Position: CEO of Raymond James Financial 

Location: St. Petersburg, Fla. 

Google Traffic Score: 110,000

Raymond James made headlines in October when the firm announced plans to acquire the Deutsche’s U.S. Private Client Services unit. With the $420 million deal, Raymond James not only has the potential to gain an additional 200 advisors, it’s also reviving the original Alex. Brown & Sons brand and expanding the Florida-based firm’s presence in the wealthiest U.S. markets. 

Position: CEO of Invesco

Location: Atlanta

Google Traffic Score: 49,500

Martin Flanagan brought his asset management firm Invesco into the robo advice era in November with the acquisition of Jemstep, an advisor-focused digital advice platform. The deal allows Invesco to keep pace with other firms like BlackRock, Vanguard and Fidelity that have already adopted digital advice, and industry analysts said the acquisition shows that having a robo advisor is now table stakes for any financial institution. Flanagan also said Invesco would deploy 300 sales and service employees to help advisors implement the technology into their practice. 

Position: CEO of Stifel 

Location: St. Louis, Mo.

Google Traffic Score: 22,200

Stifel Financial announced with much fanfare last June that it would acquire Barclays’ wealth management unit, with its 180 advisors and over $56 billion in client assets. But almost half of Barclays’ advisors didn’t stick around to see the new management. Yet Kruszewski says the 95 advisors who did come over are a game changer that will allow Stifel to break into the high-net-worth market. “I will tell you that our place in the marketplace as it relates to options for people looking for a home was significantly enhanced by both the Barclays transaction in perception and in capabilities on what we added,” he said. 

Position: Chairman & CEO of Envestnet 

Location: Chicago

Google Traffic Score: 8,100

Jud Bergman made headlines throughout 2015 as his wealth management technology company, Envestnet, made a series of high-profile acquisitions. Envestnet acquired Upside, an automated investment platform, in February, and followed with the acquisition of Finance Logix, a goals-based financial planning software provider, in May. The biggest news came in August, when Bergman announced Envestnet would purchase data aggregation firm Yodlee for $590 million. Many questioned the decision, and shares of Envestnet took an immediate hit that it hasn’t recovered from, but Bergman said in August that Yodlee would help the company tap into a $1.3 billion opportunity. 

Position: CEO of Financial Engines

Location: Sunnyvale, Calif. 

Good Traffic Score: 8,100

Bringing automated technology to the retirement market was a big trend in 2015, and Larry Raffone’s Financial Engines was one of the biggest players. Financial Engines forged a deal to provide online investment advice to 3.8 million participants on Wells Fargo’s 401(k) platform, and in November the retirement robo advisor announced plans to acquire The Mutual Fund Store, a nationally branded RIA focused on comprehensive planning for mass affluent clients, for $560 million. Raffone said the deal would give Financial Engines’ clients access to human advisors at Mutual Fund Store’s branches and wouldn’t create any debt for Financial Engines. 

Position: CEO of Advent Software

Location: San Francisco 

Google Traffic Score: 5,400

When Pete Hess took over as CEO in 2012, the software firm was in a period of staff layoffs. Three years later, Hess successfully sold Advent, which owns the Black Diamond portfolio management and account aggregation software, to SS&C Technologies for a massive $2.7 billion payday, the largest ever made by SS&C. SS&C said it plans to “double down” on developing Black Diamond and improving its functionality as well as its integration with other products. In September, SS&C divided Advent into two teams, one for advisors and another for asset managers, and put Hess in charge of both with the new title of senior vice president and general manager of SS&C’s Advent business unit. 

Position: CEO of Edelman Financial Services

Location: Fairfax, Va.

Google Traffic Score: 1,600

Private equity firm Hellman & Friedman acquired a majority interest in the independent financial planning firm in October, spurring renewed discussions around finding a successor for Ric’s empire. Edelman himself remains the largest individual shareholder in the firm, which manages over $15 billion for more than 28,000 clients via 41 offices across the country and online.

Position: President & CEO of Dynasty Financial Partners 

Location: New York City

Google Traffic Score: 1,600

Dynasty Financial Partners made headlines last summer when a $3 billion team of five former Barclays advisors partnered with the platform to launch Summit Trail Advisors. Even better, just a month later the new firm brought over another $500 million team from Barclays, with more growth planned. Overall, Dynasty has 35 RIAs within its network, with about $20 billion under management. In the last six months alone, the company has helped launch five teams and completed four tuck-ins.

