&Partners caps July recruitment with $1.8 billion Mississippi group from Wells Fargo

&Partners has added another sizable team to its advisor roster, welcoming a Meridian, Mississippi-based practice arriving with $1.8 billion in prehire assets under management from Wells Fargo.

The 32 North Wealth &Partners team is led by founders Wade Sims, Alan Lamar, Bob Coffin, and Trey Hannah.

Sims and Coffin each arrive with nearly four decades of experience, according to their BrokerCheck records with FINRA. Sims began his career with Merrill in 1986, while Coffin's path through the industry started at Merrill and included a stop at AG Edwards.

The former Wells Fargo advisors are joined by a four-person support staff: Jane Collins and Margie Smith, both senior client experience associates; Rita McMuller, senior client service associate; and Lexi McRae, client service associate.

The addition marks the 121st advisor practice to join &Partners since the hybrid RIA's founding, and the fourth team to come aboard in July alone, according to the firm's announcement.

The 32 North addition continues a stretch of rapid growth for &Partners, the hybrid RIA co-founded by former Wells Fargo executive David Kowach. Earlier last month, the firm brought on Foothills Legacy Wealth Management, a seven-person Upstate New York practice with $864 million in prehire assets, in a deal that extended a recruiting run built on Wells Fargo departures.

Days later, &Partners expanded into the Pacific Northwest by adding Fisette & Kim Financial Services, an Issaquah, Washington, team that arrived from Raymond James Financial Services with $524 million in assets.

As of June 30, the firm reported 117 advisor practices and roughly $58 billion in combined assets under management.

&Partners has now hoovered up scores of breakaway teams from firms including Wells Fargo, Edward Jones, UBS and Merrill Lynch since it launched in 2023, when Kowach and his co-founders set a goal of recruiting 100 "top performing Advisor Partner teams." The firm crossed that milestone in just over two years.

The hybrid RIA's recruiting strategy is tied to a finite pool of equity. The firm has capped its equity distribution at 40 million shares, a limit designed to support growth to roughly $120 billion in assets under management before it shifts toward cash-based recruiting.

Co-founder Kristi Mitchem has said that once that threshold is reached, the firm intends for its advisors to hold the largest ownership stake in the business.

"When we complete our five-year plan and we've recruited the advisors we want to recruit, advisors will be the single most significant group of shareholders within our firm," Mitchem previously told InvestmentNews.

Beyond current wealth professionals, Mitchem has flagged colleges and universites as a critical source of talent to help flll the financial advisor gap for women clients.

“We have seen the number of planning and financial advice programs offered at educational and academic institutions increase over the last several years,” Mitchem said in a March interview. “It's grown about threefold, but there still are very few universities and colleges which offer an educational platform for people that are going to be seeking a career in financial services.”