Osaic names new CMO and Empowered Independence head

Osaic has hired two senior executives from outside its ranks to lead marketing and its employee-advisor channel, marking the latest additions to a leadership team that lost several top officers earlier this year.

Manish Shrivastava, who spent 12 years as chief marketing officer of homebuilder PulteGroup, is joining the broker-dealer network as chief marketing officer, according to a Thursday announcement.

A separate announcement said Tom Metzger, most recently head of private wealth at Citizens Financial, is coming over to run Empowered Independence, the W-2 affiliation model Osaic has been pitching to established advisory teams weighing succession.

Metzger is taking over the role from Cindy Hamel, who has led the channel through a busy stretch of team transitions. Having previously played a central role in the firm’s acquisitions and its Journey to One consolidation, Hamel is being reappointed as head of business operations and execution, charged with converting Osaic’s strategy into an operating plan and keeping its advisor-facing teams aligned.

A consumer marketer for the advisor market

Shrivastava, who will work from Atlanta, comes to Osaic as an outsider making his first foray into the wealth business. Before PulteGroup, he held leadership posts at Coca-Cola, Home Depot and Procter & Gamble.

At Osaic he will oversee brand, communications, growth marketing and go-to-market work, with two goals: drawing more advisors to the platform and helping those already there win and keep clients.

“Osaic has a compelling opportunity to build on its distinctive position in wealth management and create meaningful connections with the financial professionals it serves,” Shrivastava said.

Osaic's last big, hairy, audacious marketing effort was rebranding from its previous identity as Advisor Group. That was led by Jen Roche, former executive vice president of marketing and communications, who left the firm to join LPL in August 2024.

At Citizens, Metzger helped build a national wealth platform with approximately $30 billion in client assets, 18 advisory teams and more than 200 professionals. He earlier held leadership jobs at First Republic Bank, Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase. Based in San Francisco, he will focus on attracting high-performing advisors and managing their transitions.

Osaic's Empowered Independence channel has been adding sizable practices. Bard Financial Services, a $1.2 billion firm, moved into the W-2 model in February, and Gateway Investments and Pointes North Wealth Management together added more than $2 billion in assets to the channel in April alone.

“Empowered Independence represents an important area of growth for Osaic, and Tom brings the strategic perspective and leadership needed to build on the channel’s momentum while expanding the opportunities and support available to advisors,” said Shannon Reid, Osaic’s president and head of advisor growth and engagement.

Reid, a Raymond James veteran hired at the end of last year as the No. 2 to Chief Executive Jamie Price, has been at the center of a reshuffle. Industry executives have told InvestmentNews that her arrival blocked the advancement of Dimple Shah, executive vice president of strategy and client experience, who left in May and later joined AI managed service provider Humanity Labs.

Read more: Wealth management star Dimple Shah joins Humanity Labs to help drive AI push

Weeks after Shah's exit, Kristen Kimmell, the executive vice president of business development who oversaw recruiting, departed and rejoined RBC Wealth Management as West divisional director.

In July, Osaic confirmed that Chief Financial Officer Kristy Britt and Greg Cornick, executive vice president of wealth management solutions, were also leaving.