Episodes

While M&A has been one of the most dominant themes in the RIA industry over the last several years, the battle for a limited supply of talent might be the defining theme of 2022. With compensation increasing for high-quality talent, a number of firms are finding it easier to acquire talent than it is to hire talent. How will this continue to play out over the course of 2022? In this episode of RIA Edge, Mark Bruno, Managing Director at Informa Wealth Management, speaks with Brian Hamburger, Foun...

Steward Partners Global Advisory has become one of the largest and fastest growing independent firms in the wealth management industry over the last several years. The firm has accelerated its growth through a unique blend of models for advisors – as well as ownership structure replicated by few other, if any, independent firms with more than 100 advisors. In this episode of RIA Edge, Mark Bruno, Managing Director at Informa Wealth Management, speaks with Jim Gold, CEO and Co-Founder of Steward ...

Leaders of RIA firms have a number of strategic options to consider when evaluating organic growth opportunities. When your RIA is part of a broader national tax planning business, however, the opportunities for growing a wealth management business can be plentiful – provided you have the right strategies and processes in place. In this episode of RIA Edge, Mark Bruno, Managing Director at Informa Wealth Management, speaks with Matt Cosgriff, Director of Wealth Management at Bergen KDV, on the g...

For the longest time, mergers and acquisitions have been one of the most dominant, if not the most dominant, themes within the RIA channel. During the last quarter, however, the market and economy have changed substantially — throwing potential challenges into the red-hot RIA M&A market. In this episode of RIA Edge, Mark Bruno, Managing Director at Informa Wealth Management, speaks with Allen Darby, CEO of Alaris Acquisitions, on the current state of M&A activity and valuations, and offer perspe...

There is a “CEO state of mind” that some leaders of advisory firms have adopted to ensure that growth is front-and-center for all of its team members every day. SVB Private is one of the best examples of this and their growth mindset can provide a blueprint and framework for hundreds of RIAs to learn from. In this episode of RIA Edge, Mark Bruno, Managing Director at Informa Wealth Management, speaks with Anthony DeChellis, CEO of SVB Private Bank, on growth within the RIA market. Anthony reveal...

While M&A activity gets the majority of the attention in the RIA industry, strategic and sustainable organic growth is actually the secret to success for the industry’s top firms. The fastest growing and most influential RIAs have a balanced approach to M&A and organic growth. They are always thinking about how the two forms of growth can complement and accelerate one another. Sanctuary Wealth is writing the RIA playbook on how to balance organic and inorganic growth. In this episode of RIA Edge...

While market appreciation, traditional referrals and word-of-mouth marketing has driven growth for a number of RIAs, the industry’s largest and most successful firms are strategically leveraging M&A, digital marketing and data to drive their next wave of growth. Cressit, the $23 billion RIA based out of Chicago, may be one of the industry’s best examples of how to drive purposeful, scaleable – and consistently thoughtful growth. In this episode of RIA Edge, Mark Bruno, managing director at Infor...

When it comes to business growth within the M&A space, you must be strategic in development while acquiring companies that fit your business model. In this episode, Mark Bruno, Managing Director at Informa Wealth Management, speaks with Carolyn Armitage, CFP®, CIMA®, Head of Thrivent Advisor Network, about the key findings from the RIA Edge study, focusing on developments within the M&A industry and how financial advisors’ vision for the future impacts their strategies for business growth throug...

Few firms have experienced the growth that Pathstone – one of the largest RIAs in the business — has enjoyed in recent years. Through a strategic approach to M&A, technology, and socially responsible investing, Pathstone has emerged as one of the most successful advisory firms to ultra-high-net-worth individuals. In this episode of RIA Edge, Mark Bruno, Managing Director at Informa Wealth Management, speaks with Matthew Fleissig, President, Pathstone about the secrets behind their success, and s...

From one small firm in 2011 to a national RIA with 36 offices in 2020, Beacon Pointe has experienced tremendous growth within the industry in a short period of time. Beacon Pointe’s M&A strategy has played a large role in its growth and they have evolved into one of the leading, most active – and most strategic acquirers in the industry. In this episode, Mark Bruno, managing director at Informa Wealth Management, speaks with Matthew Cooper, Founding Partner, President, Beacon Pointe Advisors t...

As organizations grow, employees from top-to-bottom need to be aligned and appropriately motivated — and recruiting new talent will be essential to driving and creating exponential growth. In this episode of RIA Edge, Mark Bruno, managing director at Informa Wealth Management, speaks with Martine Lellis, chief talent and administrative officer with Mercer Advisors, on human capital and talent management within the firm. Martine shares her extensive views on the intense war for talent in the RIA ...

Plancorp, a $5.1 billion RIA, has been one of the fastest-growing – and most focused – firms in the industry. Plancorp’s growth has been fueled by an unrelenting emphasis on the client experience, and a commitment to enrolling its expanding team in the company strategy and success. In this episode of RIA Edge, Mark Bruno, managing director of Informa Wealth Management, speaks with Chris Kerckhoff, CEO of Plancorp, about the drivers of the company’s growth and its overall evolution into one of th...

