Cetera taps Todd Mackay as president of Cetera Solutions

Change is afoot at the upper leadership levels of Cetera as the wealth giant makes a major promotion.

On Tuesday, Cetera Financial Group announced that it has appointed Avantax President Todd Mackay as president of Cetera Solutions.

The promotion comes just 11 months after Cetera revealed its $1.2 billion deal to acquire Avantax and its fleet of nearly 3,100 tax-focused financial advisors last September.

In his new role, Mackay will be responsible for overseeing Cetera’s platform strategy, guiding advice delivery, and leading growth initiatives across the organization. His duties will include oversight of digital and investment products for both Cetera advisors and their clients, according to the firm.

The move will also see Mackay officially join Cetera’s executive leadership team.

"Todd is an established and talented leader whose vision will help propel Cetera through its next growth phase in service to our financial professionals and their clients," Mike Durbin, CEO of Cetera Holdings, said in a statement Wednesday.

"In his years at Avantax, he has proven his unique ability to connect with the Avantax community and strategically lead the organization through instrumental change," Durbin said.

Mackay played a pivotal role in driving significant growth at Avantax, which saw record levels in recruited advisors and asset flows under his leadership. He was also credited with creating new growth initiatives, including sales enablement programs and the development of affiliation and succession models through Avantax Planning Partners.

While Avantax as an organization has built a sterling reputation on its tax prowess, Mackay has gone on the record to underscore the importance of going beyond the cold, hard math of tax optimization when it comes to wealth management.

“It can’t be said often enough – wealth management is a relationship business,” Mackay told InvestmentNews in a February interview. “And when you ask advisors what they want the most, their first answer always is ‘more time with clients.’

Andy Watts will step into Mackay’s previous role, leading Cetera’s tax channel and managing the combined community of more than 4,000 financial professionals across Avantax and Cetera Financial Specialists.

Ron Krueger will continue to oversee the Cetera Financial Specialists community.

Reflecting on his time at Avantax, Mackay said, "It’s been a true honor leading Avantax, and I’m incredibly proud of the growth and accomplishments the Avantax Community achieved thanks to our amazing financial professionals and our devoted Home Office team.”

He remained mindful of “the many relationships created over the years” as he vowed to keep working with Avantax amid his pivotal transition to higher leadership at Cetera.

Operations at the Avantax and Cetera Financial Specialists home offices in Dallas and Schaumburg, Illinois will remain unchanged, Cetera said.