Move to Gries Financial Partners "feels like home" for industry veteran

A year after starting her succession-planning and growth consulting business, industry veteran Carina Diamond is returning to the RIA world.

Today, $1.7 billion firm Gries Financial Partners announced that it has hired Diamond as its chief growth officer, a position she also now has with the RIA’s parent firm, 4100 Group Financial Services.

As the title implies, Diamond will lead organic growth initiatives at the Cleveland-based firm, though she will also put her experience with mentoring and succession planning to use.

“I really like the culture. It’s entrepreneurial. It’s growth oriented. The firm has a good history of industry veterans and young talent and doing transitions,” Diamond said. “As the firm has grown, there is more of a need to do that.”

At the outset, she will be getting started with an internship program at Gries, working with local colleges and universities, she said. And she will be working to get more early career advisors at the firm.

Diamond is an active board member at nonprofit Diversitas, a group established by The University of Akron whose mission is to help expand opportunities in wealth management “for people and skill sets historically overlooked by companies in financial services.”

Last year, Diamond launched Stella Seconda, her consultancy. That followed her departure from a chief growth officer role at Dakota Wealth Management, the company that in 2019 acquired the RIA she founded, Springside Advisors.

Diamond is winding down Stella Seconda over the fall. Though there were talks with Gries to acquire that business, the firm created a fulltime role for her, which she was amenable to, she said: “The challenge with consulting that I’ve found is that you don’t always get to see things full circle,” she said. “That was one of my drivers for my decision to return to industry in a fulltime capacity… I want the satisfaction of seeing my work full circle.”

Working with Gries “feels like home,” she said.

“It’s a unique culture, in part because it’s female-founded… [there is] a little less ego than some places – fewer sharp elbows. Maybe more collaborative.”

As someone who founded and sold a $258 million RIA, among other businesses, she has some advice for RIA owners.

“It’s really important to get very clear on what your strengths and unique offerings are,” she said. “Try to strip away all the trappings and say, ‘what is the essence’ of your firm.”

And for advisors: “Know your value and make sure you protect your value. Don’t waste yourself working for a firm where you’re not appreciated.”