Tag: Advisor Growth
RIA Edge Podcast: The Balefire Wealth Journey with Jason Hester and John Hoffman

RIA Edge Podcast: The Balefire Wealth Journey with Jason Hester and John Hoffman

By |

Balefire Wealth’s transformation from two thriving RIAs into a unified enterprise business with national ambitions showcases the strength of shared vision and cultural alignment.

In this episode of the RIA Edge Podcast, host David Armstrong talks with Jason Hester and John Hoffman, co-CEOs of Balefire Wealth, a new RIA born earlier this year from the merger of their two established firms. The episode explores how the duo combined their complementary businesses—one focused on ultra-high-net-worth clients and the other serving the mass affluent/HNW market with a strong corporate retirement plan business—to create an integrated wealth management enterprise designed to be greater than the sum of the parts. The discussion reveals their strategic approach to building a comprehensive service platform while maintaining a collaborative leadership structure that prioritizes both client outcomes and advisor growth, and their plans to accelerate the firm’s growth trajectory in 2026.

The three discuss:

  • Why it took two years of discussions before the Hester and Hoffman formally combined their firms, followed by a “32 second” decision to serve as co-CEOs, and how they make the partnership work.
  • How they built an infrastructure that brings advisors into a team-based practice designed to serve the diverse needs of clients, from mass affluent to UHNW, under one roof. This includes their unique approach to financial planning, how they developed their client segmentation strategy and how they envision client services evolving to sustain and manage family wealth.  
  • How they launched the firm with 16 advisor-owners, a pathway to ownership for recruits and—as of yet—no outside capital.
  • Why they feel the future belongs to hybrid advisors who don’t focus only on AUM as a measure of success, and how that approach reshapes client relationships for the better.
  • What their plans are to transition from recruiting like-minded advisors to approaching the M&A market as acquirers in 2026, and their thoughts on potentially working with the “smart money” investors who have entered the RIA space to support that growth.
  • What their approach is for the firm’s corporate retirement plan business, with approximately 130 companies and around 45,000 participants, and how it sees the qualified and unqualified retirement plan market not as investment advisors but as strategic HR partners helping companies meet talent and retention challenges.

Resources:

Connect With David Armstrong:

Connect With Balefire Wealth:

About Jason Hester:

As Managing Partner and Co-CEO of Balefire Wealth, Jason Hester leads the firm’s strategic vision and oversees its multi-division growth across a national footprint. With 25 years of experience in organic growth, strategic leadership, and private wealth frameworks, he guides the development of holistic planning solutions for affluent families and corporate clients. Jason is deeply involved in capital strategy, advisor acquisition, post-merger integration, and platform optimization, while mentoring leadership and cultivating a culture of clarity, accountability, and innovation. He works closely with the Executive and Organic Growth Teams to ensure Balefire continues to set a new standard for enterprise advisory firms.

Jason and his wife, Brandy, have been married for 25 years and have three children—Henley, Hayes, and Bryce—who are each launching careers of their own. They live on a farm in Central Mississippi, where they enjoy gardening, outdoor sports, and traveling together. Jason also spends his free time reading, playing golf, riding motorcycles, working with his hands, and tackling home projects.

About John Hoffman:

With over 25 years in the financial industry, John Hoffman leads with a bold vision of growth and transformation.

For 20 years at Principal Financial, he excelled as an Advisor, Managing Director, and ultimately Regional Managing Director—roles where he shaped strategy, developed high-performing teams, and attracted top talent.

Now, as Managing Partner of Balefire, John is responsible for the firm’s inorganic growth and has built a “one-team” culture in an industry that often operates in silos. He has created team-based values aligned with a bold new vision, ensuring talent thrives in an authentic and collaborative environment. His leadership centers on finding the right team players, creating alignment, and scaling the organization as a unified company.

Beyond Balefire, John is deeply engaged in his community. For over three years, he has served as a Board Member at Bolder Options, a nonprofit that provides wellness-based, activity-centered mentoring for youth. For the past 10 years, he has also chaired the Finance and Investments Committee at Portico Benefit Services, a nonprofit ministry of the ELCA that provides health, retirement, and investment benefits to faith-based organizations and their leaders.

