Cresset has tapped a Morgan Stanley alum to grow its OCIO business, while Perigon adds several new advisors to its partnership program and an Edward Jones breakaway launches her own independent practice in South Carolina.
Cresset announced that it appointed Mark Thompson as executive managing director, institutional consulting, a role in which he will lead the firm’s outsourced chief investment officer business and strategy.
The New York-based Thompson is expected to work with foundations, endowments, nonprofit organizations and multi-generational clients, and to help connect an institutional approach to Cresset’s wealth offering. The firm also said Thompson will join its management committee.
“We are excited to welcome Mark to Cresset as we further enhance our engagement with leading institutions,” Susie Cranston, president of Cresset, said in the announcement.
Cresset framed the hire as part of an institutional push that included its strategic combination with Monticello Associates last year. Following that deal, Cresset now has more than $235 billion in assets under management and advisement.
Thompson most recently served as managing director of Morgan Stanley’s Fiduciary Consulting Group, an RIA within Morgan Stanley serving institutional clients. Thompson launched the business in 2021, growing it to $200 billion in assets through acquisitions and organic growth.
Taking over Thompson's role at Morgan Stanley is Tevfik Peker, who's also head of Institutional Consulting Solutions Strategy & Institutional Infrastructure Solutions, a spokesperson from the firm told InvestmentNews.
Thompson arrives at Cresset shortly after the multi-family office announced Susie Cranston as its new CEO earlier this month.
Perigon Wealth Management said Tuesday that it added three partners through its Path to Partnership Program.
Perigon launched the program in 2024 as a way for team members and certain 1099 advisors to earn an ownership stake. The firm reported about $11.2 billion in client assets as of Dec. 31.
The newest partner additions are wealth advisors Chris Spires and Ron Op het Veld, along with Scott Yi, a wealth advisor and head of alternative investments.
Spires, who joined Perigon in 2021, has a practice that includes retirement plan consulting for small businesses and their 401(k) plans.
Yi, who joined in 2017, focuses on strategies for business owners and medical and tech professionals, and works in alternative asset categories that can include private equity, hedge funds, private credit, private real estate and digital assets.
Op het Veld, who joined Perigon in 2023, works with individuals, families and small business owners. Perigon said he entered the advisor business in 2010 after working as a portfolio manager and equity analyst at JPMorgan and UBS.
“Perigon is built on an advisor-led, advisor-owned philosophy and structure, so we want to ensure our team members have a path to partnership,” Arthur Ambarik, the firm’s CEO, said in the release announcing the new partner advisors.
For firms competing for experienced advisors and next-generation talent, formalized equity pathways have become a retention and recruiting lever – a way to keep senior producers engaged while also giving rising internal leaders a clearer line of sight to ownership.
Zulma Petty, an experienced advisor who spent eight years at Edward Jones, has broken away from the firm to set up her own independent practice, Anchor Pointe Financial Planning.
Petty said the decision to hang her own shingle was driven by a desire to broaden the planning solutions she can deliver in an independent setting and to operate as a fee-only fiduciary.
“I wanted to build something where every decision starts and ends with what’s best for the client,” Petty said in a statement.
Based in the Roebuck, South Carolina area, the firm will offer services including retirement planning, investment management, tax-efficient strategies and estate planning coordination.
Anchor Pointe Financial Planning offers investment advisory services through Uptick Partners, an RIA set up in 2024 by a trio of ex-Edward Jones advisors offering an offramp to independence for other breakaways from the firm.
Despite Edward Jones' top marks in investor satisfaction and its efforts to go upmarket, attrition at the firm has been on the rise, with one data report counting nearly 6,000 advisor departures over the past five years up to 2025.
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