Month: April 2025
RIA Edge Podcast: The Power of Specialization with Andrew Leonard

RIA Edge Podcast: The Power of Specialization with Andrew Leonard

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In this episode of the RIA Edge Podcast, host David Armstrong chats with Andrew Leonard, founder and partner at Geometric Wealth Advisors, about how the firm has rapidly grown to over $1 billion in AUM since Leonard founded it by catering to a specific client niche: executives working inside large consulting firms like McKinsey, Bain, and BCG. 

In fact, many of its advisors, as well as the firm’s chief operating officer, come from those same firms. Geometric Wealth’s advantage is a deep understanding of the internal resources, career paths and investment plans available to its clients, as well as the professional trajectories and personalities of those who work there. By focusing on such a narrow pool of prospects, the firm ironically brings in twice as many referrals as it can onboard annually—a capacity problem, not a growth problem. 

Leonard talks about how the niche focus drives most strategic decisions at the firm. That includes a commitment to 100% remote work, the firm’s business development strategy (and how “marketing” looks very different when focusing on a specific niche) and the commitment to remaining an employee-owned partnership with no outside investor taking ownership.

Leonard also discusses:

  • The benefit of hiring career-changers from the same consulting firms where they prospect for clients, and the advantages that brings in terms of subject-matter expertise and new client referrals. 
  • Why he made the decision five years ago, as a much smaller firm, to bring not just tax planning, but tax preparation in-house and the difference that has made for his clients (many with unique tax situations that come with the partnership arrangements of the consulting firms).

Resources:

Connect With David Armstrong:

Connect With Andrew Leonard:

About Our Guest:

Andrew founded Geometric Wealth Advisors in 2015.  He spent the prior eight years as a Partner with Classic Capital, where he served as a Wealth Advisor for high net worth families and individuals.  He sold his stake in Classic to build a firm devoted entirely to serving his peers. Andrew lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife, Shelley, and daughters, Eve and Brooke.

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RIA Edge Podcast: Building Wealth Firms That Last with Mark DeLotto

RIA Edge Podcast: Building Wealth Firms That Last with Mark DeLotto

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What makes a financial advisory firm truly sustainable in the competitive world of wealth management?

Join David Armstrong as he engages with Mark DeLotto, partner and corporate development officer at Simon Quick Advisors, on the firm’s distinctive growth journey and his roadmap for future growth. Mark offers insights into cultivating a culture of broad ownership, team collaboration, and strategies for organic growth driven by deep expertise in trusts and estate planning, and his ambition for more dealmaking in the RIA space. 

David and Mark discuss:

  • The transformation of Simon Quick Advisors from an early focus as a family office, to advising a few institutions, to becoming a full-service wealth management firm for HNW and UHNW clients.  
  • How broadening the number of next-gen employee owners has aligned the team around the firm’s goals and incentives, and the impact that decision has had on the firm’s growth trajectory. 
  • Why the firm decided to bring estate planning intelligence in-house.
  • The firm’s first three M&A deals, and how Mark and his partner believed in the mission to the point where they made personal guarantees to the bank to raise the capital to pursue a deal. 

Resources:

Connect With David Armstrong:

Connect With Mark DeLotto:

About Our Guest:

Mr. DeLotto joined Simon Quick in April 2007 and currently serves as the Partner and Corporate Development Officer, with primary responsibility over the areas of finance and operations. He also oversees human resources, legal, compliance, technology, and infrastructure, and, as a member of the Management Committee, contributes to the firm’s strategic direction, business development, and business planning. He also sits on the firm’s Operating Committee. In early 2013, Mr. DeLotto became an equity partner of Simon Quick.

Mr. DeLotto began his career with Fleet/Quick & Reilly as a Financial Advisor. At the Bank of America Investment Services, he managed and serviced client assets. He earned Series 7, Series 66, and New Jersey Life and Health Insurance Producer Licenses and was selected to partner with a successful team of advisors in 2005.

Prior to joining Simon Quick, Mr. DeLotto supervised, mentored, and coached over forty financial advisors and sales assistants as a licensed market principal at Bank of America Investment Services, Inc.

Mr. DeLotto has a BS in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from Villanova University School of Business. He is an active member in the Morris/Somerset Chapter of the Villanova Alumni Association and was an active member of The Villanova School of Business and served as a mentor in the Commerce and Finance Counselor program. A graduate of the Delbarton School in Morristown, NJ, he currently serves on the Board of the Alumni Association and is the Co-Chair of the school’s annual fundraising effort. Mark currently sits on the Technology Advisory Board for both Pershing LLC (an affiliate of BNY Mellon) and Fortigent LLC (an affiliate of LPL Financial). Mark sits on the Board of Directors for the ARC of Morris County, an organization dedicated to people affected by intellectual and related developmental disabilities and their families in Morris County.

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