RIA M&A veteran joins Accelerated Wealth Partners to drive deal growth

Accelerated Wealth Partners has hired Josh Bronfman as managing director of M&A and investments, bringing on a veteran of the RIA deal-making machine at Focus Financial Partners as the firm accelerates its growth strategy following a $200 million capital commitment from J.C. Flowers & Co.

Bronfman, who completed his MBA at NYU Stern School of Business before joining AWP, spent five years at Focus Financial Partners on its M&A and relationship management team, where he was responsible for business development, deal execution, and strategic advisory for select partner firms pursuing inorganic growth. He also holds prior experience in private equity at Brookfield Asset Management and in private wealth management strategy at Goldman Sachs.

In his new role, Bronfman will lead AWP's M&A and investment activity, support partner firms on deals and recruiting, manage the firm's associate team, and oversee its reporting, analytics, and technology initiatives.

A deliberate hiring strategy

Eric Amar, founder and CEO of Accelerated Wealth Partners, framed the appointment as part of a broader effort to build a team with specific, complementary skillsets rather than simply scaling headcount.

"Scale in this business is built on talent, and lasting talent is built on shared values," Amar said. "Josh is exactly that kind of leader. He has spent years inside the RIA M&A engine at Focus, he understands what makes these firms exceptional, and he shares the values that define how we work with founders."

AWP's strategy centers on a concentrated portfolio of high-conviction RIA investments - Amar has said he prefers helping five firms grow from $2 billion to $10 billion rather than hovering alongside 30 - and distinguishes itself from larger aggregators by focusing on tech-enabled organic growth alongside disciplined deal execution.

The firm has made two investments to date, including a March 2026 stake in RIA Advisors, a Houston-based wealth management firm overseeing $1.6 billion in assets under management, and a May 2026 minority investment in Brooklyn Fi, an advisory firm specializing in clients with complex equity compensation needs.

Timing the M&A wave

The hire comes as the broader RIA M&A market is running at a record pace. M&A activity in the wealth management space rose 18 percent year-over-year in 2025 and has increased a further 18 to 24 percent so far in 2026, with private equity involved in approximately 89 percent of transactions over the past two years, according to DeVoe & Company.

Deal volume across the sector rose 27.3 percent year-over-year in 2025, the fastest growth rate in the past decade outside 2021, with 466 announced transactions representing a 17.8 percent compound annual growth rate since 2020, according to ECHELON Partners.

For AWP, which positions itself as a growth equity investor rather than a traditional aggregator, adding depth to its deal team is a practical necessity as it moves from launch phase to active portfolio-building.

Bronfman said the decision to join AWP came down to its philosophy on founder partnership.

"What drew me to AWP is the conviction to partner with great founders and work alongside them as they build," he said. "I've seen how powerful the right combination of organic growth and M&A is for a firm, and I'm excited to work with Eric, Andrew and the team to help our partners through their next phase of growth."

Building the infrastructure behind the deals

Beyond M&A execution, Bronfman's mandate includes technology and analytics, a signal that AWP is building the operational infrastructure to scale its support for partner firms, not just its deal pipeline. The firm has described its model as resting on three pillars: tech-enabled organic growth, institutional-grade M&A execution, and preserving the independent culture of the RIAs it backs.

That combination is increasingly the differentiating pitch in a market where capital alone is no longer scarce. InvestmentNews has tracked how RIA valuations and M&A incentives are evolving as deal volume sets new quarterly records, with Q1 2026 alone registering $1.67 trillion in transactions according to Echelon Partners' most recent data.

For advisors watching where talent flows in the deal ecosystem, Bronfman's move from one of the industry's best-known M&A platforms to a purpose-built growth firm is worth tracking. As reported in InvestmentNews, M&A appointments at firms like Captrust and Clearstead  reflect a broader pattern of RIAs investing heavily in dedicated deal-making infrastructure heading into the second half of 2026.