Office address: 6050 Oak Tree Blvd., Suite 500, Cleveland, OH 44131
Website: mai.capital
Year established: 1973
Company type: financial services
Employees: 675+
Expertise: wealth management, investment management, financial planning, retirement planning, estate and trust planning, alternative investments, family office services, tax and accounting, insurance and risk management, sports and entertainment wealth advisory
Parent company: Galway Holdings, LP
Key people: Rick Buoncore (CEO), Kathleen Alcorn (CMO), Charles Crane (CoS), Leslie Drockton (general counsel), Lesa Evans (CHRO), Jim Kacic (COO), Philip Noftsinger (CFO), Kurt Nye (CIO)
Financing status: corporate-backed or acquired
MAI Capital Management is a Cleveland-based RIA. Its client base ranges from retirees and executives to athletes, with services that include financial planning, investment advisory, and tax support.
As of January 1, 2026, it manages over $72 billion in total assets across 40 offices and a team of more than 675 people.
MAI Capital Management traces its roots to a handshake between golfer Arnold Palmer and sports agent Mark McCormack in 1973. Palmer wanted someone to handle his business affairs so he could focus on golf.
That deal gave rise to International Management Group (IMG), a global sports and lifestyle company. It also created Investment Advisors International (IAI), IMG's financial arm built to manage wealth for athletes.
IAI operated under IMG for three decades before it split off as an independent firm in 2004. Three years later, BC Investment Partners acquired the company and brought in Rick Buoncore as managing partner.
The firm then rebranded as MAI Wealth Advisors, a name rooted in its McCormack Advisors International heritage. By 2014, it settled on its current name: MAI Capital Management.
MAI's next chapter started in 2017 with a partnership with Wealth Partners Capital Group, a Florida-based holding company. That alliance set the stage for a string of mergers and acquisitions across the country.
In 2020, MAI Capital Management launched MAI Sports + Entertainment to serve athletes and entertainment professionals. Galway Holdings, a financial services distribution company, then acquired MAI in 2021 to fuel national growth.
The pace picked up fast after that as MAI closed 20 acquisitions between early 2024 and February 2026 across the Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Appalachia. Among them were:
MAI Capital Management was also featured in InvestmentNews' Top Independent High-Net-Worth Advisors in the Midwest for 2025. This award is a merit-based ranking drawn from SEC filings, AUM data, and independent ownership criteria. MAI's inclusion puts the firm among the region's best.
MAI offers a full suite of wealth services built around a fiduciary, goals-based approach:
MAI Capital Management also assigns each client a personal team with access to its fully integrated platform. The firm pairs that hands-on service with a wide network of credentialed, in-house professionals.
MAI Capital Management builds its culture around three pillars:
Each one ties to how the company runs its business, from how it assigns client teams to how it funds employee education. MAI Capital Management's core values are:
The firm carries its culture and values into how it builds its teams. MAI Capital Management puts a high priority on hiring, developing, and keeping experienced staff. It backs that up with a range of employee benefits, which include:
MAI Capital Management also encourages employees to give back through time, money, or talent in their local areas. The firm partners with Believe in Dreams and Make-a-Wish Walk for Wishes as part of that effort. Staff across its 40 offices are also active at the board level of several nonprofit groups.
Rick Buoncore is chair and CEO of MAI Capital Management. He previously co-founded BC Investment Partners and held senior roles at Victory Capital Management, KeyCorp, and KPMG. Buoncore holds a BS in accounting from Fordham University and is a CPA.
Buoncore is supported by a leadership team that includes:
The leadership team spans wealth management, legal, operations, and finance. That spread gives MAI Capital Management the ability to manage client needs across multiple areas without outside help.
MAI is expanding its brand in the sports space through "The Pro's Pro," a monthly video podcast launched in January 2026. The show is hosted by Joe McLean, managing partner of MAI's Sports and Entertainment division, which serves over 570 athlete clients.
The first guest was two-time Super Bowl champion Eli Manning. The series gives MAI a new channel to build trust with current and future clients.
On the M&A side, MAI Capital Management acquired LOC Investment Advisers in February 2026, a West Virginia-based fee-only RIA founded in 1981. The deal added over 800 client households across 30 states to the firm's growing platform.
The RIA acquirer has also announced strategic hires for its business development team.
Co-founder Pat Collins tells InvestmentNews of his 'strong feeling' that a employee-owned approach will lead to better outcomes.
Kathreen Alcorn joins the Cleveland-based RIA's C-suite with over two decades of experience, including senior leadership at Nasdaq.
Also, MAI Capital and Carson Group have expanded their footprints in Florida, Ohio, and Illinois with new RIA partners
The two serial acquirers added new partners on separate sides of the map, including a $570 million Bay Area RIA and a $600 million planning-focused firm in Pennsylvania.
"We've seen two so far, and it feels like something that the industry has been talking about for years," Turkey Hill Management's Jessica Polito says following the recent Cresset-Monticello and MAI-Evoke Advisors mergers, which could be a sign of future consolidation among large RIAs.
The strategic merger of equals with the $27 billion RIA firm in Los Angeles marks what could be the largest unification of the summer 2025 M&A season.
The fintech firms' latest additions, including veterans from Bloomberg and JPMorgan, come amid rising demand for alternative assets in the retirement space.
Stan Gregor's acquisitive RIA firm expanded its reach in the South as a veteran advisor duo parted ways with Raymond James.
The two alts tech platforms are forging new alliances to support evolving portfolio construction and due diligence in private markets.
Office space stands out as the drag on REIT performance, while cell towers and data centers ride the technology wave.
InvestmentNews checks in with some of our favorite wealth managers for firsthand lessons on the benefits of a financial education.
MAI Capital Management boosts its athlete wealth services with Jon Hayes and Tim Hightower joining from the Cincinnati-based Constellation Sports Council.
Making your people a priority can be the difference between your practice being a success or failure.
There's been an emergence of buyers, backed with PE dollars, making repeated acquisitions.
