Office address: 1200 17th St., Suite 1700, Denver, CO 80202
Website: merceradvisors.com
Year established: 1985
Company type: financial services
Employees: 1,530+ (2025)
Expertise: financial planning, investment management, tax planning and preparation, estate planning, insurance solutions, trustee services, retirement planning, family office services, private markets investing, wealth management
Parent company: Oak Hill Capital, Altas Partners, and Genstar Capital (majority owners)
Key people: Dave Welling (CEO), Daniel Gourvitch (president), Christine Cataldo (chief technology and digital officer), Donald Calcagni (chief investment officer), Elizabeth Hioe (chief people officer), Loren Pierson (COO), Kim Lorenz (chief compliance officer)
Financing status: private equity-backed
Mercer Advisors is a registered investment advisor (RIA) based in Denver that offers wealth management services nationwide. The company brings together financial planning, tax, estate, insurance, and investment services through a single team. It oversees $95 billion in assets and operates more than 110 offices across the US as of November 2025.
Mercer Advisors started in 1985 in Santa Barbara when Kendrick Mercer, a tax and estate attorney, founded the firm with a clear mission. He wanted families to achieve financial freedom and work because they chose to, not because they had to. The company first served self-employed dentists before widening its client base.
The firm gained traction quickly in its first few years. By 1989, Mercer Advisory was managing $245 million in client assets. The company rebranded to Mercer Global Advisors to match its rapid rise. By 2007, it had grown to over 3,300 clients and nearly $4 billion in AUM.
A turning point came in 2015 when private equity firm Genstar Capital took a majority stake. Two years later, Mercer Advisors made mergers and acquisitions its primary growth strategy.
Oak Hill Capital joined the ownership group in 2019, with Altas Partners coming in after. As of 2024, the company had completed 96 acquisitions across the country.
The acquisition pace has not slowed down since. In 2025, Mercer Advisors acquired Beach Freeman Lim & Cleland, a Southern California tax firm with 20 professionals. This deal marked its first acquisition of a tax-focused RIA.
The company kicked off 2026 by adding Long Run Wealth Advisors, a Lake Placid firm managing about $640 million. This deal expanded its footprint across upstate New York and Vermont. Today, Mercer Advisors stands as one of the largest RIAs in the US.
Mercer Advisors brings together financial planning, tax, estate, insurance, and investment services under one team:
Mercer Advisors also offers Aspen Investing, a proprietary platform that delivers institutional-grade portfolios to clients. Aspen Partners gives families access to private market investments typically reserved for large institutions.
According to the firm, its mission is helping clients not worry about money. Employees become part of a team working toward what Mercer Advisors calls "Economic Freedom".
The company states that its commitment to service applies to employees as well as clients. Its total rewards package includes:
The firm also reports that 50 percent of its workforce and client-facing staff are women. Mercer Advisors offers flexible work arrangements to hire talent from across the country.
Dave Welling serves as Mercer Advisors' CEO and brings more than 25 years of experience in wealth management. He previously worked as co-GM at SS&C Advent and GM at Black Diamond Performance Reporting. Welling earned his MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BA from Middlebury College.
Several other leaders help guide the company's strategy and day-to-day operations:
Mercer Advisors operates as an independent fiduciary with no ties to banks, broker-dealers, or insurers. As a result, CEO Welling has stated that acting in clients' best interests is part of the firm's DNA.
Mercer has surpassed 100 acquisitions since 2016 and currently has one of its largest deal pipelines. Its principal M&A partner development, Martine Lellis, sat down with InvestmentNews and said that Mercer Advisors uses an integrator model to fully merge acquired practices into its platform. With wealth management M&A continuing at record pace, it is well-positioned to keep growing its national reach.
Apart from acquisitions, the company is seeing rapid growth in its ultra-high-net-worth division. Mercer Advisors reports that Regis Group, its UHNW arm, now manages $20 billion and grows over 20 percent each year. This includes the recent addition of Singer Burke, an LA tax firm that expands the company's reach into Hollywood.
The new practice from the mega-RIA will focus on serving female-led households as McKinsey projects women to control $34 trillion by 2030.
RIAs deepen expansion strategies through market leadership hires and new enterprise growth roles.
Jump and Avantos each raised big funding rounds this week, marketing themselves as “AI-native operating systems” for advisors at top RIAs and custodians—counting Mercer, Merit, Focus Financial Partners, SEI and Vanguard as early adopters.
Abby Salameh will lead Mercer's New Jersey and greater Philadelphia markets, while Chris Walters will oversee the San Diego market.
January is typically a big month for divorces after the holiday season. That makes February an imperative time for newly uncoupled clients to get their finances straight.
Also, Mercer Advisors taps an LPL alum to lead the evolution of its investment platform, while Mission Wealth extends its footprint in Colorado.
RIA deal volume hits new high as aging advisors, PE capital and client demands fuel consolidation.
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.
Meanwhile, Integrated Partners deepened its presence further in Connecticut, and Cerity Partners executed a merger of its own in the Lone Star State.
Mercer and Wealth Enhancement will receive client referrals from Goldman Sachs Ayco, which was previously led by Hightower Advisors CEO Larry Restieri.
Elsewhere, mega-RIA Mercer Advisors expanded in Idaho with a female-led boutique firm, while AssetMark adds another $3 billion in client assets.
Mercer also expanded in Portland with Thompson Advisory’s $260 million book, while Waverly picks up a $257 million Pennsylvania shop.
The mega-RIA and serial consolidator now has more than $131 billion in assets as it adds a veteran-led practice in the Midwest.
Mega-RIA Creative Planning and Chicago-based Waverly have also gained additional scale with hefty acquisitions.
Creative Planning's subsidiary United Capital has also landed a $4 billion planning firm, while a $1 billion-plus firm joins LA-headquartered Lido Advisors in the East Coast.
