DeVoe & Company has appointed Gordon Ross as its new president, a leadership shift the firm says is intended to support the continued expansion of its consulting and M&A advisory services for RIAs.
Ross, who previously served as chief client officer at Dynasty Financial Partners, is stepping into a role that includes oversight of day-to-day operations and execution of the firm’s strategic growth initiatives. He reports directly to founder and chief executive David DeVoe.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Gordon to DeVoe & Company,” DeVoe said in announcing the move. “His deep expertise in the RIA space, combined with his client-first mindset and operational leadership, makes him an ideal fit as we scale to meet the increasing number of firms that seek our services.”
Ross joins at a time of accelerating consolidation across the independent wealth management industry. DeVoe & Company tracked 272 M&A transactions in 2024 – surpassing all previous annual records – and another 75 deals in the first quarter of 2025, the most active Q1 ever recorded.
Large sellers, defined as firms with $1 billion to $5 billion in assets, comprised one-third of all Q1 deals this year, while average seller size reached $1.2 billion, according to the firm’s most recent data.
“I’m excited to join DeVoe & Company as it enters this next stage of momentum and impact,” Ross said. “The company is uniquely positioned in the RIA space, as the leading firm that offers both business consulting and M&A advisory services under one roof.”
The RIA market itself continues to expand in both size and complexity. As of last year, there were more than 15,000 SEC-registered investment advisers managing $144.6 trillion in assets across 68.4 million clients, according to the Investment Adviser Association’s Snapshot 2024 report. Nearly 93% of those firms employed 100 or fewer people, reinforcing the notion of RIAs as a small-business-driven segment of the financial services industry.
The motivations behind deals are also shifting. While succession and liquidity remain important, growth has become the top driver for both buyers and sellers. Sixty-five percent of sellers surveyed by DeVoe & Company said that achieving faster growth was their primary reason for pursuing a transaction – up from 52% two years ago.
That trend is playing out alongside rising deal competition. In the first quarter of 2025, consolidators accounted for over half of all RIA transactions, fueled in part by lower interest rates and renewed access to capital. Private equity-backed buyers alone represented 78% of all Q4 2024 deals.
"The wealth management space is dynamic, maturing and being shaped by a new set of industry forces," DeVoe said. "Gordon’s shared commitment to excellence and client service will help enable DeVoe & Company to serve more RIAs, as they engage with an evolving set of challenges and opportunities.”
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