Not many CEOs of multi-billion dollar RIAs started out as an intern at the firm that they are now running. Even fewer have followed that career path to the top of a $4.4BN RIA that boasts over 70 employers. That’s the story of Neela Hummel, co-CEO of Abacus Wealth Partners, who recently took over as a co-head of the firm alongside Mary Beth Storjohann. In this episode of the RIA Edge Podcast, Mark Bruno, Managing Director of the Wealth Management Group at Informa, talks with Neela about her path...

In recent years, M&A has dominated the RIA industry. But Arnerich Massena is different—as one of the fastest-growing RIAs in the business, starting in 1991 they began achieving growth with a model that served several unique clients and business types. This required having multiple platforms of service for their clients but also beginning a journey to identify the best opportunities for creating long-term, sustainable growth. Organic growth has almost exclusively driven Americh Massena’s growth. ...

The leaders of RIA firms have more options than ever before when evaluating growth opportunities in today’s market. M&A activity continues at an accelerated pace – and technology is allowing advisors to extend their services to an ever-increasing number of investors and clients. In this episode of RIA Edge, Mark Bruno, managing director at Informa Wealth Management, speaks with Michael Goodman, founder and president of Wealthstream Advisors, about the keys to building a successful and consistent...

A small, but growing, number of influential independent advisory firms are on the fast track to becoming truly national wealth managers. M&A has been a tool that has allowed regional firms to expand their footprints, and Merit Financial Advisors is perhaps one of the industry’s best examples of how strategic M&A can be transformational – and ultimately lead to accelerated growth. In this episode of RIA Edge, Mark Bruno, managing director at Informa Wealth Management, speaks with Kay Lynn Mayhue,...

While every RIA has its own unique approach to adding new clients and talent, the top-performing firms share some common strategic approaches to accelerating and driving organic and inorganic growth. In this episode of RIA Edge, Mark Bruno, Managing Director at Informa Wealth Management, speaks with Jeff Pierce, CEO of Wipfli Financial Advisors, about the keys to his firm’s march to $5 billion in assets. Jeff specifically shares his thoughts on how his firm is beginning to use M&A to acquire bot...

For the last decade, strong equity markets have powered a substantial amount of growth for tens of thousands of financial advisors. A handful of firms, however, have “cracked the code” and created blueprints for driving strategic growth for their firms that will extend well beyond this prolonged bull market. In this episode of RIA Edge, Mark Bruno, managing director at Informa Wealth Management, speaks with Penny Phillips, co-founder and president of Journey Strategic Wealth about the keys to cr...

As the independent and RIA channels have grown and become more influential, the challenges and opportunities aligned with running your own businesses have grown significantly in recent years. To better understand and assess the options that are now available to advisors who are looking to build their own businesses — or accelerate the growth of their existing business — Informa’s Mark Bruno and Snowden Lane’s Rob Mooney discussed major changes in the wealth management landscape. Specifically, in...

With more investors seeking out financial advice than ever before, RIAs are in a position to capitalize on an evolving mix of investing, planning and technology developments that can create long-term business growth. In this episode of RIA Edge, Mark Bruno, managing director at Informa Wealth Management, speaks with Stan Gregor, CEO of Summit Financial. Stan shares details on Summit’s growth trajectory in recent years – while offering advice on how other firms can create scalable, repeatable gro...

Every RIA firm is unique and has its own strategies and approaches for driving growth. But a handful of the fastest growing and most successful firms have one thing in common: They take an active approach to managing and thinking about growth on a daily basis – and ultimately how they can continue to improve the outcomes they are delivering to clients. That is just what Wealthcare Capital Management has done on it’s journey to becoming one of the top RIA firms in the industry. In this episode of...

Many in RIAs understand the importance of strong marketing strategies, but knowing what types of strategies – and then consistently executing – is a major challenge for a number of advisors. In this episode of RIA Edge, Mark Bruno, managing director at Informa Wealth Management, speaks with Megan Gorman, founder and managing partner of Chequers Financial Management, about her approach to organic growth and how she has leveraged a range of marketing strategies to connect with clients and identify...

Mergers and acquisitions are becoming a more common way for larger RIAs to grow. But successfully managing a merger or acquisition after the deal closes is anything but a straight line — and many RIAs are looking for guidance on how to build a “culture of one.” In this episode, Mark Bruno, managing director at Informa Wealth Management, speaks with Greg Friedman, chief executive officer & founder of Private Ocean Wealth Management and Cynthia Greenfield, chief experience officer at Private Ocean...

While a number of RIAs have experienced significant growth in recent years, many have actually grown by default – not design: Often, advisors are relying on the market, existing clients and referrals to drive growth. But there are a number of steps and strategies that advisors can implement to drive intentional, sustainable growth. Few leaders in the wealth management industry have a command over these strategies the way Jeff Concepcion, founder and CEO of Stratos Wealth Partners, has demonstrat...