Merit hires ex-Edelman and Verdence executives, launches leadership initiative with ClientWise

A pair of executives from top RIAs Edelman Financial Engines and Verdence Capital Advisors have joined Merit Financial Advisors, which has also struck a new partnership with advisor training and leadership development company ClientWise.

Doug Moore was most recently head of finance at Edelman and now becomes chief financial officer at Merit, while Sarah Mouser joins as EVP of financial planning after she spent the past year as managing director of financial planning at Verdence. Moore will work remotely in Rhode Island and Mouser will work outside of Washington D.C. for Merit, which is headquartered in Atlanta and manages $26 billion in assets with over 55 office locations across the U.S.

“I think the RIA of the future goes after talent wherever it is and tries to get people together when it makes sense,” Merit’s chief advisor success officer Alex Hansen told InvestmentNews. “I think when you find really strong executives and they're not where your headquarters location is, it's very smart to take them and not force it."

Hansen, who is based in Westchester County, NY, joined Merit last year from Commonwealth Financial Network. Moore’s appointment replaces Mike Mitchell, who was CFO at Merit for three years before he joined Texas-based RIA Americana Partners as its CFO in March. Mouser’s hire is for a newly created role at Merit, bringing its leadership team to 29 executives. 

“I'm really excited that we've been open to growing in a geographically disparate way, because we have offices all around the country,” said Hansen. “Sarah [Mouser] is close to some Merit Financial Advisor offices, I am as well. It just so happens we're not near headquarters. I'm proud that we are on that edge of growth, where you don't just so happen to have to be within 45 minutes of the office we've chosen.”

ClientWise will help provide a 12-month development program for the entire leadership team at Merit. Hansen explained that the program will cover topics such as setting clear rules of engagement for staff meetings for time efficiency, defining leadership styles, and communication feedback preferences. Northwestern Mutual became ClientWise’s majority investor in 2018.

“Understanding how you lead and honestly the divergence between how you think you lead and how other people perceive your leadership, was really an illuminating exercise,” said Hansen. “We've done this [leadership program] through the lens of initiatives that [Merit] has set for the year, so our 30, 90 [day] and year-long challenges are tied directly to firm initiatives.” 

Merit received minority investment last summer from Constellation Wealth Partners and has taken back-to-back RIA Firm of the Year wins at the 2024 and 2025 InvestmentNews Awards. 

Prior to joining Edelman in 2021, Moore held CFO roles at AAA Northeast and Pyramus Global Advisors, which was then owned by Fidelity Investments. Mouser, a certified financial planner (CFP), previously spent roughly a decade at Virginia-based RIA Cassaday & Company, where she had been director of financial planning before joining Verdence in early 2025.

“What drew me to Merit was that we are very much culturally aligned,” Mouser told InvestmentNews. “It is incredibly important to me in terms of not just making sure that we're able to support our advisors in the best way possible from a scalability perspective, but also the fact that we have a real opportunity within the firm to look at next-gen talent and to focus on creating a career path for next-gen talent for organic advisor growth, and that can even start within our financial planning team.”