Office address: 5700 W. 112th St., Suite 200, Overland Park, KS 66211
Website: marinerwealthadvisors.com
Year established: 2006
Company type: financial services
Employees: 2,000+
Expertise: tax planning and preparation, estate planning, executive financial planning, wealth planning, investment management, trust services, insurance solutions, retirement planning, institutional cash management
Parent company: founder-owned through 1248 Holdings, LLC
Key people: Marty Bicknell (CEO), Cheryl Bicknell (COO), Jeff Poe (CFO), Katrina Radenberg (CIO), William Greiner (chief economist), Jeff Krumpelman (chief investment strategist), Tony Roberts (head of wealth management)
Financing status: private equity-backed
Mariner Wealth Advisors is one of the largest independent registered investment advisors in the US. The firm is based in Overland Park and advises on over $577 billion in assets as of 2025. Its in-house teams handle wealth planning, tax preparation, estate planning, and more.
Mariner Wealth Advisors got its start in 2006 when Marty Bicknell left a large national firm after 16 years. Bicknell brought together a small team of eight people who shared a common goal. They wanted to build a firm that put clients first and made them proud.
The 2008 financial crisis tested many organizations, but the company saw a different outcome. Top advisors joined Mariner because they were unhappy with how their employers handled the downturn.
This wave of talent helped double the firm's growth in just one year. In 2009, it launched a charitable arm funded by employee donations and company matching.
The company made its first major acquisition outside Kansas City in 2012, which opened doors to the investment banking world. By 2018, it introduced the One Mariner mindset to bring all its sub-brands under a single identity.
This shift kicked off a nationwide push to acquire advisory firms that shared its client-first vision. Two years later, it rolled out an independent platform to support outside advisors and their clients.
The firm hit a major milestone in 2023 when it surpassed 100 office locations across the country. In 2025, Mariner partnered with Flourish, a wealthtech platform, to offer cash management tools for ultra-high-net-worth clients.
Mariner Wealth Advisors kicked off 2026 with a double deal that added $1.8 billion in assets. These acquisitions of First National Advisors in Massachusetts and Strava Wealth in Pittsburgh expanded its East Coast presence.
The company offers a range of financial services through its in-house teams:
The firm also works with specialized client groups such as executives, business owners, and professional athletes. Its advisors serve medical and dental professionals with strategies built around practice ownership.
According to Mariner Wealth Advisors, its culture centers on teamwork and doing big things for clients. The firm also says it values inclusion, where all voices matter and diverse views are welcome. Its core values are:
Beyond its values, the company says it recognizes the hard work and unique skills of its team. It offers a mix of employee benefits to show appreciation:
The firm also emphasizes belonging as part of its workplace approach. Led by CEO Marty Bicknell, the company says it supports inclusion and invests in communities through the Mariner Foundation.
Marty Bicknell leads as CEO and president. Bicknell holds a bachelor's degree from Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg.
A group of senior leaders supports Bicknell in running the company's operations and strategy:
The company's leadership team works together on tax, estate, and investment planning. This approach helps the firm deliver unified solutions for its wealth management clients.
In 2025, Mariner reached a $25.5 million settlement over past employment practices. The case alleged that Mariner, along with investment management firm American Century, suppressed wages by limiting competition for staff between 2014 and 2018. Both firms had earlier signed a non-prosecution agreement with the Justice Department and set aside $1 million for affected workers.
On the growth side, the company added a 12-person team from Northwestern Mutual to its independent channel in early 2026. Alinity Wealth Management, a Baton Rouge-based RIA, joined Mariner Independent for access to planning, tax, and technology resources. The move is part of a broader push that has grown the channel to over 1,000 advisors and $45 billion in client assets.
Entertainment and tax are among the additional expertise acquired by RIAs, with two deals in California and one in New Mexico.
Meanwhile, a Osaic and Envestnet ink a new adaptive wealthtech partnership to better support the firm's 10,000-plus advisors, and RIA-focused VastAdvisor unveils native integrations with leading CRMs.
Orion CEO Natalie Wolfsen says artificial intelligence could double the number of Americans receiving financial advice as RIAs deploy AI to boost advisor productivity
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 combined platform unifies Avantax Planning Partners and The Retirement Planning Group, giving over 100 employee advisors access to in-house specialists across tax, estate planning, and insurance.
Meanwhile, Waverly has entered Louisiana with a new $3.1 billion partner, and Carson absorbs a decade-long coaching partner in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
“The market is already off to its fastest start ever,” says DeVoe & Company, in its latest RIA M&A Deal Book.
Mariner Advisor Network was targeted to recruit and hire independent advisors.
Independent RIAs have become the fastest-growing advisor channel as consolidators, equity incentives, and tax-efficient deal structures reshape recruiting – and expose growing tensions around career paths, ownership, and scale.
It’s all about the persona, when it comes to marketing to athletes and entertainers, says new research.
Meanwhile, Mariner makes a strategic expansion into property and casualty insurance, and Wealth Enhancement plants its first stake in Kansas with a $1.2 billion advisor team.
Mariner “willfully and maliciously misappropriated the book of business” of advisor James Hyre, a new lawsuit alleges.
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.
With a goal of hitting $250 billion in assets by 2035, the wealth platform is betting on leadership steeped in advisor transitions and full-service wealth management.
The deal adds Verus’s $1.2 trillion institutional advisory footprint into Cerity, an RIA that manages roughly $150 billion in existing assets including $8.5 billion tied to its family office division.
