Stevens Capital Partners, an Omaha, Nebraska-based registered investment advisor, is closing in on $1 billion in assets under management after acquiring a Dallas tax practice whose 80-year-old founder needed a succession plan of his own.
The firm announced that it has surpassed $800 million in assets under management this month, capping a run that has included a second straight year on the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in the country. It has added roughly $50 million in new business in the past week alone, according to David Stevens, founder and chief executive.
The acquired practice belongs to Joe DePetris, a Dallas-based certified public accountant who spent more than three decades serving individual and business clients before deciding it was time to step back. The deal adds more than 300 tax clients to Stevens Capital's book, including more than 100 businesses spread across 15 states, extending the firm's reach to more than 40 states nationwide with its heaviest concentrations in Nebraska and New York.
For Stevens, who spent more than two decades at TD Ameritrade before founding the firm in November 2020 – right around the time it was bought by Schwab at a $26 billion valuation – Omaha is a "thriving" market for advisors chasing wealth transfer business.
"We’re seeing families move in from Western Nebraska and Eastern Iowa, and the metro population has increased by more than 35,000 in the past five years," Stevens told InvestmentNews in an email interview.
He pointed to the concentration of legacy wealth tied to corporations headquartered in the city including Union Pacific, Mutual of Omaha and Berkshire Hathaway, whose founder Warren Buffett stepped back last year in a planned succession to now-CEO Greg Abel. The ongoing transition to second- and third-generation heirs within Omaha represents a significant opportunity for Stevens Capital Partners, which also gets 70% of its business from outside Nebraska.
"There are plenty of registered investment advisors, but far fewer fee-only, SEC-registered RIAs," he added. "That has created an opportunity for us to differentiate ourselves."
The latest snapshot by the Investment Advisor Association counts just 200 SEC-registered RIAs overseeing $251 billion in Nebraska, a fraction of a fraction of the 16,544 firms managing $176.8 trillion across the country as of 2025.
Stevens Capital Partners serves high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients, including entrepreneurs, executives, business owners and multigenerational families, coordinating investment management with tax, estate, exit and philanthropic planning.
The firm claims to have a 99% client retention rate and directs 10% of its profit to community causes through a program it calls its 10% Mission, including support for pediatric eye-disease research, a point of personal advocacy for Stevens and his family.
On acquiring DePetris' tax practice, Stevens said they agreed on a transition period that includes liquidity for DePetris in the form of a revenue-sharing agreement.
"We have a three-year transition plan in place with Joe that includes a revenue-sharing arrangement tied to his legacy clients," Stevens told InvestmentNews. During that window, DePetris and his team are staying involved to brief the Stevens Capital team on client histories and relationships. Rather than leaving the introduction to a letter or a website notice, Stevens said his firm reached out to each family directly.
"We emphasized Joe's history and the legacy of those relationships and explained that our goal was to create a seamless transition while adding capacity, resources, and access to services beyond tax, including financial planning, investment management, and estate planning," he said.
Stevens noted that DePetris's practice had centered largely on tax compliance and representation work, and that Stevens Capital intends to layer in more tax planning and strategy for those clients going forward.
"We have also incorporated technology and efficiency wherever possible so we can handle more at scale with a smaller team," he said.
The deal fits into a broader wave of tax-practice acquisitions among RIAs, as advisors race to answer client demand for coordinated investment, tax and estate services under a single roof.
At least part of that could be chalked up to the decline in CPA professionals: one recent report by the American Institute of CPAs flagged continuing headwinds in the effort to boost new accounting graduates, noting a 6.6% drop in bachelor's or master's degree holders during the 2023-2025 academic year compared to the previous period.
"The CPA profession is less popular with younger generations, so working with a fast-growing firm that lets associates gain experience in both tax and wealth has been attractive to our team," Stevens said.
Converting a tax relationship into a full financial-planning relationship is also a rampant challenge across the industry, he added, pointing to clients' "growing desire to simplify their lives by working with a firm that can integrate both wealth and tax planning preparation."
New Nationwide Retirement Institute survey reveals eight in ten Americans agree Social Security needs fixing and how.
Advisor-led adoption has been rapid for tasks from translating annuity contracts into plain English to speedy webinar prep.
Austin, Texas headquartered firm taps former BlackRock managing director following an internal leadership shuffle.
InvestmentNews reported in 2017 that the IRS was scrutinizing the tax shelter land deals, called syndication conservation easements.
Advisors gain a second workflow for 401(k) guidance as the fintech expands beyond bulk rebalancing, backed by new policy research on advice access.
Northern Trust’s Ken Lassner shows advisors how to convert volatility into after-tax portfolio gains
Dan Biagini of American Equity says the steady decline of pensions, longer lifespans and a reset in interest rates are rewriting how advisors build retirement income
