Stamford, Connecticut-based RIA Steward Partners announced that it added about $950 million in client assets with the acquisitions of Wisdom Rock Financial Advisory Group in Rochester, New York, from Ameriprise and Largo, Florida-based RIA Jazz Wealth in deals that Steward said closed on May 1.
The two firms added by Steward “will not be changing their names, but will be known as ‘Wisdom Rock Wealth Advisors at Steward Partners’ and ‘Jazz Wealth at Steward Partners’ respectively,” Scott Danner, Chief Growth Officer at Steward Partners, told WSR by email on Thursday.
Wisdom Rock Financial Advisory Group
The purchase of Wisdom Rock, announced by Steward on Wednesday, added more than $500 million in assets to Steward’s platform in its M&A Channel, it said.
“I use the phrase strategic partnership carefully, because it means something specific—it’s when both sides bring something to the table that genuinely makes the other better,” Danner said in a news release announcing the acquisition of Wisdom Rock.
What Michael Keys, Founding Partner, Managing Director and Wealth Advisor at Wisdom Rock, and his seven-advisor team have built is “exactly what the Steward Model was designed to honor and protect, a team with shared values, diverse backgrounds, and a genuine commitment to holistic planning that goes well beyond a portfolio,” according to Danner.
Danner added, “Our job is to come alongside them so they can go even deeper for the clients who’ve trusted them for decades. We couldn’t be more excited to do it.”
“What stood out about Steward immediately was that they wanted to get to know us as people before they ever looked at our numbers and that’s a big deal, because that’s exactly how we treat our clients,” Keys said in the release.
Keys added, “We found a firm that genuinely shares our belief in holistic financial planning. Estate planning, tax planning, retirement income, these aren’t secondary to what we do—they are what we do, and Steward understands that at their core.”
The Wisdom Rock team also includes Christopher Neitz, Advisor Partner, Managing Director and Wealth Advisor.
Jazz Wealth
The acquisition of Jazz Wealth, announced by Steward on Tuesday, added about $450 million in assets to the Steward M&A Channel, it said.
“Most firms in this industry are still fighting over the same slice of the pie,” Danner said in a separate news release.
“Jazz went out and found a different pie entirely,” according to Danner. “They’ve built a practice that’s younger, broader, and more digitally engaged than almost anything we’ve seen at this level—and they’ve done so without compromising their quality of service.”
Danner added, “Bringing them into the Steward family wasn’t a hard call. This is exactly what the M&A Channel was built for.”
“When we evaluated this move, we started with one rule: whatever we do has to benefit the client first, and then the team,” according to Dustin Tibbitts, Managing Director and Wealth Advisor at Jazz Wealth.
He continued, “We found a partner in Steward with the back-end infrastructure and expertise that frees us up to do what we actually love—and to be even more present for our clients than we were before. And the fact that they’re letting us keep being the quirky, unconventional firm we’ve always been? That sealed it.”
Jazz Wealth’s team of eight professionals also includes Wealth Advisors Eric Powell, Haley McKay-Daily Tibbitts and Christopher Klenk.
Jazz Wealth custodied at Goldman Sachs and the team will continue that relationship through Goldman Sachs Advisor Solutions.
Dynasty Investment Bank served as exclusive financial advisor to Jazz Wealth on the transaction.
Steward made nine acquisitions in 2025. In addition to Jazz and Wisdom Rock, so far in 2026, Steward acquired Lum Wealth Management, Silcox & Avonda and Scharf & Selden, Danner told WSR.
“We expect our success to continue and for 2026 to be a record year of new joins and M&A activity,” he said.
Steward was responsible for almost $50 billion in client assets under advisement as of March, it said.
Jeff Berman, Contributing Editor and Reporter at Wealth Solutions Report, can be reached at jeff.berman@wealthsolutionsreport.com.
