Part of the mission of any media organization is using its platform to raise awareness and provide support for positive change in its industry and for the people it serves. This week, we are proud to announce our fourth year of Pathfinder Awards, recognizing achievement in underrepresented groups, has commenced with naming the Top Black Industry Leaders of 2025 and the accompanying Q&A features with several winners.
In addition, we bring you our weekly Deals & Recruiting Roundup, monthly Wealthtech and Investments Roundups, Jessica Polito on choices for M&A sellers, experts addressing compliance evolution in 2025, Yenamandra on automating Form ADV, Rise Growth’s second minority stake and VestGen’s executive hires.
And the winners are: WSR begins its fourth annual Pathfinder Awards series, which honors excellence in underserved communities in wealth management, with the Top Black Industry Leaders of 2025, in honor of Black History Month. Winners are Gerard Daniels, Brandon Dixon-James, Victor Hicks II, Cordi Powell, Prudential Advisors’ Blueprints to Black Wealth, Kenneth Royster, SageView Advisory Group’s Black Employee Network, Kyle Samuel, Shantese Smithers-Alexander, Cameron Stagg and Tamekia Thompson.
Community empowerment: Three Pathfinder winners provide views on how the wealth management industry can empower the Black community: Cordi Powell, Cameron Stagg and Shantese Smithers-Alexander.
Professional advancement: Pathfinder winners Victor Hicks II, Tamekia Thompson and Brandon Dixon-James address the advancement of Black executives and professionals in our industry.
Deals & Recruiting Roundup: Our Recruiter of the Month is Kyle Miller, Managing Director of M&A at EP Wealth Advisors, and we cover Rise Growth investing in Grimes & Company, DeVoe’s research showing high expectations for RIA M&A, Sanctuary staking Alluvial Private Wealth, Creative Planning buying Maxwell Wealth Strategies, RFG Advisory recruiting Strodtman Wealth, LPL adding three former Raymond James advisors, the launch of XXI Wealth in partnership with Dynasty, Alera Group expanding its wealth management and retirement platforms, Private Advisor Group’s new Director of Advisor Growth, Cresset’s new Chief People Officer, OneSeven’s promoted CEO and VestGen’s hire of six execs to complete its leadership team.
Wealthtech Roundup: The President of Technology Tools for Today (T3), Joel Bruckenstein, is our Wealthtech Leader of the Month, and we cover Orion’s real-time data sharing with Snowflake, Sycamore’s compliance-focused surveillance platform, OneVest’s funding with Salesforce, Orion’s advisor and investor surveys, Jump raises capital, Syntax Data’s partnership with FTSE Russell, Snappy Kraken’s new marketing tools, Wealth.com’s legal team expansion, Datalign’s funding for AI solutions, BetaNXT’s DataXChange platform, Zocks’ partnership with Carson Group and Compound Planning’s new tax tools.
Investments Roundup: Aaron Filbeck, Managing Director, Global Content Strategy at the CAIA Association is our Investment Solutions Leader of the Month, and we cover CION Investments and GCM Grosvenor launching an infrastructure fund, Simplify launching a China A Shares ETF, Horizon Investments hiring Clark Allen, Infrastructure Capital Advisors launching a high-yield fixed income ETF, BlackRock introducing new ETFs, CFRA predicting effects of Vanguard cutting fees, HFR reporting that hedge funds began 2025 positive, FUSE projecting BDs and RIAs to hold $3 trillion in alts by 2029 and Pacific AM launching its emerging markets ETF.
Fundraising choices: Jessica Polito, Founder and Principal at Turkey Hill Management, describes the different options for capital backing that are available for wealth management firms, and what firms should look for.
Regtech at the fore: What does 2025 hold in store for wealth management compliance? We spoke with Kylee Beach, General Counsel of Orion; Sid Yenamandra, Founder and CEO of Surge Ventures; and Sindhu Joseph, CEO and Co-Founder of CogniCor, about regtech, AI, regulatory focus and more predictions for 2025.
Form ADV: In his latest Regtech Surge column, Sid Yenamandra, Founder and CEO of Surge Ventures, discusses the challenges of Form ADV filing, the benefits of accurate filing and best practices for filing, including how AI can help in the process.
Second stake: Managing Partner Joe Duran’s Rise Growth Partners staked $5.7 billion Grimes & Company, led by Kevin Grimes. The transaction is Rise Growth’s second minority investment. Duran, Grimes and Rise Growth’s Managing Partner Terri Kallsen provided comments.
Completing the C-suite: VestGen Wealth Partners, which launched in December, announced six industry veteran hires to complete its C-suite. Josh Gerry, CEO and Co-Founder, provided comments.
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Larry Roth
CEO
Wealth Solutions Report
