Wealth Enhancement Group is expanding its Pacific Northwest presence by acquiring an Oregon-based firm with more than $673 million in managed assets.
Northwest Investment Counselors is an independent RIA based in Lake Oswego, Oregon. It is led by principals and portfolio managers, Mark Scarlett and Matthew Roehr, and Michelle Gastano Garcia, a principal and wealth manager.
The firm was founded in 1998 and currently includes five advisors and three support staff. It specializes in working with clients in Oregon and Washington on investment management, trust and financial planning needs.
Wealth Enhancement Group CEO Jeff Dekko said the acquisition “not only bolsters our bench of experienced professionals but also broadens the scope of services we offer and enables us to better serve clients in the growing region.”
The Northwest Investment acquisition closed on the last day of 2024, marking WEG’s 21st closed transaction last year. The firm currently has 141 offices throughout the country.
Last month, LPL Financial revealed the Minneapolis-based, $102.8 billion WEG would disaffiliate from the broker/dealer, where it had operated as a super office of supervisory jurisdiction for 17 years; the change would take effect on June 30, 2025.
According to both firms, it was a mutual separation. LPL spokeswoman Jen Roche said the decision aligned with LPL’s “strategic intent to focus our investments on partnerships that reflect LPL’s mission and operating models,” while a WEG spokesperson said it was amicable “as each pursues its own growth objectives.” In late September, WEG had $4 billion of brokerage assets held at LPL.
In an earnings call last July, former LPL CEO Dan Arnold said several OSJ firms were “strategically misaligned” with LPL’s mission, though he did not name those firms.
In late July, Merit Financial Advisors (another super OSJ for LPL) disaffiliated from the firm and moved its business to PKS Investments. Arnold was later fired for allegedly inappropriate statements towards an LPL employee, though the details have not yet been released.
