Carson Group is fully acquiring a $1 billion Chicago-based Carson firm.
By the end of 2024, Carson Wealth Chicago’s assets under management had grown to more than $1 billion from $163 million in 2019, mainly due to its M&A dealmaking strategy. Mark McCallum leads the firm, which employs more than 15 advisors across five locations.
CEO Burt White said the Chicago location demonstrated the “radical scale” advisors can find with strong leadership and “an effective growth strategy.”
“Of course, this type of exponential growth comes with operational challenges in maintaining the level of service clients have come to expect, along with all the resource-intensive demands of running a rapidly growing business,” he said in a statement, stressing that Carson Group can step in to support these needs.
Carson’s setup includes approximately 50 fully-fledged Carson Wealth locations and more than 150 partner offices nationwide. The firm works with about 51,000 client families and manages over $40 billion in assets.
Earlier this month, Carson Group fully bought out another of its independent firms, managing about $1 billion in assets. Carson Wealth Cedar Rapids included locations in Iowa and a second spot in Las Vegas. Russ Nieland, a managing director and advisor with 27 years in the industry, led the firm.
The acquisitions come after a the company saw several C-suite changes in 2024.
In April, CEO and Board Chairman Ron Carson stepped down while retaining majority ownership, with White taking over as CEO. Carson claimed the move was to devote more time to his “family’s humanitarian impact.” Envestnet alum Dani Fava took White’s former position, while former LPL executive Heather Randolph Carter became the firm’s chief marketing officer.
Orion alum Daniel Applegrath joined as chief financial officer to replace Nick Engelbart, who now oversees the firm’s M&A strategy.
In December, Aaron Schaben, a divisional president at Carson Partners, left the firm to be the CEO of Ron Carson’s family office. Just one week prior, Carson Group President Teri Shepherd announced she’d be leaving the company, with CEO Burt White saying the firm supported her decision to “focus on her family.”
According to a LinkedIn post, Carson legally changed his name this week to “Omani,” saying it was something that had been unfolding over the last decade and was an “amazing and emotional” day.
“Many (have) asked about how my new chapter in my life is going, and my response is I feel like it’s a whole new book,” he wrote.
