Wealth Enhancement deepens East Coast presence with Wealthshield deal

Wealth Enhancement has added another set of practices to its national platform, pushing to a new AUM record while extending its reach in the East Coast.

On Tuesday, the mega-RIA announced its acquisition of the investment advisory business of WealthShield Partners and its affiliated Madison Oaks Wealth Partners, two Raleigh-area firms with a combined $993 million in client assets.

The deal, which closed June 30, pushes the firm's total client assets past $158.2 billion.

Robert Leggett, managing partner of WealthShield Partners, will lead what is now known internally as the Emerald Team, while Scott Lord heads the Madison Oaks contingent alongside partners Kenny Bollinger, Stuart Gay, and John Maher.

Madison Oaks had previously operated as a DBA of WealthShield. The transaction with Wealth Enhancement effectively folds together two closely linked practices in a single stroke.

WealthShield, founded in 2013, built its reputation serving high-net-worth retirees, professionals, business owners, and executives with a mix of financial planning, investment management, and estate and tax strategy. Madison Oaks, founded four years later in 2017, brings a similar client-first orientation and comprehensive planning capability to the pairing.

Jeff Dekko, Wealth Enhancement's chief executive, framed the deal in terms of preserving the advisor-client relationship while layering on institutional resources. "That kind of trust takes years to earn, and it's something we work hard to protect," Dekko said of the two incoming firms' client relationships.

Jim Cahn, the firm's chief strategy officer, tied the acquisition to a regional growth agenda, noting the deal strengthens Wealth Enhancement's presence in the Carolinas while adding advisors whose comprehensive-planning approach fits the firm's broader investment thesis.

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A rapid-fire deal cadence

The WealthShield and Madison Oaks transaction lands just two weeks after Wealth Enhancement welcomed a two-advisor, $554 million practice Shufro Rose team. A day earlier, it announced it would absorb the Shufro-Glass Group, an 88-year-old practice overseeing $760 million in client assets that had also operated within Shufro Rose.

Dekko joined the firm more than two decades ago in 2003, when it managed roughly $600 million in assets. The company has since completed more than 100 strategic acquisitions on its way to becoming a national platform, though Dekko himself has indicated there's no specific scale or volume target attached to the strategy.

"High-quality companies don't set an end number," he said in an interview with InvestmentNews earlier this year. "They focus on building something that lasts."

Read more: Inside Wealth Enhancement’s exponential growth

That philosophy – evaluate each deal on its own merits rather than chase a growth quota – has coincided with one of the most active stretches in RIA M&A history. According to Echelon Partners' RIA M&A Deal Report for the first quarter of 2026, the industry recorded 142 announced transactions in the period, an all-time quarterly record. 

Wealth Enhancement itself was uncharacteristically silent in the first quarter, notching two deals to acquire $7.9 billion in assets by Echelon's count. The firm's buying spree last year pushed it to the top of the deal leaderboard with 20 acquisitions recorded by Echelon – not that the mega-RIA is keeping track necessarily.

“We are thinking about clients, employees, and shareholders alike, not just the owners of the firm," Dekko said in his interview with InvestmentNews. "Supporting all three in a balanced way is what drives better outcomes for clients and leads to sustainable growth."