Kestra continues to nab recruiters from inside LPL

Kestra Financial said on Tuesday it had recently hired two more recruiters from Commonwealth Financial Network, which LPL Financial Holdings Inc. acquired last year for $2.7 billion in cash. 

Dave Sawan and Doug Wallace have been hired by Kestra as business development consultants as the firm continues to increase its recruiting of financial advisors across the Midwest, Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Southeast.

Sawan worked at Commonwealth Financial Network from 2011 to this March. Wallace also worked at Commonwealth, from 2021 to the end of last year. He joined Kestra at the start of the year.

InvestmentNews reported in February that Kestra was beefing up its group of recruiters, with industry watchers divided whether such hires indicated Kestra was focusing on a potential sale of the firm. An industry spokesperson at the time said the firm did not comment on market speculation.

According to its website, Kestra Financial has more than 1,300 financial advisors working across its platform and $142 billion in total assets.

One industry consultant this year reported that Kestra was a top destination for financial advisors leaving Commonwealth after the sale to LPL was announced a year ago.

A report in January from AdvizorPro and Muriel Consulting showed that 653 advisors left Commonwealth since the firm announced its sale to LPL at the end of March 2025. Kestra last year recruited close to 130 Commonwealth advisors, according to that report.

Commonwealth had close to 3,000 financial advisors under its roof when LPL said it was buying the firm. Ever since, the competition for those advisors has been fierce as the average Commonwealth financial advisor produced in the neighborhood of $1 million in annual revenues, a high total for a non-wirehouse advisor.  

Against the backdrop of a successful recruiting effort last year, Kestra has been revamping its lineup of recruiters.

Last June, Kestra Financial internally promoted James Collins, at the time senior vice president, business development, to executive vice president, business development.

InvestmentNews reported earlier this year that Kestra had been picking up recruiters from LPL Financial, the largest broker-dealer in terms of headcount with 33,000 financial advisors on its platform and a recruiting powerhouse.

Kestra in January hired Austin Shives, formerly of LPL Financial, as vice president, business development based in Tampa, Fla. In February, it hired Benjamin Marks, who worked for LPL in Milwaukee, with the title vice president, business development consultant.

An LPL spokesperson on Tuesday declined to comment.

“As the quality and scale of our advisor community accelerates, we are equally focused on expanding the team that supports that growth,”  Collins from Kestra said in a statement. “Ben, Dave, Austin, and Doug each bring meaningful recruiting expertise, strong advisor relationships, and a deep understanding of the independent model.”

“We’re seeing sustained interest from entrepreneurial, high-performing advisors who are thoughtfully evaluating their long-term partnerships,” Collins said.

Kestra Holdings a year ago announced the completion of its acquisition by funds managed by Stone Point Capital, a private equity firm focused on global financial services and related industries, replacing funds managed by Warburg Pincus, the company’s former majority owner. 

Warburg Pincus in 2019 bought Kestra from Stone Point, so last year's transaction was a mirror image of the earlier deal. 

Private equity firm Oak Hill Capital remained a minority owner.