These contenders are people (or the companies they represent) who were among the first to market with new products or ideas.

Position: Interim CEO of eMoney, president of Fidelity Wealth Technologies

Location: Boston

Google Traffic Score: 201,000

After leading Fidelity’s acquisition of eMoney, the president of Fidelity Wealth Technologies became CEO of the technology company when eMoney founder Edmond Walters suddenly resigned in September. Durbin has maintained that eMoney will remain independent from Fidelity, but its emX Select advisor dashboard is a key component to Wealthscape, the massive, multi-custodial technology platform Fidelity is building.

Position: Founder and CEO of Betterment

Location: New York City

Google Traffic Score: 110,000

Betterment continued its rapid growth over the last year, becoming the first fully automated digital advice service to cross the $3 billion AUM benchmark. Jon Stein’s company also released new features like RetireGuide and SmartDeposit to capture a larger share of the wallet. The New York-based robo also further diversified its business model by launching Betterment for Business, a 401(k) platform that turned the digital advice company into a plan provider. 

Position: President of NextShares Solutions, an Eaton Vance Company

Location: Boston

Google Traffic Score: 12,100

In the last year, Stephen Clarke has been working tirelessly to bring to market Eaton Vance’s NextShares, an actively managed fund that is traded on an exchange but does not have to disclose holdings on a daily basis. The idea is to put the tax efficiencies and lower cost structure of the ETF around a traditional actively managed mutual fund. Clarke accomplished his goal; the first exchange traded managed fund, the Eaton Vance Stock NextShares, launched Feb. 26 under the ticker EVSTC.

Position: Senior Loan Officer for Investment Advisory Lending at Live Oak Bank 

Location: Wilmington, N.C.

Google Traffic Score: 4,400

Since making its first loan to an advisor in February 2013, Live Oak has loaned over $200 million to investment advisors who have used the funds to acquire other advisors’ books of business, fund a breakaway from their current firm or simply invest in commercial space or finance a succession plan. Live Oak recently rolled out a new staged succession program, which provides financing for advisor succession plans through a combination of SBA-backed and conventional loans aimed at those participating in sell-and-stay deals. 

Position: Co-founder & CEO of Riskalyze

Location: Sacramento, Calif.

Google Traffic Score: 4,400

To say Riskalzye CEO Aaron Klein had a busy 2015 would be one of the biggest understatements of the year. His company teamed up with CLS Investments to launch Autopilot, a tool advisors can plug into their websites to let clients digitally determine their risk tolerance, open an account, sync assets and e-sign documents. At the February T3 conference, Klein also announced an innovative new “check-in” feature and stirred up a minor Twitter controversy with some incendiary comments on robo advisors. Throughout the year, Riskalyze made a continual stream of integration partnerships with other technology platforms that would be too numerous to list here, cementing Klein’s company as the leader in digital risk assessment. 

Position: President of MoneyGuidePro

Location: Richmond, Va.

Google Traffic Score: 2,000

MoneyGuidePro president Kevin Knull surprised some attendees of the eMoney Advisor Summit in October when he announced that his financial planning engine would integrate with eMoney’s emX Select dashboard. Though Knull said the companies were a natural fit, others said it was hard to get over the past 15 years in which the two software companies competed for market share. Other than the partnership, MoneyGuidePro also rolled out a major overhaul to its platform, including improved visuals to help explain strategies to individuals, and continued to rapidly add integration with other technology providers. 

Position: ‎Co-founder at Ellevest

Location: New York City

Google Traffic Score: 5,400

After blazing a trail on Wall Street, Sallie Krawcheck has taken on the challenge of getting more women involved in finance. In September, she announced she was in the process of launching a digital investment platform, Ellevest, that’s aimed specifically at women. A Series A round of investing netted the start-up $10 million in funding from some of the industry’s biggest names, including Allianz’s Mohamed El-Erian, Mastercard’s Ajay Banga and former Credit Suisse First Boston exec Brian Finn. The first group of beta users signed up in February and a full rollout is expected this year. 

Position: Head of Vanguard Advice Services

Location: Philadelphia 

Google Traffic Score: 260

In the growing market of low-cost digital advice, Vanguard Personal Advisor Services, led by Karin Risi, remains the champion in terms of assets under management. In May, Risi lowered the account minimums to $50,000 for the service, which combines the automated technology of robo advisors with the personal touch of a human, and transitioned nearly $10 billion in client assets into the program from its existing Asset Management Services. Risi’s team was managing more than $21 billion as of July, dwarfing the assets managed by the purely automated robo advisors. 

