Former Cetera boss named new FolioDynamix president

Steve Dunlap, who previously ran the wealth management unit at Cetera Financial Group Inc., one of the largest independent brokerage firms, has taken the helm as president and chief operating officer of FolioDynamix Inc., a wealth management technology provider that offers advisers services such as portfolio accounting and performance analysis.

Mr. Dunlap is no stranger to the industry — aside from his time at Cetera, which recently spun off from its acquirer RCS Capital Corp., Mr. Dunlap served as chief executive of Lockwood Advisers Inc., as president of Pershing Managed Investments and built a startup called AnnuityNet, a platform for annuity transactions that was acquired by Ebix Inc.

The company is preparing its newest release of FolioDynamix 8.0, which will update its current platform with an investor portal for clients to monitor portfolios and collaborate with other advisers on investing strategies. The update is expected in the spring or summer of this year.

Mr. Dunlap, who was named to his new position on Tuesday, said the company is also looking into a robo-adviser strategy to build its business.

In an interview with InvestmentNews, Mr. Dunlap spoke about his career, his new plans and his outlook for the industry.

Q: How did you end up taking on a job at FolioDynamix?
A: My relationship with this company and FolioDynamix CEO Joe Mrak goes back to 2009. I was with Pershing running the investment side there, and we did a complete survey of every potential solution on the market. FolioDynamix was relatively new and not particularly well-known at the time, but it won that beauty contest hands down with its robustness and engineering.

When I went to run wealth management at Cetera, Cetera had already selected FolioDynamix. Joe and I got to be not only customer and vendor, but friends, and through good times and bad they always rose to the challenge. When the opportunity arose to come in and be a part of that experience, it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.

Q: What do you hope to accomplish?
A: One is positioning the company for rapid growth and high scalability. That is the big thing, positioning us for scale and building this company today for the company we’ll be in five years. You hear of companies where people say that the company grew too fast. There’s no such thing as companies that grew too fast but you can prepare for that growth. We will help our future clients ride this wave of digital disruption. Every firm is evaluating what is their digital strategy and how does it all fit. And they are looking for answers. We’re the answer.

Q: Talking about digital disruption, where do you see the industry’s technology now and how might it change?
A: A lot is happening, not just in our industry but in every industry. Customer expectations are changing. The expectation for how you interact with your wealth, whether you’re the investor or financial adviser, those expectations are going up, and, because of technology, certain tasks have been commoditized in the industry. Basic portfolio and asset allocation is something that more and more is becoming a commodity, and something that needs to be automated so that advisers can be efficient and scale their practice. I think that is an advantage that allows advisers to focus on the true value of their business, which is the human touch and dealing with customers and helping them understand health care costs in retirement, and how to put kids through school, and less so “do I need to rebalance your portfolio this quarter?”

Q: How does FolioDynamix fit into the digital disruption wave?
A: We have a new release, FolioDynamix 8.0, which is a massive investment of capital. The platform is largely focused on user experience. The trick is how do you take that user interface and the things you interact with and give the user the thing they need at their fingertips without confusing them with features that are more complex than they need. We are also investing in a robo-adviser strategy and that needs to be for broker-dealers, RIAs and firms that need to include robo-advisers. It is all about the digital evolution in the industry, but that includes end-investors interacting with their wealth more transparently. That helps [clients] collaborate with the adviser in modern ways and gives them the information they need at a time they need it. That is the stuff going on in our lab right now.

Q. How will your experience help your new role?
A: I have worked directly with firms providing wealth management on both the broker-dealers and TAMPs side and being able to bring that experience and the work behind those firms is a huge advantage. It is relatively unusual for executives to move between those types of firms. I have worked in entrepreneurial startups and large enterprises, so being able to put the experience together and leverage that to build something that really works for wealth management firms, that’s going to be a lot of fun.