Bluespring, Crescent Grove bolster leadership ranks amid strategic growth efforts

Bluespring Wealth Partners and Crescent Grove Advisors have each announced senior-level additions aimed at bolstering strategic growth, practice management, and business development, signaling continued momentum for both wealth management firms.

Bluespring, an Austin, Texas-based firm that acquires independent RIAs and hybrid wealth management businesses, has added Graeme Lee as head of strategic growth.

In the newly created role announced Tuesday, Lee is tasked with overseeing organic growth initiatives, enhancing advisor experiences, and integrating resources from the broader Kestra ecosystem, which Bluespring is part of.

The company also named Jeremy Ransom and Jon Bartholomew as strategic relationship directors, while promoting a current team member, Josh Bartholomew, to head of business development.

Lee joins the firm with nearly two decades of wealth management experience. Prior to this role, he served as senior vice president and strategic wealth business line owner at LPL Financial, where he co-led the launch of its Strategic Wealth platform. Before that, he spent eight years leading business consulting at Kestra Financial.

Ransom will focus on operational planning and relationship management. He most recently led Ransom Capital Ventures and brings 17 years of experience in strategy and execution. Bartholomew previously held a regional director position in Dimensional Fund Advisors’ national accounts division. He has worked with RIAs to help scale their practices and improve efficiency.

Josh Bartholomew, now leading business development, will work alongside president Pradeep Jayaraman to continue the firm’s acquisition efforts among RIAs and hybrid firms. He previously held the role of vice president of corporate development.

The leadership moves follow the closing of two acquisitions during the first quarter – namely Reliant Wealth Planning in Kentucky and  Charter Capital Management in Wisconsin – continuing Bluespring’s growth-through-acquisition approach.

Change is also happening at the highest levels of the broader Kestra Financial organization, with John Amore taking over the role of president this month. Under that transition, announced in January, he succeeds Stephen Langlois, who will stay on as a senior advisor until his planned retirement the end of 2025.

Meanwhile, Crescent Grove Advisors has hired Adam Lieb as chief business development officer. Based in Lake Forest, Illinois, Lieb is charged with overseeing the firm’s client acquisition strategy and will collaborate closely with managing directors across offices in Milwaukee and Atlanta.

Crescent Grove is a boutique, employee-owned wealth management firm that serves ultra-high-net-worth families, individuals, and institutional clients including foundations and endowments. The firm manages more than $5 billion in assets.

Lieb brings more than 25 years of experience, including time as senior client strategist for global family office at BNY Wealth Management. He also spent over a decade at Fidelity Family Office Services – which Fidelity launched in 2010 to cater to individual families with at least $100 million in assets – where he was responsible for serving high-net-worth families and single-family offices in the Midwest. 

His earlier experience includes roles at Banc of America Investments, Wells Fargo, and Morgan Stanley.

In his new role, Lieb will also help expand the reach of Barrett Upton Capital Partners, a private markets platform established by Crescent Grove in 2023.