Like an orchestra needs a conductor, firms need operations leadership to ensure that every team, division and employee remains synchronized in its presentation to the world. Chief operating officers are the conductors of business, charged with the daily, perpetual tasks of implementation, coordination and efficiency. An outstanding COO makes all the difference to an organization, and this week we honor five top COOs in our industry.
We also bring you our Deals & Recruiting Roundup, SEIA on tax strategies for charitable giving, four experts on advisor recruiting in 2025, Cerulli’s findings on the dominance of the fee-based model, TIFIN on AI and wealthtech, TradePMR on adapting to consolidation, Invest in Others and EdgeCo reaching milestones, VistaShares launching an AI ETF and Mariner’s acquisitions.
Excellence in operations: We honor the COO 5: Top Wealth Management COOs: Kris Chester, EVP and COO of Kestra Financial; Patrick Farrell, President and COO of Sound Income Group; Dan Tobin, COO of Carson Group; Tarah Williams, President and COO of Prospera Financial Services; and Michael Zebrowski, COO of Docupace.
Deals & Recruiting Roundup: This edition covers Modern Wealth’s acquisition of three firms, the launch of VestGen Wealth Partners, Mariner acquiring two firms, Allworth acquiring Ryan Wealth Management, SEIA acquiring Beverly Investment Advisors, SageView acquiring OnTrack 401(k), Miracle Mile acquiring Offit Advisors, Concurrent adding eight advisors, Kestra Private Wealth Services bringing on Arc Private Wealth, Rockefeller recruiting Ginger Private Wealth Partners, Dynasty partnering with Nasdaq Private Market and EdgeCo surpassing $600 billion in assets serviced.
Fee-based dominance: Fee-based advisory programs became the dominant retail wealth management engagement model in the U.S. over the past 10 years and that trend is expected to continue, according to The Cerulli Edge—U.S. Monthly Product Trends, November 2024 Issue by Scott Smith, Director of Advice Relationships at Cerulli.
Charitable giving strategies: April Rosenberry, Director of Estate, Tax, and Financial Planning at Signature Estate & Investment Advisors (SEIA), describes three tax strategies advisors can use for clients’ charitable giving before 2024 ends.
Adapting to consolidation: Scott Victoria, COO of TradePMR, unpacks how M&A consolidation is changing the RIA space, and how RIAs, custodians and aggregators must adapt.
2025 AI trends: TIFIN President and CRO Rob Pettman speaks with us about AI trends, 2025 predictions, how AI serves advisors and his motivation to move to a firm specializing in AI solutions.
Charitable achievements: The Invest in Others Charitable Foundation (IiO) reached several milestones in support of charitable efforts and launched a new strategic plan in 2024. Barkley Payne, CEO and President, and Nicole Morgan, Chief Development Officer, commented.
AI ETF launch: VistaShares launched its first ETF: the VistaShares Artificial Intelligence Supercycle ETF (AIS). The recently launched VistaShares is led by CEO Adam Patti; Jon McNeill, Co-Founder, who previously served as President of Tesla and co-founded DVx Ventures; Dave Nadig, Strategic Advisor; Robert Whitelaw, Chief Investment Strategist; and Sunny Madra, Advisor to the Investment Committee.
Reaching a milestone: EdgeCo Holdings, the parent company of AmericanTCS and NewEdge Capital Group, surpassed $600 billion in assets serviced, with AmericanTCS now over $550 billion and NewEdge Capital Group at more than $60 billion. EdgeCo CEO Paul Schneider commented.
2025 recruiting trends: Jeff Nash, our Recruiting Trends Expert Columnist and CEO and Co-Founder of Bridgemark Strategies, discusses 2025 advisor recruiting trends with Julie Davis, Head of MMFA Field Recruiting & Development at MassMutual; Jeff Cutler, Chief Experience Officer at NewEdge Advisors; and Nate Stibbs, Director of Corporate Strategy at Arkadios Capital.
Florida and California expansion: Mariner Wealth Advisors acquired Atlas Financial in Sarasota, Florida and Newport Advisory in Newport Beach, California, with combined assets of $878 million. Mariner’s CEO and President Marty Bicknell, Atlas’ Founder Orion Marx and Newport’s Founder Jim Regitz provided comments.
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Larry Roth
CEO
Wealth Solutions Report