Summit Adds $1.9B Breakaway Team from Merrill LynchSummit Adds $1.9B Breakaway Team from Merrill Lynch

Parsippany, N.J.-based Summit Financial Holdings has recruited a team of advisors managing $1.9 billion in client assets in Pasadena, Calif. The team, led by managing partner and private wealth advisor Richard McWhorter, has created SRM Private Wealth and joins from Merrill Lynch.

SRM is the 11th team to join Summit so far this year and has chosen Goldman Sachs as its custody provider. Summit added Goldman as a custody option earlier this year, with Kyros Private Wealth being the first team to select the firm.

McWhorter is joined by partner and director of client services Sandra Parracino and client associate Kyle Szesnat. The team serves high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals, including executives in the sports and entertainment industries.

SRM expands Summit’s West Coast presence and brings the RIA platform to more than $5 billion in total assets added in 2024.

“Throughout the due diligence process, it became evident that Summit’s open-architecture approach to investment opportunities, combined with Goldman Sachs’ custody solution, was precisely what my team needed in order to succeed,” McWhorter said in a statement.

The team joins the RIA platform under Summit Growth Partners, an acquisitive model offering cash, equity and partnership perks in return for a minority piece of independently run firms seeking growth capital or succession.

Related:The Diamond Podcast for Financial Advisors: The Story Behind Summit Financial's Growth

Introduced more than three years ago in collaboration with Merchant Investment Management, under the SGP model, firms are added to Summit’s ADV and gain access to an integrated technology platform and a menu of resources that includes exclusive services such as certain alternative investments, tax attorneys, an in-house planning department and growth capital.

Firms retain full management of their businesses and qualified advisors may become partners in SGP.

Summit Financial Holdings comprises five distinct businesses, its RIA and investment management divisions, along with financial planning, insurance and technology, and an advisor services arm that handles things like marketing, practice management and retirement plans for partner firms. Brokerage is provided via a partnership with Purshe Kaplan Sterling and represents a little less than a third of total assets. It currently has about $13 billion in assets under administration.