Office address: 155 Seaport Blvd., 3rd Floor, Boston, MA 02210
Website: cwadvisorsgroup.com
Year established: 2009
Company type: financial services
Employees: 160+
Expertise: wealth management, family office services, financial planning, investment management, private equity, private credit, private real estate, venture capital, ESG and impact investing, tax and estate planning
Parent company: Osaic Holdings, Inc.
Key people: Scott Dell'Orfano (CEO), Ken Zannoni and Rich Villiotte (presidents), Jennifer DeSisto (CIO), Erin Wendell (CFO), Michael Galvin (executive managing director), Candace Cavalier (general counsel)
Financing status: corporate-backed or acquired
CW Advisors (CWA) is a Boston-based, fee-only RIA that serves high-net-worth (HNW) individuals, families, and endowments. The firm offers wealth management, financial planning, and family office services across 23 offices nationwide. It manages more than $16 billion in assets as of February 2026 and operates as a subsidiary of Osaic Holdings.
CWA was founded by Ken Zannoni in Boston in March 2009 as Congress Wealth Management, a fee-only RIA. The company built its early business around wealth management, financial planning, and family office work for affluent clients.
The company stayed independent for years, then took a minority investment from CI Financial in 2020. That move gave it outside backing as it looked to expand beyond its earlier Boston footprint.
Then, in April 2023, Boston private equity firm Audax bought CI's stake and became the majority owner. After Audax took control, the company accelerated its acquisition activity and later reported stronger asset growth.
The firm changed its name to CW Advisors in January 2024 to match its broader reach. That same year, it added Mercadien Asset Management, Cubic Asset Management, and Agili through separate deals.
Those deals added more than $3 billion in assets and pushed the firm to $10 billion. CW Advisors also hired Jennifer DeSisto as CIO in 2024.
By early 2025, CWA had become active in the RIA market. It bought Aspire Wealth Management, Fernwood Investment Management, and Delta Financial Group before another ownership shift.
In June 2025, wealth management parent Osaic bought CWA when it managed over $13 billion. Since then, the firm kept buying, reaching over $16 billion and 23 offices by February 2026.
CWA centers its offering on fee-only wealth management, family office work, and access to private-market strategies:
CW Advisors also uses third-party managers, private funds, and separate accounts in some client portfolios.
CW Advisors says its culture is built around a multidisciplinary team and a unified planning process for client work. It also states its approach centers on broad in-house expertise, coordinated advice, and ongoing client support.
CW Advisors held its second annual Women's Luncheon in October 2025 as part of a series on women in health. The firm says the event featured female healthcare leaders and supported The Ellie Fund, which helps breast cancer patients.
Scott Dell'Orfano is CEO of CW Advisors and has more than 30 years in financial services. Before joining CWA, he led Boston Private Bank's wealth management division and later served as EVP at Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services Group. Dell'Orfano also held roles at SEI Investments and earned a BS from Union College.
Other senior leaders in CW Advisors' team include:
Their roles cover investments, operations, finance, compliance, and wealth planning. This setup shows that client work and firm oversight sit with separate senior leaders.
CW Advisors kept expanding after its 2025 sale to Osaic by buying two Pennsylvania advisory teams. The firm added Capital Management Services and CHB Investment Group, which both serve HNW clients with planning and investment management.
The deals brought in $575 million in assets for CWA. For the future, that growth gives the company a larger East Coast presence and more room to add clients under its national platform.
Building on its Pennsylvania push, CW Advisors moved farther west with its February 2026 purchase of Rovin Capital, a fee-only RIA in Utah and Arizona. The deal added $849 million in assets and gave the firm its first Utah office and second Arizona location.
After that move, CWA reported more than $16 billion in AUM, over 160 professionals, and 23 offices nationwide. The acquisition will improve its position in the western US as the firm widens its office network.
Cetera Planning Partners reflects how broker-dealers are building RIA platforms to capture the model’s growth and boost firm valuations, though consultant David DeVoe says a lingering “stigma” still deters some advisors from joining IBDs.
The lawsuit comes amid a string of recent cyberattacks against wealth firms including Mercer Advisors, Edelman Financial Engines, Beacon Pointe, CW Advisors, Betterment, Pathstone, EP Wealth, Cetera and Ameriprise.
A record 102 acquirers entered the market last year, but 20 firms captured more than half of all acquired assets, according to Fidelity’s latest M&A report.
Two deals continue consolidation in advisory space which has seen strong activity so far this month.
The Osaic network firms announce key expansions in the West and Midwestern US, with CWA's $849 million acquisition giving it additional footholds in Utah and Arizona.
A record 322 M&A transactions in 2025 shattered the previous deal flow pace in the RIA market, but DeVoe & Company’s report shows the surge further concentrated power among a handful of dominant firms.
LPL has taken a minority stake in the $40 billion RIA and OSJ Private Advisor Group, continuing a string of moves from broker-dealers to directly capitalize on assets from independent advisors.
At DeVoe’s M&A Succession Summit in Chicago, Focus Financial CEO Michael Nathanson said RIAs shouldn’t underestimate wirehouses and banks as potential reemerging competitors in the independent advisor market.
From delayed communication and client attrition to cultural clashes, neglected next-gen talent, and integration misfires, industry leaders share risks of M&A that emerge once the ink has dried.
Osaic-owned CW Advisors has added more than $500 million to reach $14.5 billion in AUM, while Apella's latest deal brings more than $1 billion in new client assets.
The race to 100 transactions ended a month early this year, with April standing out as the most active month on record for RIA dealmaking.
Meanwhile, Osaic secures a new credit union partnership, and Compound Planning crosses another billion-dollar milestone.
Osaic's expanded partnership with the Arizona-based firm advances its broader strategy to offer succession-focused planning solutions to retiring advisors.
After leaving LPL in 2020, it hasn't gone Cornick's way at Osaic.
With 102 transactions logged in the three-month period up to June, Echelon Partners is projecting a new banner year for dealmaking across the industry.
