Modern Wealth Management is bulking up in upstate New York, striking an asset purchase agreement with a four-person advisory team overseeing $300 million in client assets in Rochester.
The practice, led by industry veteran Craig Houck, will join Modern Wealth’s existing Rochester office, with Houck stepping in as managing director. The deal deepens the firm’s footprint in what it describes as its largest East Coast market and adds more scale to its financial planning and retirement plan advisory capabilities in the region.
Houck was recently affiliated with Osaic Wealth for more than 15 years until October 10, according to his BrokerCheck profile with FINRA.
He said the move is about pairing Modern Wealth's infrastructure around tax planning, estate planning, and investment management with clients’ rising planning needs, particularly around retirement.
The Rochester advisors will also tie into Modern Wealth’s Organic Growth Hub, a centralized engine for lead generation, distribution, and client onboarding.
Founded just over two years ago and led by former United Capital executives Gary Roth, Mike Capelle, and Jason Gordo, the RIA has leaned hard into inorganic growth, surpassing $10 billion in assets under management in 2025. So far, the firm has added 19 advisory teams while broadening its service lines and investing in its platform.
In one of its most recent moves announced last year, Modern Wealth acquired Mesa, Arizona-based Public Safety Financial/Galloway, a niche RIA serving first responders and public safety workers with specialized retirement and pension planning. That deal launched Modern Wealth’s Public Safety Financial division and established an Organic Growth hub in the Phoenix area focused on national expansion.
“Mike [Galloway] led by far the largest first responder organization in the country in financial services, and we look to just take what he's built, the team that he's assembled, invest growth capital into the organization, and hire support people around the business,” Gordo told InvestmentNews at the time.
More recently in November, the firm named 30-year veteran Derek Bruton as its official head of M&A. Coming from consultancy firm Gladstone Associates, Bruton also has experience from previous executive positions at Schwab, TD Ameritrade, and LPL Financial.
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