Month: March 2025
RIA Edge Podcast: CEO Rob Mooney On Snowden Lane’s Pivot to a ‘New Chapter’ in 2025

RIA Edge Podcast: CEO Rob Mooney On Snowden Lane’s Pivot to a ‘New Chapter’ in 2025

By |

Snowden Lane entered 2025 on a high note. The firm had an active recruiting year, expanding its national footprint and posting record profitability and revenue with approximately $12 billion in AUM. 

Yet the highlight for CEO Robert Mooney was the decision to buy back a significant portion of the firm’s equity from its original financial backer, Estancia Capital. The firm also broadened ownership to more employees and managers while letting longer-tenured advisor partners cash in some vested chips at “an attractive valuation.” 

Now, 75% of firm ownership is in the hands of managers and employees. Mooney sees the pivot away from outside capital as something to celebrate, particularly as more competitors run toward private equity.  

In this episode of the RIA Edge Podcast, host David Armstrong talks with Mooney about the recent changes at Snowden Lane and how his firm is navigating the shifting dynamics in wealth management. 

Rob shares insights on:

  • Why the wirehouses are still Snowden Lane’s best hunting grounds for talent, though he is starting to see serious opportunities to recruit from other RIAs; the firm recently added Charles Schwab as a custodian alongside its traditional partner Pershing.
  • A new proprietary retirement transition plan that offers advisors eyeing the exits an early payout.
  • The growing role of alternative investments, where the demand is coming from and how advisors are integrating them.
  • Why firm executives are bringing more practicing advisors from the field offices into managing director roles to help with strategic growth decisions.
  • The sustainability of current RIA valuations and what firms might be getting wrong. 
  • The firm’s recent recapitalization and the benefits of broadening ownership in the firm to advisors and home-office employees. 

Resources:

Connect With David Armstrong:

Connect With Rob Mooney:

About Our Guest:

Rob is the Managing Partner and Chief Executive Officer of Snowden Lane. Rob spent 22 years at Merrill Lynch, in New York, Singapore, Hong Kong, and London. He was General Counsel and Chief Business Risk Officer of Global Wealth Management and a member of the GWM Executive and Operating Committees. He previously held senior executive positions in International Private Client and the Asia Pacific Region. Rob started at Merrill Lynch in London (Europe, Middle East, and Africa Region) and before that worked at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He has a BA from Franklin and Marshall College and a JD from George Washington University. He is Chairman of the Board of Centurion, the oldest organization in the U.S. dedicated to freeing the wrongly convicted, and a founding Board member of the Christina Seix Academy, a residential school for underprivileged inner-city children. He is a former Board Chairman and Board member of the American Red Cross of Central New Jersey

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: RSS
RIA Edge Podcast: Wescott’s Commitment to Community, Client Retention with Grant Rawdin

RIA Edge Podcast: Wescott’s Commitment to Community, Client Retention with Grant Rawdin

By |

In this episode of the RIA Edge Podcast, host David Armstrong interviews Grant Rawdin, founder and CEO of Wescott Financial Advisory Group, which manages $4 billion in AUM. Grant shares the story of founding his firm in 1987 as an offshoot of a law firm, his passion for client advocacy, and how the firm grew through strategic networking and a commitment to professional management. He emphasizes Wescott’s unique culture, including its B-Corp certification and involvement in the Net Positive Consortium for Wealth Management, as essential elements of its identity, and most important, talent retention.

Key takeaways from this episode include:

  • Rawdin’s belief that net organic growth starts with client retention, and how the firm achieves its high numbers with multi-generational clients.
  • Beyond retention, the other activities that help the firm create “rivers of referrals,” the core of Wescott’s growth engine.
  • The firm’s commitment to social justice and positive community involvement, including what its coveted “B-Corp” designation means, and why it became a founding member of the Net Positive Coalition for Wealth Management, a growing group of RIAs committed to sustainability.
  • The mindful approach he takes to acquisitions, and the importance of integrating the right talented professionals into the firm culture to the benefit of employees and clients.
  • What data Rawdin follows to make growth-oriented business decisions and track ROI
  • The firm’s unique inclusion of an organizational psychologist to support clients and staff through transitions

Resources:

Connect With David Armstrong:

Connect With Grant Rawdin:

About Our Guest:

Grant Rawdin is the founder and CEO of Wescott.  Wescott grew from the tax, business and estate services he provided to clients at Duane Morris LLP, a venerable AMLaw 100 law firm; Wescott was founded in 1987.  Grant is an attorney, an accountant and a Certified Financial Planner® professional and has served as advisor to many businesses and families.  He is admitted to both the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Bars.

Grant is a graduate of Temple University Beasley School of Law and Temple University, where he received his B.A. in English Literature.  He is the very proud father of four children and resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with his wife, Laura Rawdin.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: RSS

Archives

Categories