Ryan Parker, CEO of EP Wealth, sheds light on the firm’s intentional M&A strategy and what it means for the company’s development.

In this episode of the RIA Edge Podcast, David Armstrong, managing director of editorial and content strategies for the Wealth Management Group at Informa, talks with Ryan Parker, CEO of EP Wealth, on the company’s robust growth in recent years by thinking big but keeping small. Smart acquisitions and steering their focus toward offering family-office level services has made comprehensive financial planning attractive to a broader clientele.  

Specifically, David and Ryan discuss:

• His professional journey from the asset management side of the business to the advisory side, with stints at LPL Financial and as CEO of Edelman Financial Services.
• The challenges of combining an M&A strategy with a double-digit organic growth rate that has seen the firm grow in AUM by almost 10X in six years. 
• How the firm approaches acquisitions, balancing local autonomy for the acquired firms with a structure of a national RIA, and embedding transition teams with the targeted RIA before the deal closes.
• The vision to become the “family office” for the “millionaire-next-door,” in part by bringing tax preparation and trust and estate services in house. 

Resources:

RIA Edge Podcast

Connect With David Armstrong:

• WealthManagement.com
• LinkedIn: WealthManagment.com
• LinkedIn: David Armstrong 
• Twitter/X: @djamesarmstrong
• LinkedIn: Informa

Connect With Ryan Parker:

• EP Wealth
• LinkedIn: Ryan Parker 

 About Our Guest: 

As CEO of EP Wealth, Ryan is energized by the opportunity to create conditions for others’ success, which he considers the greatest contribution any leader can make.

Ryan joined EP Wealth Advisors in 2021 and has been passionate about helping people achieve their goals for over twenty-five years. Previously, Ryan was President and CEO of Wealth Management at Citizens Bank, CEO of Edelman Financial Services, and a Managing Director at LPL Financial. Before turning his focus to wealth management, he began his career on the asset management side at Putnam Investment, Franklin Templeton Investments, and Russell Investments. Ryan has been active in other parts of the industry as well, previously serving as Vice Chairman for Lefteris Acquisition Corp. and as an advisor to various private equity, venture capital, and management consulting firms.

Ryan earned a B.A. from the University of Michigan, and a Certificate in Finance and Accounting from Stanford Graduate School of Business

Ryan lives with his wife and three children in Cottonwood Heights, Utah.  

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Lisa Salvi shares how successful firms leverage a comprehensive approach to long-term success.

In this episode, David Armstrong, managing director of editorial and content strategies for the Wealth Management Group at Informa, talks with Lisa Salvi, Managing Director, Advisor Services, Charles Schwab, about Schwab’s RIA Benchmarking Study that highlights industry performance and where advisory firms achieve efficiency in sustainable growth. The conversation sheds light on the essential role of strategic planning, mentorship programs and specialized roles in nurturing talent. 

Specifically, David and Lisa discuss:

• How benchmark studies reveal the industry’s significant growth, requiring firms to strategically plan for expansion.
• Why talent acquisition and development are top priorities for financial advisory firms.
• How successful firms implement strategic planning that attracts talent and leverages M&A for sustainable growth.
• The three-part process of M&A: envision, prepare and connect.

Resources:

RIA Edge Podcast

Connect With David Armstrong:

• WealthManagement.com
• LinkedIn: WealthManagment.com
• LinkedIn: David Armstrong 
• Twitter/X: @djamesarmstrong
• LinkedIn: Informa

Connect With Lisa Salvi:

• LinkedIn: Lisa Salvi
• Charles Schwab 

 

About Our Guest: 

Lisa Salvi is a member of the Advisor Services leadership team and is responsible for Schwab’s Business Consulting and Education offer. Her team develops and manages programs and one-on-one consulting engagements designed to help independent advisors make lasting and significant improvements within their firms by focusing on key business, technology, and cybersecurity issues. Salvi’s team leads the annual RIA Benchmarking Study, the Compensation Study, and programs that support the development of advisor talent through executive education and student initiatives. They also provide insights and tools that help the Advisor Services sales and support teams deliver outstanding client service to independent advisors.

Salvi has worked with fee-based advisors since 2003. Since joining Schwab in 2007, she has held several positions, including Chief of Staff to Bernie Clark, head of Advisor Services.

Salvi holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Series 7 and Series 24 registrations.  

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Jonathan Hirtle, founder and chairman of Hirtle, Callaghan & Co., has been called the “Oracle of Outsource” by Pension & Investments magazine for his work pioneering the “outsourced chief investment officer” business model for families and institutions. 

Here, Hirtle speaks with Wealth Management’s David Armstrong about the opportunity he saw to start the firm 35 years ago to bring  investment management services out of the banks, brokerages and product shops and offering it directly to wealthy families and institutions that aren’t quite wealthy enough to support their own in-house investment teams, and doing so without the conflicts of interest that often come with using traditional financial services.. 

Hirtle speaks about growing the firm to $20 billion in AUM, his team’s approach to the markets, how he builds portfolios and why the need for unconflicted and actively managed portfolios are even more important today than they were when he founded the company. 

Specifically, David and Jon discuss:

• How Hirtle, Callaghan & Co, took inspiration from the likes of Yale University’s  “endowment model” and Arthur Miltenberger, the chief investment officer for the Richard K. Mellon family office, and wanted to bring a similar level of dedicated investment management to a broader swath of clients. 
• The market taxonomy his team uses when evaluating all investment opportunities.
• His thoughts on John Bogle, founder of Vanguard. 
• How the investable market is tilting ever more heavily toward private companies, and far less toward publicly traded firms, and the opportunities – and risks – that exist for clients in alternatives. 
• How his firm charges clients, and why it’s important:. “We may be wrong, but we’ll never be conflicted.” 
• The attraction of “mission-oriented” clients and how his firm helps those clients navigate the balance between good returns and good impact. 
• Why the firm has been adamant about avoiding the red-hot M&A market for RIAs, but has started to pursue a strategy of finding smaller “lift outs” of like-minded advisors across the country that fit the firm’s ethos and value proposition.  

Resources:

RIA Edge Podcast

Connect With David Armstrong:

• WealthManagement.com
• LinkedIn: WealthManagment.com
• LinkedIn: David Armstrong
• Twitter: David Armstrong
• LinkedIn: Informa

Connect With John Hirtle:

• LinkedIn: Jon Hirtle
• Company Website: Hirtle, Callaghan & Co.
• Company LinkedIn: Hirtle, Callaghan & Co.

About Our Guest:

Jon is the Executive Chairman of Hirtle Callaghan. He also chairs the board of directors and serves on the Investment Policy Committee. Prior to founding Hirtle Callaghan in 1988, Jon worked at Goldman Sachs advising family groups and institutions on investment strategy and securities selection. He received his Bachelor of Science and M.B.A. degrees from Penn State. Jon served as an infantry officer in the United States Marine Corps from 1975 to 1982 and is a member of the Governing Council of the Miller Center for Public Affairs at the University of Virginia.

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