DENVER, Aug. 22, 2018 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Mercer Advisors Inc. ("Mercer Advisors"), a national Registered Investment Adviser (RIA) firm, today announced the hiring of three veteran industry professionals to expand Mercer Advisors' Mergers & Acquisitions practice. These individual leaders all have multiple decades of experience as financial advisors or working directly with RIA firms to support business growth.
In just the last two years, Mercer Advisors has acquired 13 independent RIA firms representing over $4.2 billion in total AUM, with a key focus on integrating the firms into Mercer Advisors' family office approach to serving clients via a comprehensive wealth management experience. This unique approach creates a much more desirable outcome for both advisors and their clients in comparison to the other options advisors face to solve their ownership transition issues such as other acquirers who are more focused on aggregating assets or expanding a single platform.
"Mercer's message is resonating in the industry and as a result our mergers and acquisitions activity is growing rapidly," said Dave Barton, Vice Chairman leading mergers and acquisitions for Mercer Advisors. "Every firm we talked to say the same thing, 'if I just had the time and resources I'd build the same Family Office business model Mercer has, it's what clients want'. Our extended value proposition of providing in-house estate planning advice and documentation, asset protection, tax returns preparation, and corporate trustee services is a competitive differentiator among investment management or financial planning firms seeking to stand out in the crowd. Further, our national footprint of over 25 offices and growing, allows us to be near our clients to deliver high quality, high touch, multidisciplinary advice – a one phone call solution to our clients' financial needs."
Barton added: "Not only do we allow Sellers to design their 'ideal life after' with Mercer and provide manifold career path options for acquired staff, we naturally take over all back-office activities that diminishes a Seller's time to focus on what they do best, growing their practice and serving their clients. Driven by our national sales force and strategic partnerships, we are bringing in several hundred new clients each year and we direct those new client additions to our new partners and local offices. Mercer is a turnkey solution for Sellers looking for business continuity planning, client value extension, and national presence for a mobile population, institutionalized middle and back office departments, and demonstrated ability to quickly grow our offices increasing local market share. Accordingly, and to keep up with our fast M&A growth and pipeline, we are more than excited to bring on such high caliber industry leaders to accelerate our progress and further our joint success."
Joining Mercer Advisors as Managing Director, responsible for co-leading M&A deals in the Great Lakes region and Northeast with Dave Barton is Paul Stetz. Stetz comes to Mercer Advisors after a distinguished career at both Fidelity and Schwab's RIA custody businesses in executive management roles for just under 20 years. While at Fidelity, Stetz was responsible for relationship management and strategic business development for Fidelity's Core Advisor Solutions Region, serving over 1,300 RIA firms. At Schwab, Stetz was the Managing Director of the Great Lakes region, consulting to over 270 large RIA firms on business management issues and growth strategies.
Also joining Mercer Advisors as Managing Director, responsible for co-leading M&A deals in the West with Dave Barton is Vince Gimarelli. Vince began his financial services career in 1989. Throughout his career, Vince's guiding principle has always been to advocate for clients. His experience includes senior management roles with Schwab Advisor Services and two Northwest Independent RIAs. During his tenure with Schwab, his focus was sales and consulting expertise, in addition to RIA practice management for the Pacific Northwest and Bay Area. Vince has also served as a National Director of Business Development at a $25B multi-family office.
Rounding out the Mercer Advisors' Mergers and Acquisitions Team is Sandra Nesbit. Nesbit comes to Mercer Advisors from GFS Private Wealth, a recently acquired RIA by Mercer Advisors. Nesbit and her business partner formed GFS Private Wealth as a newly independent RIA after breaking away from Merrill Lynch. At Merrill Lynch, Nesbit is a pioneer in building out the financial planning tools, resources and culture at the wirehouse, expanding her professional financial planning knowledge and skill set to become a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst, a Certified Estate and Trust Specialist, as well as becoming a director of the National Advisors Trust Company. Nesbit will be responsible for co-leading M&A deals in the Southeast with Dave Barton.
"We are thrilled to welcome these top industry leaders to Mercer Advisors' M&A team," said Dave Welling, CEO of Mercer Advisors. "Their dedication, focus and experience as financial advisors and those who help advisors grow, compete and succeed will go a long way to helping firms meet their dreams and goals, whether those RIAs are looking for a succession solution or an expanded growth opportunity with a scalable partner."
To learn more about Mercer Advisors' M&A resources, log onto https://www.merceradvisors.com/acquisitions/
About Mercer Advisors
Established in 1985, Mercer Advisors Inc. is a total wealth management firm that provides comprehensive, fee-only investment management, financial planning, family office services, retirement benefits and distribution planning, estate and tax planning, asset protection expertise, and corporate trustee and trust administration services. Mercer Advisors is the parent company of Mercer Global Advisors, one of the largest independent Registered Investment Advisers and financial planning firms in the U.S. with over $12.3 billion in assets under management and approximately 9,000 clients. Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, Mercer Advisors is privately held and has approximately 300 employees.
Data as of August 22, 2018. Client count includes clients of acquired firms where the investment advisory agreements have been assigned to Mercer Advisors, but the custodial accounts have not yet been transferred to Mercer Advisors.
SOURCE Mercer Advisors
Share this article