Abbey Eastham, a former senior investment solutions manager at Cetera Financial, has joined Realta Wealth, a hybrid broker/dealer and RIA platform in Wilmington, Del. with more than $3 billion in AUM and 150 advisors, as head of advisor relations, a newly created position.
Eastham spent the last six years at Cetera on the investment solutions team. Prior to that, she was a senior vice president of advisor relations at First Allied Securities, a broker/dealer that was acquired by Cetera.
In her new role, she’ll report directly to Realta CEO Kevin Keefe. She’s been tasked with managing the relationship between the firm and its network of advisors. She’ll gather advisor feedback, and lead the firm’s advisory council. She’ll also work with internal departments to improve the advisor experience.
"As a firm, we are delivering to our affiliated advisors all the essential benefits of an authentic independent provider, and to do this consistently, we need to listen and build trust by acting on their feedback,” Keefe said in a statement. “Abbey is a seasoned pro who will be a fierce advocate for our advisors, ensuring their voices are at the forefront when we make decisions about enhancing our offerings and allocating resources here to provide an exceptional advisor experience."
Eastham’s hire follows news earlier this month that Realta added Paul Tyler as a senior vice president of business development. He joined from Ameriprise, where he served as regional director of experienced advisor recruiting.
Earlier this year, Realta hired Mark Helliker as its chief operating officer. Most recently, Helliker was a consultant to other wealth management firms in the industry. Prior to that, he was the interim COO at Avantax, which was acquired by Cetera.
Helliker’s hire followed the firm’s rebranding from CoastalOne, a name that dates back to 1989, when the firm was established on Cape Cod, Del. The firm had been an owner-operated business until late 2022, when Ryan Hanks, founder and CEO of Madison Capital Group, a real estate investment firm, took a majority stake in Orange Street Holdings, the entity that owns Realta.
Hanks brought on Keefe, a former executive with Osaic, LPL and Cetera, last June as its new CEO. Since then, the firm has built out its executive leadership team, adding Yanni V. Bousnakis, a former senior vice president and head of advisory platforms and investment solutions at Kestra Financial, as its chief product officer. Keefe also tapped Larry Roth, founder and managing partner at RLR Strategic Partners, Joseph Kuo, founder and CEO of Haven Tower Group, and Mike Zebrowski, COO at Docupace, to join the firm’s corporate advisory board.
