September 30, 2022
With back to school and fall sports in full swing, teams, advisers and RIA‘s were just as busy with their activity. During this period we did not see as many purchases of RIA‘s as that cooled at bit from the record pace we have been seeing for the past few months.
LPL has risen slightly above Rockefeller in terms of new recruits year to date. Attrition continues from Merrill, Wells, MS, and UBS as some FAs are valuing work from anywhere flexibility over a physical office. That said, the wires have been “very competitive “ lately offering recruiting deals of over 300% trailing 12 month production.
Given that the many FAs are feed based today, the fact that assets began to drop in 2022 and recruiting is based on trailing fees, this has been a factor in the moves this year.
Below are the FA and RIA acquisitions reported throughout the first two weeks of September of 2022.
UBS has been one of the more active recruiters coming into September and have been offering recruiting packages with less back-end commitments. Carl V. Ceder and Rachel Cain have joined UBS who run dual offices in Westlake Village and Sherman Oakes, CA with $370 M AUM. They left Merrill after two decades.
The MB Group who is led by Kevin J. Murphy and Michael K. Brennan in Washington, DC has joined UBS in Washington, DC. The team manages over $1.1 B AUM and brought their support staff with them. They were previously with Merrill Lynch.
While also joining UBS, but unrelated, were individual producers George W. Seals and Daniel J. Shannahan also in Washington, D.C and John V. Green and W. Elliott Warren in Richmond, Virginia. All four producers came from the Thundering Herd as well.
The Ghaznavi Group which is lead by Roshan Ghaznavi and Matthew Seukunian joined UBS in the Sherman Oaks, CA office bringing $500M in AUM with them. Again, the firm they are leaving is Merrill Lynch.
Another active wirehouse, Morgan Stanley brought on Scott J. Mosberg with $860 M AUM in New York City, NY as he departed UBS
In a “boomerang” move, both David A. Shorr re-joined MS in Aventura, FL with $355 M AUM, leaving UBS, and FAs Victor Roy and Mitchell Best re-joined the Annapolis, MD office as the Roy Best Team. They also departed UBS.
The A&L Wealth Group, which includes Matthew G. Doucet, Kevin A. Cook, Lacy Foreman Labbe and Jeffrey C. White, with $650 M AUM in Lafayette, LA has also joined Morgan Stanley. The Team has been ranked second on the Forbes 2022 Best In State list and recently left UBS
LPL has been one most active independents over the last few weeks. Rubino, Skedsvold, Moran & Associates who include FAs Judy Rubino and Kari Skedsvold, and Devin Moran recently joined the dually registered platform in Portland, OR bringing $340 M AUM with them from Ameriprise.
Benjamin Link and Steve Sexton in Greensboro, NC are forming Vero Wealth Management with $380 M AUM and joining LPL via Linsco platform. They were previously with Truist/BBT and team members Tracie Lucas and Shirley Sohmer will be joining them at LPL.
Kelly Wealth Advisors who is lead by Tom and Maureen Kelly in Lynnwood, WA have joined LPL with $300 M AUM have joined LPL and brought support staff. Previously the team was with Wells Fargo.
Broadway Wealth Management which is comprised of Justin Hurd, David Earl Spencer, George Alessandria, Brandy Ebron and Sylvia Jorgense and manages $600 million of assets joined LPL (Linsco platform) in Savannah, GA and Oakland, CA. They were with Merrill Lynch prior.
AK Financial Group which includes Andrew Karlinski ,Christine Hagen MS, CFP® based in Irvine, CA with $1 B AUM has joined PAG (Private Advisor Group RIA, clears through LPL-PAG is PE backed) and in Morristown, NJ.
New Edge who has been more active this summer has brought on Muzaffar (Mark) Ahmed and Justin Reese who manage $260 M AUM in Manhattan Beach, CA leaving UBS. New Edge is now in FL, UT, PA, CA and CT and part of EdgeCo Holdings.
Savarick Group, a multi-generational team including Roy Savarick, Evan Savarick and Matthew Savarick located in Ft. Lauderdale, FL with $210 M AUM has joined Wells Fargo Advisors. They also maintain a presence in Breckenridge, CO and NYC. They were attracted to Wells due to their ability to offer lending expertise to HNW clients. The team left Morgan Stanley.
Scott E. Seltzer and Christopher V. DeFelice have joined Wells Fargo Advisors Private Wealth division with $580 M AUM. They run offices both in Palm Beach, FL and New York, NY. They considered starting their own RIA, but wanted the lending capabilities and addition infrastructure. They were previously with JP Morgan.
Justin W. Breece in Scottsdale, AZ has joined TSG Wealth Management (team is part of Wells Fi-Net) with $330 M AUM. TSG is located in Long Beach, CA and Breece will be giving them a presence in Arizona. Breece has been ranked on the Forbes best in state list for 2022.
FourThought Private Wealth led by Scott Pinkerton, has joined Focus financial in Venice, FL bringing with them $1.2 B AUM in discretionary assets. The team will continue to report under their own ADV. This is fifth firm to join Focus this year, who is backed by PE firm Stone Point Capital.
Beaumont Financial Partners who manages $3B AUM in Needham, MA led by Tom Cahill and Larry Fiore has been purchased by Focus Financial.
Scott Park and Aimee Morrin with $298 M AUM in Oak Brook, IL have joined Baird. They were previously with Wintrust for over 20 years.
