ironwood Strategic Partners