Without these contenders (or institutions they represent), the industry would not be the same place it is today.

Position: Founder and CEO of Morningstar

Location: Chicago

Google Traffic Score: 550,000

Mansueto, the self-made billionaire who founded Morningstar in 1984 out of his home, sells research to just about anyone who invests or manages other people’s money. In November, the firm purchased Total Rebalance Expert (tRx), an automated investment portfolio rebalancing platform for advisors. The firm is currently rolling out a new version of its Morningstar Direct Cloud software and redesigning its Morningstar Retirement Manager and Morningstar.com.

Position: Head of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management 

Location: New York City

Google Traffic Score: 301,000

Merrill Lynch made some significant changes to its organization over the past year, both in terms of structure and personnel. In July, the wirehouse joined other Wall Street banks in revamping their international client advisory businesses. Merrill narrowed the pool of foreign clients it serves by imposing higher asset minimums and focusing its advisor force on less than 30 countries. Meanwhile, last month Merrill added a vice chairman role that will focus on bringing greater collaboration between Merrill’s advisor force and the bank’s capabilities.

Position: Chairman and CEO of FINRA

Location: Washington, D.C./New York

Google Traffic Score: 90,500

Last year, FINRA ordered firms to pay a record-setting $96 million in restitution to harmed investors, a 200 percent increase from the $32 million ordered in 2014. Meanwhile fines against firms totaled $94 million. And the Wall Street regulator isn’t taking it easy in 2016, rolling out a controversial plan to examine firm culture. But change is in the air for the agency, as Ketchum plans to retire in the second half of 2016 after spending more than three decades serving as an industry regulator.

Position: Head of Wells Fargo Advisors

Location: St. Louis

Google Traffic Score: 74,000

After months of reports that Credit Suisse’s U.S. private bank operations were under fire, Wells Fargo announced in October it had inked a deal to recruit the 250 advisors working for the Swiss bank. But the wirehouse’s bid to gain a foothold in the ultra-high-net-worth space has been bumpy, with many Credit Suisse advisors jumping to UBS Wealth Management instead. During the most recent quarterly earnings call, Wells Fargo executives downplayed the deal, saying the number of advisors coming over wasn’t a “huge game-changer.”

Position: Chairman of LPL Financial 

Location: Boston

Google Traffic Score: 40,500

Mark Casady is making sweeping changes at LPL to prepare his firm for the expected fiduciary rule. Currently, brokerage retirement accounts make up about 30 percent of the firm’s assets, but LPL is proactively working to change that. Over the past five years, LPL has already doubled assets in fee-based accounts, which now represent 40 percent of the firm’s total assets. Yet while the rule will be costly, Casady has acknowledged that’s not necessarily a bad thing for scaled players like LPL: “It drives out smaller competitors… and their advisors will be available to move.” 

Position: Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission 

Location: Washington, D.C.

Google Traffic Score: 33,100

After years of promising to release a uniform fiduciary standard, Mary Jo White and the agency seem to be making headway. According to the SEC’s fall agenda, the agency is planning to propose rulemaking for the Personalized Investment Advice Standard of Conduct in October. In a speech last month, White reiterated that she would work hard to push ahead on a uniform fiduciary duty for investment advisers and broker/dealers, as well as a workable program for third-party exams of RIAs. But White may be handicapped, with the agency down two commissioners and the Senate refusing to confirm appointees until after the November election. 

Position: Lead Portfolio Manager at Janus Capital Group

Location: Laguna Beach, Calif. 

Google Traffic Score: 1,900

Bill Gross, the outspoken bond guru, made headlines in 2014 when he was ousted from Pimco and joined Janus Capital Group. But he continued to make waves during his first year at Janus, and Pimco felt the fallout. In October, he sued his former employer and its parent Allianz SE for $200 million, saying he was driven out of the bond fund giant he helped found by a greedy "cabal" of executives who wanted his huge bonus for themselves.

Position: Executive Vice President of Schwab Advisor Services

Location: Phoenix

Google Traffic Score: 390

Schwab Advisor Services continues to be one of the few firms that sets the tone for the RIA space. The company envisions its Institutional Intelligent Portfolios paving the way for a “custodian 2.0.” Meanwhile Schwab moved to dramatically lower the minimum investments required for most of its mutual funds and partnered with Morningstar to create managed accounts for 401(k) plans where the portfolio can be managed by the advisor. And Schwab is looking ahead to the next generation of advisors, funding Texas Tech University’s Money Camp this summer in an effort to promote financial literacy for high school students.

