LPL Recruits Legacy Financial Group, DayMark Recruits Wells Fargo Team, Private Wealth Recruits $1 Billion Duo, Integrated Partners Acquires $2.25 Billion Laurel Wealth Advisors, Savant Acquires $3.3 Billion Capital Directions And Becca Hajjar Of Commonwealth Is Our New Recruiter Of The Month
In addition to covering several recent deals, this edition of the Weekly Recruitment Roundup spotlights our new Recruiter Of The Month as part of a recurring Q&A with a different executive responsible for bringing on top strategic and advisory talent at leading firms.
For our Recruiter Of The Month, we speak with Becca Hajjar, Managing Principal and Chief Business Development Officer, Commonwealth Financial Network.
For this week’s deals, we look at LPL Financial recruiting Albuquerque, New Mexico-based Legacy Financial Group from Voya Financial Advisors; Dynasty-backed DayMark Wealth Partners recruiting an Ohio-based team from Wells Fargo; Private Wealth Asset Management recruiting a pair of St. Louis-based advisors from U.S. Bank; Integrated Partners acquiring California-based Laurel Wealth Advisors; and Savant Wealth Management acquiring the Atlanta-based RIA Capital Directions.
1. LPL Financial Recruits $225 Million Legacy Financial Group From Voya
Albuquerque, New Mexico-based Legacy Financial Group joined LPL Financial from Voya Financial Advisors. The team, which consists of five advisors – Cris Giron, Eddie Fernandez, Mario Torres, Antavius Greathouse and Bill Niemeier – and a six-person support staff, oversees approximately $225 million in advisory, brokerage and retirement plan assets.
Giron and Fernandez serve as the team’s Managing Partners. Giron has 28 years of financial services experience, utilizes securities and insurance products from various companies for clients and serves as the team’s agency manager. Fernandez has over 25 years of financial services experience, is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and holds the Personal Financial Specialist (PFS) designation.
“We welcome Cris, Eddie, Mario, Antavius and Bill to the LPL community,” Scott Posner, LPL Executive Vice President, Business Development, said in the press release. “We are committed to providing advisors with ultimate flexibility and personalized modern solutions as they build their perfect practice. We look forward to supporting the entire team at Legacy Financial Group for years to come.”
To learn more, view the press release here.
2. Dynasty-Backed DayMark Recruits $450 Million Team From Wells Fargo
The Krecic Fitchko Wealth Management Team at Wells Fargo Advisors joined the Cincinnati-based RIA DayMark Wealth Partners. Jacob Krecic and Justin Fitchko joined as Managing Partners while Martin Hopkins joined as Senior Managing Director, operating from DayMark’s offices in Westlake and Pepper Pike, Ohio.
Together the advisors oversee approximately $450 million in client assets. DayMark has approximately $2 billion in assets under management (AUM) and is a member of the Dynasty Financial Partners Network. As of June 30, 2022, the network included 48 firms and 319 advisors and had approximately $68 billion in assets under administration (AUA). Dynasty Financial Partners advised DayMark on the transaction.
“Joining forces with a perennial industry leaders [sic] that formed DayMark Wealth Partners allows us to be truly independent with only the best interests of our clients at play,” Justin Fitchko said in the press release. “In addition, being supported by a best-in-class resource partner, Dynasty, our clients are ensured to receive cutting edge service – a distinct competitive advantage.”
To learn more, view the press release here.
3. Private Wealth Asset Management Recruits $1 Billion Duo From U.S. Bank
St. Louis-based senior private bankers Jeff Steiner and Tim Durbin joined the RIA Private Wealth Asset Management from U.S. Bank, where they oversaw approximately $1 billion in AUA. Private Wealth has over $2.4 billion in AUA, a 45-person team and eight offices across four states.
Steiner has over 30 years of financial industry experience, and served at U.S. Bank for nearly 27 years. Earlier in his career, Steiner served as a bond analyst at Eagle Global Advisors. Durbin has nearly 20 years of financial services experience, including serving as a branch manager and then a wealth management relationship manager at PNC.
“It was important to me to join an independent firm that put clients’ best interests first. Private Wealth does it right,” Steiner said in the press release. “Their service model — surrounding clients with an expert team with a variety of specializations, rather than expecting one advisor to know and manage everything — attracted me to the firm.”
To learn more, view the press release here.
