Almost a year after its transition from an office of supervisory jurisdiction under Raymond James, Concurrent is shifting into “growth mode” as a multicustodial, hybrid RIA platform for independent advisors.
Highlighting the new focus, the firm announced a handful of hires made this year in support of accelerated growth and improved advisor services. All come from well-known RIAs or institutions.
Earlier this year, Concurrent recruited Joe Mooney, who managed East Coast custody sales for Fidelity, and Bo Ellison, who left his role as Creative Planning’s divisional controller of retirement services.
Ellison, who has been named Concurrent’s CFO, will also act as the chief architect of M&A deals. Mooney will head up advisor engagement and enterprise development, leading recruiter teams in support of acquisition efforts and new advisor enlistment.
On the organic front, Concurrent hired Kerry McDermott earlier this month to lead program development, strategy and growth. She came from Wealth Enhancement Group, where she led partner development, and will work to develop and distribute client leads to advisory teams through various partnerships and affinity programs with trade organizations, CPA networks and other centers of influence.
Matthew Unger, who joined from Goldman Sachs in March, will also support organic growth by developing and leading an in-house financial planning team to support Concurrent’s growing network of advisors.
McDermott and Unger will both report to Managing Director of Strategy and Growth Casey Bates, who joined Concurrent from Goldman Sachs last April. Prior to Goldman, he was with United Capital for almost two decades.
Concurrent CEO Nate Lenz said the moves are indicative of the firm’s broader strategy.
“We’re back on our front foot,” he told Wealthmanagement.com in New York City this month. “We’re back in growth mode and these are all the areas we’re tackling.”
“We intend to continue our run of inorganic growth and doing minority equity buy-ins as well as full acquisitions. We find ourselves in conversation now with a lot of existing RIAs that are looking to either roll down their registration or for succession. A lot of firms are platforms kind of like ours, so they fit very well, and we think we can help them benefit from further economies of scale and really achieve the next chapter of growth. Bo’s been a great addition on that side of things.”
Lenz said bringing in wirehouse talent with RIA experience was a deliberate move to better compete with independent broker/dealers like LPL and Cetera.
“The bottom line is deals are getting more competitive in the IBD space,” he said. “Which is putting some pressure on us to make sure that we’re not going to be competitive in the same way. We don’t do deals with traditional forgivable loan structures; that’s not how we’re set up.”
Lenz explained that breakaway advisors launching independent practices on the Concurrent platform access liquidity through a minority equity purchase at capital gains rates and said that, while the structure has advantages, it may not be for everyone. Firms also take an equity stake in Concurrent, he said, and those in need of more liquidity can sell a larger chunk. Full sales are not off the table, but they’re not preferred.
“Firms that are a good fit for us have bought into the strength of the platform we’ve created,” said Lenz. “At the end of the day, we want them to be fully independent and have access to multiple custodians and best-in-breed technology. Our payouts are competitive, but I wouldn’t say we’re the highest on the street.”
Lenz pointed out the centralized planning team Unger is leading will provide more than an outsourced service for Concurrent’s advisor/clients. It is intended to double as part of a lead generation funnel currently under construction, as well as a talent development channel.
About 58% of the firm’s $19 billion-plus assets are under its corporate retirement business, and Concurrent has partnered with TIFIN to build a digital advisory service for plan participants that will serve as the funnel’s entry point. Advanced questions and wealthier participants will be referred to the centralized planning team, and when they reach the point where a dedicated personal advisor makes sense, they will be introduced to a suitable platform firm.
“Over the next five years we want to train 100 new advisors to come into the business,” Lenz said. “That’s strategically important for our long-term sustainability as a firm. We’re not immune to the demographic issues that our industry faces around succession planning, and so we believe whoever can develop talent will win.
“The planning group is a great first step for graduates of financial planning programs who have some degree of competency but have never worked with a client,” he said. “If we can take the skillset that they’ve developed, whether in an undergrad program or a few years of work experience and plug them in alongside an experienced advisor and have them handle the financial planning work to add value, they’ll also get to ride shotgun on those conversations.
"So, it ends up being like an apprenticeship situation, which is a great way for them to develop,” he said of the strategy, which resembles other in-house development efforts underway at large RIA firms contending with the talent question.
Concurrent recently rolled out an in-house insurance business and Lenz said expanding into tax planning and family office services is the next likely move. In fact, the firm has already been in talks to acquire a family office.
“I think that’s where this goes next,” he said. “Accounting and family office services, especially to serve high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients. While, in totality, we serve a mass-affluent client base, the top clients in our advisors’ books, the ones they want to replicate, those clients are business owners.”
Concurrent expects to announce an acquisition in the coming weeks, he noted.
Backed by Merchant Investment Management, which increased its investment in support of the transition, Lenz said Concurrent is uninterested in taking on any other external capital.