John currently lives in Dallas, Texas.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: RSS
RIA Edge Podcast: CEO Matt Regan on Wealthcare’s New Owners, Future M&A and AI’s Organic Growth Potential

RIA Edge Podcast: CEO Matt Regan on Wealthcare’s New Owners, Future M&A and AI’s Organic Growth Potential

By |

Wealthcare Capital Management’s evolution from a software pioneer to a national advisory platform reveals the power of strategic reinvention.

In this episode of the RIA Edge Podcast, host David Armstrong speaks with Matt Regan, president and CEO of Wealthcare Capital Management, about Wealthcare’s journey from its roots in Richmond, Va., to its sale to Sammons Financial. Matt shares how the firm is blending technology, M&A strategy and advisor support to create growth opportunities for independent advisors nationwide.

Matt and David also discuss the firm’s acquisition approach, the rise of supported independence and the ongoing transformation of the RIA space.

Matt discusses:

  • Wealthcare’s beginnings as an investment planning software firm and its evolution into a full-service wealth management enterprise with some 200 affiliated advisors and $10 billion in AUM.
  • The recent transaction, which saw ownership of the firm move from private equity investors NewSpring Capital to employee-owned Sammons Financial, a mid-sized financial services firm, and the potential to set up an independent wealth management vertical inside that organization.
  • Why Wealthcare still purposefully targets sub-$1 billion firms for acquisitions, and how the war for talent, particularly next-gen, is feeding into Wealthcare’s dealmaking roadmap. (In fact, Wealthcare’s advisors are, overall, younger than the industry average.) 
  • Why the firm has a goal to move more affiliated advisors, largely 1099 employees, into Wealthcare’s W-2 channel.
  • Regan’s view on most of the digital marketing platforms currently available to advisors, and how AI may be the answer to truly move the needle on organic growth via improved lead generation and prospect nurturing.
  • Why Regan is looking for an AI-enhanced small account investment platform for advisors to offer younger prospects who don’t—yet—make profitable full-service clients. 

Resources:

Connect With David Armstrong:

Connect With Matt Regan:

About Our Guest:

Matt Regan serves as Wealthcare’s President. Most recently and prior to Wealthcare, Matt served as the Chief Operating Officer of Wescott Financial, a $2 billion RIA based in Philadelphia. With more than two decades in the financial services industry, Matt has been involved in a number of transformative business models and has remained focused on building world-class organizations with a focus on the client. As a founding partner of WR Hambrecht+Co, Matt launched the retail brokerage offering and helped to design and launch the auction-based OpenIPO system. As a consultant to Vanguard, Matt was involved in the technology and business transformation that created the infrastructure that underlies the firm’s Personal Advisor Services offering. Matt is a graduate of the University of Toronto and resides outside Philadelphia with his wife and three children.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: RSS
RIA Edge Podcast: Building Growth Partnerships with Summit Financial’s Stan Gregor

RIA Edge Podcast: Building Growth Partnerships with Summit Financial’s Stan Gregor

By |

Explosive growth doesn’t happen by accident. It’s fueled by intentional partnerships, strategic resources, and cultural alignment.

In this episode of the RIA Edge Podcast, host David Armstrong sits down with Stan Gregor, CEO of Summit Financial, who shares how his firm has grown from $3 billion to nearly $25 billion in assets since 2020. 

He reveals the minority investment model that prioritizes partnership over control, the resources Summit provides to help advisors grow organically and through acquisitions, and the importance of cultural fit. Stan also offers his perspective on private equity’s role in the industry and emerging service trends for RIAs.

Keypoints:

  • Summit Financial’s minority investment partnership model and how it differs from roll-up and aggregator structures
  • The selective approach to onboarding partners, focusing on cultural fit, aspiration, and willingness to leverage resources
  • In-house resources, from legal and estate planning to marketing via Chapman Communications, that drive above-market organic growth
  • Industry shifts toward private equity, private credit and alternative investments, and how Summit vets boutique opportunities
  • Views on competition, partnership pitfalls and future monetization strategies while maintaining focus on growth and enterprise value

Resources:

 Connect With David Armstrong:

Connect With Stan Gregor:

About Our Guest:

Stan Gregor is the CEO of Summit Financial LLC. As a senior executive with over 30 years of experience, Stan has operated in banking, private wealth management, investment management, fiduciary trust services, fixed income trading, investment banking, retirement services, insurance, financial planning, and public finance. He has also been involved in acquiring and integrating some of the largest and most complicated banking, wealth management, insurance, and capital markets businesses and cultures with a demonstrated track record of increasing productivity, profitability, and shareholder value.

