Ritholtz Wealth Management hires its first company president

Ritholtz Wealth Management is advancing to the next level of an advisory firm’s evolution by hiring its first-ever company president to free up other executives and partners at the high-profile RIA to focus on clients, branding and marketing.

The $2.8 billion New York-based registered investment adviser announced Thursday that Jay Tini is leaving his position as divisional sales manager at Vanguard Group to step into the president’s role at Ritholtz on Jan. 1.

“We’ve grown in complexity and in scale to the point where all of us are very stretched in what we do, and we needed somebody to come in and take over the day-to-day management,” said Josh Brown, chief executive of the 9-year-old RIA that employs 53 people and serves 1,500 clients.

Tini, 43, will report to chairman and chief investment officer Barry Ritholtz and Brown, and he will support the other two founding partners, Kris Venne and Michael Batnick.

While the RIA is well-known for the blogs and podcasts produced by people across the firm, Brown said Tini will not be part of the content production.

“Jay is really here to make sure all the things we’re doing boil down to happy employees and client satisfaction,” Brown said. “That’s the thing I never wanted to lose sight of.”

Tini is still wrapping up his work at Vanguard, where he has worked for 11 years. Prior to that, he spent 10 years at AllianceBernstein, where he served as director of global asset management.

The fact that Tini is joining Ritholtz without having previously worked at an RIA isn't an issue, Brown said, because Tini is being hired for his management expertise.

“Jay is uniquely experienced and knowledgeable, having interacted with the best firms in America,” Brown said. “I know all the midsize and large RIAs in America, and they are founder-managed, for the most part. Most of them had no experience running a business prior.”

Brown’s point, that “management isn’t something an adviser is trained or suited for,” underscores his case that bringing in a non-RIA to run an RIA is a plus.

“That’s not a handicap, it’s refreshing to have someone on the other side of the table come in and bring a lot of things he’s learned,” Brown said. “We were not looking for an RIA to run the firm. We recognized we needed help and somebody internally we could trust. The timing really worked out on both sides.”

Brown, who described himself as a “youthful 45,” said the addition of Tini is not the start of a succession plan for any of the firm’s current executives.

Tini holds an MBA from Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business and a B.S. in Finance from Boston College.

He described his new employer as a “growing RIA that’s leading the way in every dimension of the industry.”

“I’ve known these guys since the founding of Ritholtz, and we’ve been close friends and they’ve been valued clients, from Vanguard’s perspective,” Tini said. ““This is fueling the next phase of growth, freeing up the four founders who have incredible competencies.”