By: Gerelyn Terzo
If the wealth management space is any indication, the economy is humming along just fine. RIAs are hiring top talent and gearing up for more of a digital push. Let’s dive in.
- Alto Solutions: Nashville, Tenn.-based fintech Alto Solutions, which is behind a self-directed IRA platform, has tapped seasoned wealth management executive Amin Dabit as its new chief operating officer. As COO, Dabit will oversee strategy development and take the lead on scaling the firm as Alto pursues an aggressive growth strategy, which includes expanding access to alternative assets on its platform. Alto recently secured $17 million in a Series A round led by Unusual Ventures. Dabit boasts more than a decade and half of industry experience, having most recently served as VP of Advisory Service at Personal Capital. Alto counts Lending Club among its custodial clients and has also partnered with the likes of Eaglebrook for adding bitcoin to retirement accounts. Crypto fund managers Grayscale, Skybridge, and Bitwise are also on its platform.
- EP Wealth Advisors: Torrance, Calif.-based EP Wealth Advisors, a fee-only RIA, has hired Ryan Parker to the newly created role of chief growth officer. Parker has more than two decades of experience in providing support to financial advisors. Before joining EP Wealth in July, he led wealth management at Citizens Financial Group and was also at the helm of Edelman Financial Services through its merger with Financial Engines. EP Wealth, which recently surpassed $12.9 billion in AUM, has been on an expansion path in the past few years, having grown the number of clients, advisors, capabilities, and its geographical reach.
- The Mather Group: Wealth management firm The Mather Group (TMG) has added Tracy Bousky and her team from Treybourne Wealth Planners to its Chicago division. Bousky served as lead advisor at Treybourne for the past couple of years and in a similar role for more than a decade at Private Vista. Bousky joins alongside wealth advisor and former Treybourne colleague Chase Ying Huang. Both are already well known in the Chicago community. TMG boasts close to $8 billion in assets under advisement.
- TIFIN: Boulder, Colo.-based fintech platform TIFIN, which is behind an AI-fueled investment platform, has hired seasoned industry professional Sharon French as a senior partner. As a member of the firm’s executive committee, French will take the lead on partnerships with asset managers. French is an alum of AIG, where she previously served as president and CEO of the firm’s Life & Retirement Funds and managed the retail asset management business. She also has been part of TIFIN’s advisory board amid a push among asset managers to harness the platform for their digital strategies. For its part, TIFIN also announced that it has partnered with more than four dozen ETFs and mutual funds for the distribution of its Embedded Investments fragmented markets via financial advisors and individual investors, according to the announcement.
- Wells Fargo: Shareholders in four of Wells Fargo’s closed-end funds in recent days approved “new investment advisory and sub-advisory agreements for the Funds at special meetings of shareholders.” The changes to the agreements were made as a result of “the proposed sale by Wells Fargo & Company of Wells Fargo Asset Management (WFAM) to a holding company affiliated with private funds of GTCR LLC and Reverence Capital Partners.” The affected funds include Wells Fargo Income Opportunities Fund, the Wells Fargo Multi-Sector Income Fund, the Wells Fargo Utilities and High Income Fund, and the Wells Fargo Global Dividend Opportunity Fund.
