Morgan Stanley advisor with $1B pedigree joins upstate New York RIA

A veteran Morgan Stanley advisor who oversaw approximately $1 billion in client assets during a 13-year career at the firm has left to join Uniting Wealth Partners (UWP), a Denver-based registered investment advisor that structures partnerships around advisor ownership and enterprise-building.

Dana Cornell, who served ultra-high-net-worth clients at Morgan Stanley, and Kyle Kirk, a former Ameriprise Financial advisor managing an approximately $100 million book of business in northern Pennsylvania, have both joined UWP's office in Olean, New York.

The moves are part of a continued pattern of wirehouse breakaways that industry observers say shows no sign of slowing, with independent and hybrid RIA channels growing from approximately 20 to 31 percent of total advisor headcount between 2014 and 2024, according to Cerulli Associates data.

"My clients' needs go beyond managing an investment portfolio," Cornell said. "UWP gives us access to M&A advisory, property and casualty insurance, trust services and lending, along with the infrastructure of a much larger organization, while allowing us to remain independent owners of our business. That combination is what attracted me to UWP, and with Kyle joining, we have the team and resources to build something significant."

Kirk, who is making a simultaneous break from Ameriprise, joins Cornell at the Olean office, adding capacity to support growth.

Beyond the traditional wirehouse model

For UWP, the two additions are meant to illustrate the firm's positioning in an increasingly competitive market for advisor talent. The firm says it is deliberately built to attract advisors from across the wealth management spectrum - wirehouse, independent broker-dealer, bank, and RIA - by offering majority ownership of individual practices alongside equity in the broader partnership.

UWP Managing Partner John Phoenix said the combination of Cornell and Kirk demonstrates what the firm is trying to build at scale.

"Dana built and managed a great book at Morgan Stanley and is now choosing UWP as the platform from which to build his next one," Phoenix said. "At the same time, Kyle is leaving Ameriprise to join him. That combination demonstrates what we are building: an advisor-owned firm with the capabilities of the largest wealth-management organizations, but without the traditional middleman."

UWP co-founder Jay Hummel said the firm's model does not rely on standardized deal structures.

"There's no standard UWP deal because there is no standard advisor," Hummel said. "We start with what the advisor is trying to accomplish and build the partnership around those objectives. Dana's needs are different from other UWP advisors, and his structure should reflect that. What all our partner advisors share is majority ownership of their own businesses along with ownership in the larger enterprise we're building together."

Ownership as the differentiator

The appeal of enterprise value creation has become a recurring theme among breakaway advisors, particularly those managing large books who face succession planning decisions. As InvestmentNews has reported, advisor recruiting experts say that succession dynamics can delay breakaway activity, but that advisors who do leave wirehouses are increasingly managing larger books and seeking structures that build long-term equity rather than operating within the constraints of a captive model.

Cornell's move fits that profile. His focus on ultra-high-net-worth clients - whose needs extend into areas such as M&A advisory, trust services, and specialty lending - reflects a broader shift in how top-tier advisors are thinking about their value proposition and what infrastructure they need to deliver it.

UWP, which describes itself as founded by and for advisors, says it provides access to resources that allow partner firms to serve complex client needs while retaining control of their businesses. Platforms offering this kind of aggregator-plus-ownership structure have been attracting growing interest from advisors across multiple channels as the competitive landscape for independent practices intensifies.

UWP maintains required registrations and licenses in all jurisdictions where it conducts business.