SLK Private Wealth which includes Glen Strauss, Jonathan Lewis and Edward "E.J." Kahn have joined Sanctuary Wealth. The team manages $1.6 B AUM in Los Angeles, California and view independence as the next step in involving their practice. They departed Wells Fargo, with members Hank Krakover and Razmig Der-Tavitian joining as well.
Sanctuary also added a new RIA called Auric Capital Partners. The team is comprised of Michael Mittman, Luke McKelvy and William Schellenberg and manage $1 B AUM in Denver, CO with eight additional team members. Previous to starting the RIA, they spent over 20 years with Merrill Lynch.
Howard S. Rowen in Los Angeles, CA has joined JP Morgan Advisors leaving Merrill after 31 years. JP Morgan has been in the minority in terms of recruiting activity in 2022 thus far.
Coatoam Wealth Management Group in Winter Park, FL has joined RBC Wealth. The team includes Brian Coatoam, Ryan Plank and Derek Grimm and manage $600 M AUM. The team was previously with Merrill Lynch and bringing three additional members with them to RBC.
The Nolan Group (FAs: Michael Nolan ,Brian Nolan, and Megan O’Connor) have also joined RBC in the New York, NY office with $1 B AUM . Previously they were with JP Morgan Private Bank.
Stifel brought over a few individual producers including David Denham with $150 M AUM in Lawton, OK and has left Merrill. Jon Hess joined the Wyzata, MN office bringing $135 M AUM with him from Wells.
Pyles and Wiseman Investment Services who is led by Jerry Pyles and Michael Wiseman joined Stifel with $125M AUM in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. They are bringing their practice from Edward Jones.
Lastly Brad McIntyre joined in Joplin, MO with $82 M AUM coming from Edward Jones.
Beacon Bridge Wealth Partners started a new RIA with $350 M AUM in Conshohocken, PA as they left Ameriprise. The team includes Steven Krzywicki Jr, Christopher Chaves, Michael Stephenson Jr., James Schmidt and John Jim Will. Beacon plans to clear through Schwab custodial.
Purchases continue by RIA aggregator WEG (Wealth Enhancement Group, PE backed). First they purchased Sadoff Investment Management which includes Ronald Sadoff, Bryan Sadoff and Michael Sadoff located in Milwaukee that manages $1.6bn AUM. The team has been named to the 2021 CNBC top 100 FAs list and includes three additional team members.
Next, WEG purchased Pinnacle Private Wealth led by Daniel Cotton and Myles Dudley in Burlington, MA with $600 M AUM. This is WEG’s 5th purchase just since June.
Max Freelander II has joined Seventy2 Capital Wealth Management, which is an RIA affiliated with Wells in Bethesda, MD. He is coming from the traditional Wells Fargo FA channel.
Perigon Wealth Management based in San Francisco, CA with $3.6 B AUM, is merging with PM (aka Prager Metis) Wealth Management in New York, NY with $750 M AUM. The tax clients of PM will use PM Wealth Management as the preferred provider of wealth planning. Post-merger, the firm will have 50 FAs and over $4.3 B in AUM.
Los Angeles based Miracle Mile Advisors with $3.1 B AUM is merging with Karp Capital Management who is based in Sausalito, CA with $ $1.2 B AUM and taking a PE infusion from Corsair Capital to fund growth.
Ash Chopra has established a new RIA called " Syon Capital" will custody with Schwab, with $4 B AUM in San Francisco, CA. Additional FAs on the team are Ryan E. Murray and Mel Chang. They left Merrill Lynch to start the new RIA which will allow them to run a true family office model from the ground up and brand themselves.
Alejandro Brachmann has joined Alex Brown/Raymond James with $3.8 B AUM in Miami, FL, focusing on off-shore clients. He was previously with JPMorgan Private Bank.
The Wise Investor Group, a team comprised of 14 members including FAs: Simon R.B. Hamilton, and Greg S. Smith, and manage $2.1 B AUM have joined Raymond James brokerage channel in Reston, VA. The Team was previously with Baird and could be one of Ray Jay’s largest recruits and preferred a independent firm during their search.
Samuel Bates, Darin Frandsen and Adam Fluckiger have started a new team " North Rim Financial Group" in St. George, UT with $250 M AUM and joined Raymond James in the process. They joined from Edward Jones.
Amy Bush has also joined Raymond James in Ingram, Texas with $130M AUM. She departed Edward Jones.
Dental Wealth Advisors, an RIA led by Sam Martin, with $142 M AUM in Bellevue, WA was purchased by Buckingham Strategic Wealth and focuses on dental practitioners as their client base.
Cramer Capital Management (FAs: Bruce and Dawn Cramer) have joined Cetera with $140M AUM in Kansas City, MI. The team is coming over from Commonwealth.
Matt Knell and Paul Hurley have joined Arbor Capital in Anchorage, AK with $300 M AUM. They previously were with Cuso. Arbor manages the Alaska Native Corporation retirement plan.
Durgesh Rajawat and Jose “Joe” Vidueira with $104 M AUM in Boca Raton, FL have joined Eagle Harbor Advisors which is part of Kestra. The duo are both coming from Merrill Lynch.
Kim Garrison has joined Ameriprise in Springfield, MO with $185 M AUM. She is bringing her registered client service associate Paula Schnoebelen. Kim was previously with Morgan Stanley.
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Gui Costin is the Founder and CEO of Dakota.
