WSR Pathfinder Awards – Top Women Dealmakers in Wealth Management

WSR Recognizes Industry Leading Dealmakers Amy Kadomatsu, Bomy Hagopian and Christina Walsh in Second Set of WSR Pathfinder Awards

In February, during Black History Month, we honored the Top Black Leaders in Wealth Management as part of the inaugural WSR Pathfinder Awards. In March, we’ve turned our attention to Women’s History Month, handing out a second group of awards recognizing distinguished female leaders in our industry, including the Top Women Dealmakers in Wealth Management. 

For years, M&A was seen as an old boys’ club. But that perception is fading. Though a glass ceiling remains, women are now playing a decisive role in some of the biggest deals in wealth management, including those involving top private equity firms and investment banks.  

We chose our honorees from a large group of women leaders executing M&A transactions across the industry. The WSR editors examined a range of criteria such as years of leadership experience, impact on and recognition within the industry, charitable activities, and deal size and significance.

Read about them below (they appear in no particular order). 

Amy Kadomatsu, CEO of ComplySci

Kadomatsu exploded onto the wealth management scene after a long history of success in fintech for institutional players – private equity funds, hedge funds and alternative asset managers. 

Under Kadomatsu’s leadership, regulatory and compliance solutions provider ComplySci got a $120 million injection from K1 Investment Management in June 2021. From there, the company then made a series of acquisitions, including illumis, a political contribution data aggregator; National Regulatory Services, a compliance and regulatory education firm; and RIA in a Box, one of the most well-known, tech enabled compliance solutions providers. 

Before joining ComplySci, Kadomatsu co-founded two companies – technology consultancy Roko Labs and business chatbot provider Instabot – and continues as a board member and president of both. 

When she’s not putting together M&A transactions and founding companies, Kadomatsu serves as Board and Development Chair for MOUSE.org, a provider of STEM and computer science education services to students and teachers.

Bomy Hagopian, Partner at Berkshire Global Advisors

A superstar at Berkshire Global Advisors who joined the M&A and strategic advisory firm directly after graduating from Harvard, Hagopian shattered the glass ceiling long ago – before founding the firm’s San Francisco office in 2014, she helmed the London office for three years. 

Currently wearing two hats – co-leading Berkshire’s Wealth Management practice and heading the firm’s San Francisco office – she led the execution of 13 of Berkshire’s 42 announced transactions in 2021. 

During her almost 19 years at Berkshire, Hagopian has advised on a broad cross-section of M&A transactions, including those involving real estate and alternative investments, wealth management and the institutional and mutual fund sector. 

Under her leadership in 2021, Berkshire’s Wealth Management practice advised on 11 strategic sale transactions, four minority stake transactions and one buy-side acquisition.

Christina Walsh, Investment Professional at Aquiline Capital Partners

A prominent dealmaker at private investment firm Aquiline Capital Partners, Walsh joined the firm in 2019 from Focus Financial Partners, bringing previous M&A experience from Focus as well as investment bank Evercore. Walsh specializes in asset and wealth management investments at Aquiline.

Companies under Walsh’s portfolio include retirement plan advisor and RIA SageView and previously, insurance adjuster Worley Claims Services, financial products distribution firm Simplicity and compliance software and support provider RIA in a Box.

Outside the office, Walsh volunteers with Project Purple, a non-profit supporting families and funding research for pancreatic cancer, and New Alternatives for Children, a non-profit providing social services and healthcare to children with complex medical conditions.

Julius Buchanan, Senior Contributing Editor at Wealth Solutions Report, can be reached at jbuchanan@wealthsolutionsreport.com