Todd Mackay, president of Avantax, the tax-focused wealth management firm acquired by Cetera Holdings late last year, will move into a new role at Cetera. He’s been appointed president of Cetera Solutions, with responsibility for growth across various business lines within the firm.
Andy Watts, vice president of planning and growth solutions, will take over Mackay’s duties as tax channel leader. This role includes overseeing more than 4,000 advisors within Avantax and Cetera Financial Specialists. Ron Krueger, president of Cetera Financial Specialists, will continue in that role.
WealthManagement.com was the first to report in January that Cetera had hired Heidrick & Struggles, the executive search and management consulting company, to conduct a search for a president of Cetera Solutions.
In the new role, Mackay will oversee all digital and investment products and services for Cetera advisors and end clients and join Cetera’s executive leadership team.
Mackay took over as president of Avantax in 2020 when Enrique Vasquez left the company. Vasquez was the former president and CEO of Cetera Financial Specialists. Prior to that, Mackay served as chief business operations and development officer at Blucora, Avantax’s former parent company. Before that, he was president of TaxAct, Blucora’s tax software company.
“I will continue working with Avantax in my new Cetera role, which is important to me because I value the many relationships created over the years,” Mackay said in a statement.
In a statement, Cetera said it doesn’t expect “significant changes” to the operations of Avantax’s Dallas home office nor Cetera Financial Specialists’ home office in Schaumburg, Ill.
Mackay’s appointment follows a number of changes to Cetera’s C-suite in recent months. Last month, Tom Taylor, who has been in the industry since the early 1990s, announced his retirement from his role as chief sales and growth officer at Cetera Financial Group at the end of this year. The firm is currently conducting a search for his replacement.
In June, Cetera brought in former Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Company President Jerry Patterson as the head of advanced wealth solutions, a newly created position. Patterson will build out Cetera’s retirement, life insurance and annuity products.
Cetera also brought in Fidelity alum Scott Baker as head of corporate strategy to replace George Karris, who is retiring. Baker was president and chairman of the board for Fidelity Personal Trust Company, responsible for the firm’s bank-regulated business unit (he previously held leadership roles at Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs).
Cetera Holdings CEO Mike Durbin also came from Fidelity, where he was head of Fidelity Institutional until December 2022. He joined Cetera in May of last year.
In June, Cetera also hired Gwen Weithaus, a former vice president at Northwestern Mutual, as chief compliance officer for Cetera Investment Services, one of its firms.
The firm also named Michael Molnar as its new head of corporate development from Avantax, the tax-focused wealth firm it acquired in 2023. Molnar previously led succession planning for Avantax’s independent broker/dealer platform and M&A for its employee-model RIA.
In May, the firm added five new executives to its advisory solutions team, including alumni from Ally Financial, Commonwealth, LPL and Osaic.
