Choreo adds Edelman alum Erik Merkau as chief wealth advisory officer

Choreo has hired longtime wealth management executive Erik Merkau as chief wealth advisory officer, continuing a C-suite buildout led by former Edelman Financial Engines leaders as the Chicago-based RIA leans into tax-centric planning for affluent clients.

In the newly created C-suite role, Merkau will report to chief executive Jason Van de Loo and oversee advisor development and execution across Choreo’s national advisory teams. His remit includes expanding the firm’s advanced planning capabilities, portfolio management solutions, practice management framework and integrated private client services platform.

Van de Loo framed the hire as part of an effort to refine how Choreo serves what it calls “builders” – business owners and families with complex financial lives.

In a Thursday morning statement, he said Merkau’s experience leading large advisory organizations positions him to help the firm “raise the bar for how advisors serve builders and deliver coordinated guidance across tax, estate planning and business transition strategies.”

Merkau brings more than 20 years of leadership experience across the RIA, broker-dealer and broader wealth management space, with previous senior roles at Edelman Financial Engines, JPMorgan Chase, Scottrade, TD Ameritrade and Wells Fargo.

He most recently served for two years from May 2022 until September 2024 as head of client strategy and execution at Edelman, according to his LinkedIn profile.

In the announcement, Merkau highlighted Choreo’s "clear commitment to operating at the intersection of tax strategy and wealth planning,” he said, adding that the firm’s platform is designed for advisors who want to deliver coordinated guidance across estate planning, tax management and business transition needs.

Last July, Choreo tapped Van de Loo – who was previously the head of wealth management at Edelman Financial Engines – as CEO, with a mandate to scale its tax-centric offering for high-net-worth clients and expand both organically and through partnerships.

It was shortly after that Choreo appointed another Edelman alum, Keith Kotfica, as chief growth officer to spearhead the Choreo Partner Alliance, its CPA referral network.

Earlier last year in February, it announced Shelley Smith as its chief human resources officer, a newly created role focused on fostering career development and education initiatives for the hundreds of advisors and staff at Choreo. 

Originally launched more than two decades ago as a subsidiary of a large CPA and professional services firm, Choreo now serves over 7,000 clients and oversees about $27.2 billion in assets under management and advisement as of December 2024. 

(Author's note: The story has been updated to remove an executive appointment incorrectly attributed to Choreo.)