Six RIAs Launch Council to Help Advisors Increase Inorganic Growth

Six RIA firms announced Monday they have formed a council, aRIA or the Alliance for RIAs, focused on developing inorganic growth in the independent advisory space. 

The group, which collectively manages $18 billion of client assets, plans to meet on a regular basis and provide “thought leadership” to independent and wirehosue advisors.

The group’s members include Brent Brodeski, the chief executive officer of Savant Capital; John Burns, a principal at Exencial; Ron Carson, the CEO of Carson Wealth Management Group; Jeff Concepcion, the CEO of Stratos Wealth Planning; Matt Cooper, the president of Beacon Pointe Wealth Advisors; and Neal Simon, the CEO of Highline Wealth Management. 

The group, which began meeting in March to discuss the future of the RIA industry, was conceived and managed by John Furey of Advisor Growth Strategies, LLC.

“This is a special group of individuals and firms coming together to highlight growth strategy options for advisors looking to materially increase their firm’s enterprise value,” says John Furey, Principal at Advisor Growth Strategies, LLC.  “Each firm associated with the group has a proven track record of success in the industry, and aims to raise awareness of the different options advisors have when focusing on growth of their practices.”  The group was chosen because of each individual’s proven track record of integrating outside advisors. 

Furey said the group was formed to inform advisors that there are a lot of alternatives to growth besides independence, joining an aggregator, or attempting to execute on recruiting or acquisition strategies themselves. Each participant in the study group is fully independent of private equity or venture capital and therefore free to operate under a purely synergistic framework, rather than simply looking for a good financial “deal.”

“This is a group coming together to share ideas in the spirit of continuous improvement within the independent RIA channel,” Brodeski said. “We’ve all been successful in our own right, and now it is time to disperse that knowledge to advisors who are seeking greater certainty and control.”

The group plans to begin releasing a series of white papers in the third quarter.