SageView Advisory Group announced that its Founder and Managing Principal Randy Long will become Chairman of the Board and John Longley, most recently President of SVB Private, a division of First Citizens Bank & Trust, will take the role of CEO, both effective Sept. 1.
Newport Beach, California-based SageView has 30 offices nationwide and advises on over 2,100 defined contribution, defined benefit and deferred compensation retirement plans, with approximately 1.7 million participants and $170 billion in assets. In addition, the firm’s wealth management business oversees $4 billion in client assets. The firm expects these appointments to further its ongoing expansion in wealth management and reinforce its retirement plan advisory business.
Long said, “Since our launch 30 years ago, SageView has been driven by a passion for creating financially secure and fulfilling lives for individuals and households across the country. SageView has grown to be one of the nation’s top institutional retirement plan advisory firms, serving 2,000 plan sponsors as the fiduciary partner of choice to navigate the industry’s complexities.”
Founded by Long in 1989, the firm partnered with private investment firm Aquiline Capital Partners in 2020, implementing an organic and acquisition-based growth plan.
“Building on our success to date, we believe this is the perfect moment for us to enhance our leadership team with the addition of John Longley, a widely respected private wealth leader, as our new CEO,” Long added. “By bringing John aboard while transitioning to the role of Chairman of the Board, I will be able to fully focus on strategy setting and growth planning for SageView over the long term, while partnering closely with John to ensure that our future success honors all that we have accomplished until now.”
Longley served at SVB Private since July 2021. Prior to SVB, he was President, Western Region at Boston Private, co-founded and served as CEO of digital advisory platform Dobot, was Head of Private Wealth at BlackRock and served Citi Private Bank North America as CEO.
“This is the ideal time for me to join SageView as CEO and continue the firm’s tremendous success experienced under Randy’s leadership,” Longley said. “In the course of exploring future opportunities, SageView stood out in three areas that provide the firm with unique advantages.”
Longley described the three areas: “First, SageView’s partnership with Aquiline, a significantly well-resourced investment firm that understands our industry and provides a robust capital engine to drive continued investment in our business. Second, SageView’s leadership in the retirement plan advisory business underscores our expertise in delivering financial wellness for plan participants. And third, SageView’s ability to scale in wealth management by building the bridges to connect the platform, tools, and people across our retirement plan advisory and wealth management businesses.”
The firm, which WSR named as a Retirement Plan Advisory Firm of the Year in our December 2022 Wealth Exemplar Awards, hired Kerry Woods as Vice President of Participant Education and Engagement in January 2023. Since partnering with Aquiline, SageView has acquired nine firms and states in the press release that it “continues to identify new advisors and opportunities who are a strong cultural growth fit for SageView through acquisitions and recruiting.”
James Miller, Contributing Editor and Research Analyst at Wealth Solutions Report, can be reached at ContributingEd@wealthsolutionsreport.com.