Most recently, Stan was the founder and co-CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald Wealth Partners (CFWP). Under his leadership, CFWP grew to over $5 billion in assets in less than two years through several strategic acquisitions of RIAs, independent advisors, and wirehouse teams.

Prior to joining Cantor Fitzgerald, Stan was the Head of Wells Fargo Wealth Management -Eastern US Markets and President of Wachovia Wealth Markets. He provided executive leadership to the Eastern U.S. Markets and headed up the Wealth Insurance Division, overseeing the private bank, wealth brokerage, investment management, fiduciary trust services, financial planning, and insurance. Stan was responsible for leading nearly 5,000 team members, generating revenues of $2.5 billion with $69 billion of investment fee-based AUM, $19 billion of deposit balances, and $16 billion of loans.

Prior to Wachovia, Stan was CEO of Commerce Capital Markets, where he directed private wealth management, brokerage, asset management, fixed income trading, derivatives, investment banking, retirement services, insurance, and public finance.

Subsequently, Stan was CEO of Quick and Reilly (Q&R) as one of the visionaries who transformed Q&R from a transactional discount broker to a full-service advisory company. When Q&R was acquired by Bank of America, Stan stayed on as co-CEO of Bank of America Investment Services until 2005.

Over nearly a decade at Citigroup, Stan had several senior executive-level roles leading different divisions, including consumer banking, private wealth management, and Citigroup as Northeast Group Executive Vice President.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: RSS
RIA Edge Podcast: How Taylor Matthews Built Farther to Boost Advisor Efficiency by Removing Platform Friction

RIA Edge Podcast: How Taylor Matthews Built Farther to Boost Advisor Efficiency by Removing Platform Friction

By |

It’s not surprising that tech-native firms see the wealth management industry’s high margins and sticky revenue, even with its notoriously disjointed and sometimes subpar tech stacks, and think, “Good business. But it could be better.” 

At the recent WealthManagement EDGE conference in Boca Raton, Fla., David Armstrong, director of editorial strategy and operations for the Wealth Management Group at Informa Connect, spoke with Taylor Matthews, co-founder and CEO of Farther, to explore how the firm is seeking to improve the advisor experience and increase the operational efficiency of wealth management firms with home-built technology. 

Backed by a handful of well-known venture capitalists, Farther is a “tech-forward” RIA where the user experience improvements are as much for the advisor’s benefit as it is for the client: The goal was to create workflow efficiencies for advisors that translate into increased time spent with more clients than is found at a typical RIA. 

Taylor outlines how Farther also supports advisors with built-in marketing, lead generation and operational support. The conversation touches on the firm’s philosophy, use of AI, Taylor’s thoughts on the business investment environment for RIAs, and what the future may hold for his team’s firm.

David and Taylor discuss:

  • How Farther’s technology was built from the ground up to solve daily inefficiencies that advisors face with disconnected tech stacks
  • Why returning time to advisors is central to Farther’s strategy, enabling them to focus more on client work and growth
  • The four-part growth engine at Farther, including done-for-you marketing and lead generation
  • How Farther’s internal teams support advisors in areas like estate planning, tax consulting and financial planning
  • The firm’s long-term approach to growth without the constraints of private equity and why consolidation is reshaping the industry.

Resources:

Connect With David Armstrong:

Connect With Taylor Matthews:

About Our Guest:

Taylor leads Farther’s executive team and shapes the overarching strategy for the firm. Prior to founding Farther, Taylor was a member of the leadership team at ForUsAll, where he helped build the fintech retirement advisory firm from $25 million in assets under management to just under $1 billion in his two years there.

Taylor previously co-founded Essmart, a social enterprise distributing tech-for-development products in India, and was an investment banker and management consultant in his early career. He graduated from MIT Sloan with an MBA and Yale with degrees in philosophy and political science.

Taylor lives in San Francisco with his wife, three children, and a very excitable dog. As Victor Hugo wrote, “There is nothing like a dream to create the future.”

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: RSS

Archives

Categories