These contenders are industry leaders and executives playing the long game, the thought leaders attempting to advance the profession and enhance advisors’ daily lives.

Position: Secretary of the Department of Labor

Location: Washington, D.C.

Google Traffic Score: 135,000

Over the past 18 months, Thomas Perez has become the face of the Labor Department’s controversial fiduciary proposal. Perez has said time and time again brokerages can and will adapt to serving clients' interests ahead of their own, even predicting that a strong fiduciary rule will spur more small and mid-sized investors to seek financial advice. “Smart leaders will and can adapt to changing market conditions,” Perez said last fall.

Position: Executive-in-residence at Warburg Pincus

Location: San Francisco 

Google Traffic Score: 18,100

It’s hard to argue that Lee Kranefuss, who many consider “the father of ETFs,” isn’t influential. Despite the market volatility, global ETFs gathered a record $372 billion in net new assets in 2015, a 10 percent increase over the prior record; total U.S. assets stand at $2.992 trillion, according to ETFGI. Kranefuss made a splash in 2014 when he helped Source launch its first fund in the U.S., the Source Euro Stoxx 50 ETF. But the excitement was short-lived; the fund closed last April with less than $20 million in assets.

Position: CEO at Cetera Financial Group

Location: El Segundo, Calif.

Google Traffic Score: 9,900

RCS Capital had a bold mission of becoming the Procter & Gamble of the financial services industry—separate and distinct brands that leverage the advantages of existing within a larger parent organization. But the company stumbled after an accounting scandal rocked American Realty Capital Properties. RCS Capital filed for bankruptcy in January, but Roth maintains the Chapter 11 proceedings will provide Cetera with “a truly fresh start.”

Position: President and CEO of SIFMA

Location: Washington, D.C.

Google Traffic Score: 9,900

SIFMA has been one of the strongest opponents of the DOL’s bid to change the definition of a fiduciary under ERISA. In addition to the numerous comment letters, meetings with Labor and White House officials and testimony at the public hearings, SIFMA commissioned a study that found firms would spend up to $5 billion to implement the rule and an additional $1.1 billion on annual expenses. 

Position: Managing director of marketing for TD Ameritrade Institutional

Location: New York City

Google Traffic Score: 5,400

Kate Healy is at the center of shaping the TD Ameritrade’s women and NextGen initiatives. Every year, the firm gives out 12 $5,000 scholarships to financial planning students. And this year, two grants will be awarded to universities that demonstrate a commitment to educating financial professionals. The firm also runs an RIA Intern Network to facilitate relationships between advisors looking to fill entry-level roles and students. In 2015, the custodian rolled out a free internship and job search site to help RIAs attract and groom younger advisors. And most recently, the firm lent its support as a lead founding sponsor of the CFP Board’s new Center for Financial Planning.

Position: CEO at the CFP Board

Location: Washington, D.C.

Google Traffic Score: 2,400

Kevin Keller has repeatedly stated the CFP Board’s aim is to further the development of the advisory profession. With that in mind, the organization launched the Center for Financial Planning in November as the academic home for the profession. The organization also continues its mission to increase the public’s awareness of the CFP mark, which over a third of targeted investors now recognize in part because of an ongoing public awareness campaign. 

Position: Chairman and CEO of Research Affiliates 

Location: Newport Beach, Calif. 

Google Traffic Score: 2,400

Arnott is on our list for the same reasons he won Wealth Management Madness in 2015; he was one of the early adopters of fundamental indexing strategies, now called “smart beta,” and this continues to be one of the hottest investment trends. Of the $2 trillion in total ETF assets, one-fifth are in smart beta strategies, according to Morningstar. In 2015, there were $69 billion in net new flows into these strategies. As of Sept. 30, about $154 billion in assets were managed around the world using investment strategies developed by Research Affiliates, Arnott’s firm. But he recently spoke out against the strategy, saying smart beta could go horribly wrong because of its popularity.

Position: Co-founder and CEO of Quovo

Location: New York City

Google Traffic Score: 1,600

After data aggregation and analytics company Quovo attracted $700 billion in assets in just its first year on the market, co-founder and CEO Lowell Putnam was able to close a $4.75 million round of funding for his company. Putnam believes data science will be crucial for advisors going forward to drive actionable intelligence to advisors. He has also been vocal in the growing debate around the ownership of client data, saying the issue will soon be on the top of advisors’ minds.