Advisor Group hires Dynasty co-founder Ed Swenson to lead RIA channel

Advisor Group has hired Dynasty Financial Partners co-founder Ed Swenson to oversee the broker-dealer network’s forthcoming RIA channel strategy, the firm announced Monday.

In the new role of president of Advisor Group RIA Solutions, Swenson will also be responsible for the development of an RIA platform for fee-based advisors, the company said.

The strategy comes as the private equity-owned firm recently announced a year-and-a-half-long project to move its eight independent broker-dealers and 11,000 advisors under a single, yet-to-be-named new brand. The firm is also likely considering an initial public offering in the near future. Building up its RIA business would almost certainly help its valuation — RIAs have been attracting higher earnings multiples, in no small part because the fee-based model has led to more business and higher profitability across the industry.

"I'm excited to join Advisor Group at this pivotal point in their history," Swenson said in the announcement. "I look forward to joining them and building something new in the RIA space. Together, we will develop an industry-leading corporate platform for fee-based advisors and will deliver world-class RIA solutions and capabilities that enable an elevated advisor and client experience and greater growth opportunities."

As InvestmentNews’ senior columnist Bruce Kelly recently wrote, the independent broker-dealer market has a big incentive to focus on the RIA side of business, in order to be perceived as more of an RIA than a B-D, and thus command higher valuations. That trend was evident in Cetera Holdings’ hiring last month of former Fidelity Institutional president Mike Durbin, Kelly noted.

At Advisor Group, Swenson will report to CEO Jamie Price and Greg Cornick, president of advice and wealth management, “collaborat[ing] across the entire enterprise to create a strategic vision that expands Advisor Group's addressable market; champions the RIA model; enhances the firm's value proposition to this important channel and accelerates growth,” the company stated.

At Dynasty, Swenson most recently served as head of operations, technology, investments, turnkey asset management programs and human resources. Prior to co-founding the firm, he was a portfolio manager and analyst at Legg Mason.

“Ed Swenson has made a great contribution to Dynasty from the early days. We are appreciative of his contributions and wish him all the best on his next chapter,” a Dynasty spokesperson said in an email. “We are also excited that with our growth and success comes more opportunity for our internal stars to step up and take on more responsibility while also allowing us to bring fresh talent and perspective into Dynasty to help us scale and grow the business to the next level.”

Dynasty is now in the process of interviewing both internal and external candidates for chief operating officer, the spokesperson said. Additionally, Jamie Gardiner, who had been head of sales for the firm's Advisor Services Exchange, is now director of that initiative.

As part of the rebranding underway at Advisor Group, the firm is also undergoing “an organizational realignment” to focus on channel development. The three channels include independent, RIA solutions and financial institutions, the firm stated. Swenson’s hiring means each of those channels has a leader in place, with Erinn Ford, executive vice president of advisor engagement, leading the independent channel and Infinex president Steve Amarante in charge of financial institutions.

[More: Advisor Group’s Jamie Price talks about the firm’s rebranding]