Greg Cornick, former number two at Osaic, slides down the management pole

Osaic over five years ago hired Greg Cornick with much fanfare from rival LPL Financial, inserting him as the giant brokerage network’s number two executive, answering to CEO Jamie Price. 

Cornick’s job? The brand new position of president, advice and wealth management. At LPL, Cornick had been executive vice president, treasurer and head of corporate development and advisor financial solutions. 

Osaic, then dubbed Advisor Group, in March 2020 was riding high. In 2019, it had been acquired by Reverence Capital Partners, a private equity investor, and had just completed its acquisition of the Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc., with 4,400 financial advisors. 

The firm was in dire need of expanding its team of senior managers in the wake of the acquisition. Price needed a bigger bench of management talent to help run the firm after the merger, industry observers said.

According to the company in March 2020, Cornick’s role was to oversee the execution of the firm’s financial advisor-facing strategy, tactics and initiatives, with a focus on driving results and improving its competitive position. Recruiting and retaining financial advisors were Cornick’s focus, as well as working on mergers and acquisitions. Management teams from eight separate broker-dealers and registered investment advisors reported to him.

Fast forward five years to the summer of 2025, and it hasn’t gone Cornick’s way at Osaic, which now has 11,600 financial advisors and more than $650 billion in client assets.

In the winter, his job title was reduced from president to executive vice president, advice and wealth management. This month, his title was trimmed again, and he’s now executive vice president, wealth management solutions.

“That means he has no financial advisor-facing responsibilities,” said one senior industry executive, who spoke confidentially to InvestmentNews about the matter. “Instead, he has oversight of Osaic’s central wealth management platform.”

“In his new capacity, Greg will leverage the experience and insights gained over the past five years as EVP, advice and wealth management to advance existing advisor and on-platform asset growth through an expanded, comprehensive wealth strategy,” a company spokesperson wrote in an email. “Given Greg’s experience and expertise, we are confident that this new role will bring meaningful benefits to our affiliated advisors and their clients.”

Cornick’s road from president, advice and wealth management to executive vice president, wealth management solutions, has hit some potholes.

The biggest among them perhaps is the firm’s decision in June 2023 to consolidate and rebrand, dropping Advisor Group for Osaic, and dubbed the journey to one.

Cornick was essential in creating and implanting the consolidation of Osaic’s giant broker-dealer and RIA network under one brand and platform. Some Osaic advisors have embraced the new name and consolidation, while others have voted with their feet and moved to rival broker-dealers, including Cornick’s old firm LPL Financial.

Through the first week of June, Osaic saw the second largest net loss or attrition of financial advisors, 186, among leading financial advice firms this year, second only to Bank of America, according to a tally by Wolfe Research.

And recent transactions have also raised questions for Osaic and its leadership.

In June, Boston-based RIA CW Advisors, with $13.5 billion in fee assets, said it had agreed to be acquired by Osaic, which did not release term of the acquisition.

Days later, Osaic rival Cambridge Investment Research Inc. said it had signed up a huge office formerly affiliated with Osaic, Ameriflex Group Inc., with $11.9 billion in customer assets and 129 advisors, in an agreement that was not an acquisition. Cambridge will work as Ameriflex’s broker-dealer platform.

“A firm buys assets and then loses assets,” said the senior industry executive. “That’s a danger of turning into a net zero.”