Mariner nabs 12-person team from Northwestern Mutual

Mariner’s independent advisory channel has added a $275 million team as the firm continues an early-2026 deal streak that’s reshaping its footprint and lineup of advisor affiliations.

Alinity Wealth Management, a Baton Rouge-based RIA with roughly $275 million in client assets, has joined Mariner Independent, the firm’s independent advisory channel.

The 12-person team serves families and business owners in more than 30 states, with a business built around planning, tax-aware investing, retirement and multigenerational wealth strategies.

According to Mariner, Alinity – led by partners Matt Kubicek, Ethan Bowling, and Joey Wilks – previously operated within a national financial institution before moving to the RIA space to better match its planning-first approach.

Kubicek, Bowling, and Wilks were previously affiliated with Northwestern Mutual, according to their BrokerCheck records. Last year, the insurance giant set a big, hairy, audacious recruitment goal for itself, targeting 5,000 new financial professionals in 2025. It's unclear whether it managed to meet that mark, or at least hit the moon as it aimed for the stars.

In any case, Alinity’s leaders now are aligning with Mariner Independent, citing a desire to add scale without giving up control over their brand and client relationships.

“Alinity Wealth Management has one purpose: a commitment to high-quality financial planning delivered in alignment with our clients’ goals and best interests,” Kubicek, Bowling, and Wilks said in a statement, while emphasizing the opportunity to access “deeper planning, technology, and operational resources.”

Through the affiliation, Alinity will tap Mariner Independent’s centralized planning, tax, estate, insurance, technology and operations support. The model is pitched at firms that want more resources and succession options while remaining independent owners.

“Mariner Independent was built for firms like Alinity,” said Rob Sandrew, national managing director and head of Mariner Independent, who joined from Integrated Partners last year..

He said some advisors want to remain independent for the long term, while others want “optionality as their business, clients, and succession needs evolve.”

The Alinity deal follows a double acquisition Mariner announced last week, when it agreed to buy First National Advisors in Rockland, Massachusetts, and Strava Wealth in Pittsburgh. Aside from adding a combined $1.8 billion in assets under advisement and expanding its presence in Greater Boston and Pittsburgh, those transactions deepened Mariner’s reach in medical, dental and multigenerational planning niches.

“The pace of RIA dealmaking remains strong, and we expect that to continue into 2026,” president and CEO Marty Bicknell told InvestmentNews in an emailed statement. “Stability, continuity, and the ability to support increasingly complex client needs are becoming central to those decisions.”

Across its various channels, Mariner affiliates advise on more than $609 billion in assets under advisement as of Sept. 30. Within Mariner Independent alone, the firm says it now supports more than 1,000 advisors and about $45 billion in client assets.