Sierra Ridge Advisor Group, a California-based investment practice overseeing approximately $2.1 billion in assets under administration, is leaving LPL for Cetera, marking the latest in a string of advisor moves toward the San Diego-based firm this year.
Co-founders James Slaughter and Giancarlo Foti will bring roughly 40 affiliated advisors into Cetera Networks, part of Cetera's Large Enterprise channel, according to an announcement from Cetera on Monday.
Sierra Ridge currently operates six offices across California, Missouri, Oregon and Wisconsin, and plans to add locations in the Midwest and on the East Coast as part of a broader national expansion.
It was something of an easy-come, easy-go recruitment move for LPL, who according to the announcement as well as Slaughter and Foti's own BrokerCheck records had only been affiliated with the behemoth broker-dealer for just over a year.
Slaughter and Foti had been with LPL for only 13 months before deciding Cetera offered a better platform for the firm's next stage of growth, according to the release. Foti said the pair wanted a partner with an open-architecture model that wouldn't restrict how Sierra Ridge serves its advisors.
"We made a change because we believe that Cetera is the partner that will help us to continue to grow and provide open architecture for our advisors without limiting us, while positioning us for continued success," Foti said in the release.
He added that Cetera's GrowthLine platform stood out during due diligence because it complements the marketing services Sierra Ridge already offers its advisors.
Slaughter framed the move as a response to advisors who feel underserved by their current broker-dealer or office of supervisory jurisdiction, or OSJ. "I know there are so many outstanding advisors who want to grow their practices while being client-focused but they're not getting what they need from their broker-dealer or OSJ, and honestly, they feel abandoned on an island," Slaughter said in the release.
Tim Stinson, president of Cetera's Large Enterprise channel, welcomed the addition. "James and Giancarlo have already accomplished remarkable things, not only in the size and scale of Sierra Ridge Advisor Group, but in the truly special services they provide advisors, including their hands-on transition team," Stinson said.
Sierra Ridge's move follows a separate transition in which Severn Wealth Management, an Annapolis, Maryland-based advisory practice with approximately $160 million in assets under administration, left Commonwealth last week for Cetera's Summit Financial Networks channel. Advisor Brian Phipps, part of the four-person Severn team, said the move goes beyond a simple switch from one independent broker dealer platform to another but about "establishing a long-term relationship with a partner that's going to help us grow.".
Since Commonwealth's industry-shaking acquisition by LPL last year, reterntion has proven to be a bit of a challenge for LPL. While the firm has held out a 90% retention target for itself, recent industry data suggests the firm has fallen well short of that goal as measured by advisor headcount.
Cetera's Blueprint platform, which the company describes as delivering RIA-level autonomy and multi-custodial flexibility, has drawn other sizable teams in recent months. Earlier this month, iTP Partners, an advisory practice with roughly $3.5 billion in assets under administration across nearly 50 financial advisors, joined Cetera from Osaic and launched its own RIA, Blue Horizon Equity, on Blueprint.
In April, Cetera announced the formation of Cetera Planning Partners, a nearly $19 billion national RIA combining Avantax Planning Partners and The Retirement Planning Group. That was held out as a unique employee-advisor community within Cetera's RIA and Branches channel.
Sierra Ridge said it plans to run a hybrid model, maintaining flexibility between brokerage and advisory business as it scales.
"We're excited to join Cetera because while other broker-dealers are leaning away from supporting OSJs, Cetera is clearly leaning in with more investments to support the OSJ business model," Slaughter said.
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