4. Integrated Partners Acquires $2.25 Billion Laurel Wealth Advisors
Waltham, Massachusetts-based Integrated Partners acquired Solana Beach, California-based Laurel Wealth Advisors, an RIA founded in 2011 that now has more than 30 advisors and oversees approximately $2.25 billion in assets.
Integrated Partners has approximately $15 billion in AUA, up from $8 billion in 2019, according to a spokesperson. Founded in 1996, Integrated Partners now has more than 200 advisors, 165 CPAs and 60 regional offices across the country. In addition to aligning financial advisors with CPAs to serve clients, Integrated Partners provides business owners with planning infrastructure as they prepare to exit their firms.
“It was apparent almost immediately that the team at Laurel was a strong fit for us and vice versa,” Paul Saganey, Founder and President of Integrated Partners, said in the press release. “This partnership represents a new dimension of Integrated’s growth strategy, and we could not be more proud to share this important milestone with this exceptional advisory firm.”
To learn more, view the press release here.
5. Savant Wealth Management Acquires $3.3 Billion RIA Capital Directions
In its largest deal to date, Rockford, Illinois-based Savant Wealth Management acquired the Atlanta-based RIA Capital Directions, which has approximately $3.3 billion in AUM and 25 employees. As a result, Savant now has nearly $18 billion in AUM. Members of the Capital Directions ownership team will become significant equity owners in Savant, according to the press release.
Capital Directions clients range from individuals and families to pensions and corporations. It also provides a turnkey asset management platform (TAMP) to CPA firms. Its features encompass CIO and portfolio management; dedicated back-office administration; technology services; practice management resources and training; and professional prospecting assistance.
“We have been successful growing our business and could have chosen to stay the course,” Dennis Covington, CEO of Capital Directions, said in the press release. “However, by partnering with Savant, we can enhance the client experience, expand opportunities for our team including equity opportunities, and grow faster all while remaining independent. In addition, by combining Capital Directions’ and Savant’s TAMP and retirement plan businesses, it will create scale benefits and enhance the capabilities we offer clients.”
To learn more, view the press release here.
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Recruiter Of The Month
Becca Hajjar, Managing Principal and Chief Business Development Officer, Commonwealth Financial Network
As we previously covered, Commonwealth Financial Network demonstrated record recruiting success in 2022, with $11.24 billion in new client assets from 270 new advisors, highlighting a unique strategy toward both independent advisors and wirehouse breakaways. In order to better understand the strategy that led to the firm’s 2022 successes, we reached out to Becca Hajjar, the firm’s Managing Principal and Chief Business Development Officer. Here are excerpts of a recently published interview with Hajjar.
WSR: Your 2022 recruiting results demonstrate success in a very competitive field. What are the top keys to your recruiting that allow you to be so competitive?
Hajjar: In addition to our advisor-centric approach and robust offerings, top advisors tell us that having access to our deep bench of expertise, culture and high-touch service offerings are key attractions. Additionally, resuming in-person home office visits for prospective advisors has been a critical component of our success in 2022. Advisors get to see firsthand what a powerful culture we have and meet the people behind the business.
WSR: Your recruitment offerings for wirehouse breakaways include a “soft landing” with Virtual Transition Support and expanded Outsourced Business Solutions. Tell us more about those programs and why they attract wirehouse breakaways.
Hajjar: We offer an evolving toolkit of outsourced solutions to aid advisors in areas spanning real estate, human resources, investment management, financial management, marketing, operations, RIA compliance and technology consulting, all with the goal of operating with optimal efficiency.
Our Virtual Transition Support (VTS) is critical to helping breakaway advisors seamlessly and efficiently onboard their clients. VTS collaborates with advisors and clients to gather necessary information, open client accounts, complete transfer paperwork and facilitate client signatures via e-signature.
WSR: What can you tell us about your business development strategy for 2023 and beyond?
Hajjar: In 2023, we will expand our plans to have face-to-face conversations with advisors to connect their vision with our depth of expertise. We will also expand all of our events to connect Commonwealth with advisors seeking a change on a broader scale. We’ll continue to reach wirehouse advisors who want to break away to independence, ensemble or multi-advisor practices, and independent advisors. Above all, we will remain fully committed to bringing on the most successful, business-savvy advisors to join our dynamic, supportive community.
Chris Latham, Deputy Managing Editor at Wealth Solutions Report, can be reached at clatham@wealthsolutionsreport.com
