Beacon Pointe taps BlackRock, Vanguard vets in C-suite expansion

Beacon Pointe has given two women leaders a seat at the table of its leadership, announcing new C-suite positions as the firm looks to continue what's been one of the more notable growth stories in the RIA industry over the past several years.

Beacon Pointe Advisors has named Katie Cullen as chief growth and integration officer and Sarah Green as chief risk and compliance officer, two new roles that the company said would help it "build upon existing growth plans with discipline and the right risk, compliance, and regulatory guardrails to scale responsibly."

Matthew Cooper, Beacon Pointe's chief executive, said Cullen and Green were selected "through a thoughtful and rigorous process to identify the very best candidates.

"Our goal is to build a world-class team with A+ players in every seat, and I believe Sarah and Katie are exactly that," Cooper said in a written statement.

Cooper took on the chief executive position in February, taking over from co-founder Shannon Eusey who stepped back into a less involved role as board chair.

Cullen will work across Beacon Pointe's practice management, M&A and strategic integration teams, an area of the business that has been especially active as it continues to pursue inorganic growth through strategic tuck-ins. 

Read more: RIA moves: Beacon Pointe tops $4B in New England with latest female-founded partner firm

She joins from BlackRock Business Consulting, where she advised financial services executives and growth-focused advisors on strategy and business performance. Earlier in her career, she held senior strategy and innovation roles in the RIA industry and at Schwab Advisor Services, and she spent 11 years as a U.S. Army Reserve logistics officer.

"Beacon Pointe has built an extraordinary business, distinguished by its people, culture, and unwavering commitment to clients," Cullen said. "I am excited to join the team at a time when there are so many significant opportunities to build on this legacy of success."

Beacon Pointe's dealmaking pace has drawn attention from industry trackers. ECHELON Partners' 2025 RIA M&A Deal Report placed Beacon Pointe among the most active acquirers in the wealth management industry last year, counting 12 transactions with a combined $6.8 billion in acquired assets. That included a particularly strong stretch in July 2025 that saw six Beacon Pointe acquisitions that added $2.7 billion in assets under management.

More recent monitoring by Fidelity established Beacon Pointe as the second-most active acquirer in the first half of this year with eight deals, just behind Savant Wealth Management's six-month run of nine acquisitons.

Read more: Acquired RIA assets nearly doubled in 2026, Fidelity finds

Green arrives with stripes from some of the industry's most prominent regulatory posts. She most recently served as Vanguard's global head of financial crimes and code of conduct, overseeing programs covering know-your-customer rules, anti-money-laundering controls and trade surveillance. Before that, she led FINRA's dedicated AML examination unit and held several roles at the Securities and Exchange Commission, managing examination programs for broker-dealers and working on enforcement matters.

"Beacon Pointe recognizes the value of growing its compliance and risk program alongside its expanding business," Green said. "Rather than thinking of compliance and risk as loss leaders, Beacon Pointe sees them as integral to the strength and sustainable growth of its advisory business."