SEIA hires LPL tax veteran, deepens family office push

Signature Estate & Investment Advisors has hired a tax executive from LPL to run a newly formed tax practice, the latest move by the Los Angeles-based registered investment advisor to build out services for high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth households.

The firm announced Monday that Tim Gacsy will serve as director of tax services, leading a unit called SEIA Tax Services that combines the firm's existing planning methodology with technology-driven tax analysis. Gacsy spent more than seven years overseeing tax and cost-basis functions at LPL, where he supported a network of more than 21,000 independent advisors, before moving into family-office tax consulting.

Alongside the new tax unit, SEIA is widening its family office capabilities through a partnership with Baker Tilly Family Office, giving clients access to governance, trust and fiduciary accounting, and advisory resources for multigenerational wealth transfers, business sales and other complex liquidity events. In line wth that, it said qualfied high-net-worth and UHNW clients would be given access to specialized family office services that complement SEIA's existing offerings, including family governance, trust and fiduciary accounting, and family office advisory services.

The firm also said it was also undergoing a brand refresh as part of the update..

Tax-first approach to planning

SEIA's process begins with a full review of a client's tax return, treating income tax as the starting point for broader financial planning rather than a separate function handled at year-end. Advisors and planning teams will lean on technology-enabled analysis, with Gacsy's team layering in specialized guidance as client situations grow more complicated, according to the firm.

"Income tax provides one of the clearest windows into a client's overall financial picture," Gacsy said in the announcement. He added that surfacing tax considerations earlier in the relationship allows planning teams to coordinate more effectively and helps clients understand the long-term impact of decisions before they're made.

Brad Repinsky, SEIA's head of estate, tax and financial planning, framed the expansion as a response to how rarely a single wealthy client's financial life fits into one specialty. He said major decisions – selling a business, passing wealth to the next generation, absorbing a sudden change in net worth – touch every part of a client's finances, and that bringing tax and family office resources together lets the firm respond around the client's goals rather than around internal silos.

Read more: When a $30 million inheritance becomes a shock: Why heir readiness matters more than tax planning

Building on a broader hiring push

Gacsy's arrival extends a run of senior additions SEIA has made since last year as it scales its estate, tax and technology functions. The firm recruited Repinsky from Fidelity and Goldman Sachs in July 2025 to lead its private client group. Matt Matrisian, who stepped in as president just a few months prior, said the move "[expands] the depth of what SEIA offers clients rather than simply adding headcount.

In June, SEIA announced it had appointed Advait Kulkarni as senior vice president of technology operations and began integrating AI-enabled tools into advisor workflows, including automated document analysis and meeting-prep summaries designed to reduce manual work without replacing advisor judgment. Kulkarni had previously served as VP of Engineering at AssetMark since January 2023 before hopping over to SEIA in January this year, according to his LinkedIn profile.

"As advisors continue to serve more clients with increasing complexity, our focus is on giving them the tools and infrastructure to do that effectively," Matrisan said in June, highlighting his firm's "commitment to building a platform where advisors can grow their business, deliver comprehensive advice, and maintain the level of personalization clients expect."

Learn more: SEIA’s Winning Formula for 5-Star Wealth Management

In an interview with InvestmentNews last November, Matrisian revealed plans to expand SEIA's book of business to $100 billion by 2030, including potentially entering into "mergers of equals" with firms overseeing between $8 billion and $10 billion in assets to achieve that goal.

"“We do probably our best work with firms that are $500 million to $2 billion,” he said. "It's accretive enough for the firm where it's attractive for us to do it, [but] it's not such a big transition where it's going to shut down the firm for a period of time to assimilate that firm into our organization."