Brouwer & Janachowski gets its rainmaker --the former head of $18-billion Bernstein office -- in a 'grand experiment' to grow from $1.7 billion to $5 billion in AUM
The $1.7 billion Mill Valley, Calif.-based RIA signs on Tony Orme, a player/coach who will work with existing advisors as well as handling high-end clients himself.
5 min read- Brouwer & Janachowski hires Tony Orme, former Bernstein head, aiming for $5B AUM.
- Orme will coach advisors and manage client relationships in a 'player/coach' role.
- Janachowski offers Orme freedom to build a system, unlike previous employers.
Brooke's Note: For decades small RIAs were rewarded with big gains from taking small risks. But as the opportunity's swell into the big-business realm, RIAs can't mail it in. They need real talent, a real strategy and access to real capital. But they also need a real appetite for risk and the willingness to seize opportunity. Steve Janachowski has let us keep a close eye on his efforts with his $1.7 billion RIA. This Tony Orme hire has an aura of good luck -- or at least good fortune -- to it. But we make our own luck -- usually by preparation and plenty of that spadework preceded this big addition of specialized rainmaking talent. Part of that luck dividend also accrued from Brouwer moving his offices to Mill Valley from yonder Tiburon out on its peninsula. That means Orme, who lives in San Francisco, drives to the office, it takes him a startlingly quick 20 minutes -- the beneficiary of a reverse commute over the Golden Gate Bridge.
Steve Janachowski's prospects for turning his $1.7 billion RIA into a $5 billion RIA just got a turbo-boost with the addition of uptown "Tony" Orme, who wears suits to the office and acts the rainmaker part.
Orme, 58, joins Mill Valley, Calif.-based Brouwer & Janachowski after leaving Bernstein Private Wealth Management and taking a year off. He led Bernstein's 65-person, $18 billion AUA San Francisco office for four years.
The peripatetic executive, born in London, held a series of senior wealth management leadership positions at elite brands, like Alex. Brown, City National, Bankers Trust, Fidelity Investments and Wells Fargo Private Bank.
"It's a grand experiment for a firm our size to make a hire of someone like him," Janachowski says.
The experiment's six-moth clinical trial worked. Orme has been aboard since July.
He explained that Orme's previous employers measure their AUM in tens- or hundreds-of-billions of dollars -- and dozens or hundreds of advisors, which made the investment by those firms in his coaching, recruiting and consulting expertise easy to justify.
Now the question is whether his 20-person RIA is a good match for A-level corporate talent.
How one $1.3-billion RIA in Tiburon found its woman by taking the 'grueling' route
"Tony is working as a player/coach—coaching and overseeing our existing team of financial advisors as well as working as a wealth advisor with a number of important client relationships," Janachowski said.
He never even considered seeking a talent like Orme but got excited after his retained headhunter introduced him --not as a prospect but as a center of recruiting influence. One thing led to another after Janachowski learned what turned off Orme about his previous employers.
"He had to fit into their system," he says. "I told him he could create a system."
Grueling process
The system the CEO wants is to bring on people and maintain a consistent service quality.
Story Timeline
In making the hire, the middling RIA in the 'burbs north of the Golden Gate Bridge will need to pay Orme well, offer partnership and give him the free rein to do things his way -- right down to the amusing details.
"He wears a tie everyday," Janachowski says. "I started wearing a tie."
Orme enters the scene stage right at Brouwer & Janachowski 32 years after it was found in 1987, which happens to be the year he took his first Wall Street job.
Emigrant Bank 'doubles down' to send Mark Hurley packing and fire up Fiduciary Network, its RIA deal machine
More importantly, it comes five years its CEO put a plan in effect to drive several years of outsized growth and evolve toward a more female-oriented market.
What ensued was a grueling process that began with the hire of Peg Pike in Aug. 2014 as chief operating officer. The appointment of chief strategist, Christian Thwaites followed in Aug. 2015, and chief compliance officer, Craig Hughes joined the firm in Oct. 2015. See: How one $1.3-billion RIA in Tiburon found its woman by taking the 'grueling' route
But while enhanced business systems established a foundation for big growth, the firm's asset growth pretty much leveled off at $1.7 billion. See: When Steve Janachowski's RIA hit the $1-billion wall, he started hiring women execs and talking M&A; Now he's at $1.7 billion but still seeking to validate his strategy
"It's taken longer than I thought," Janachowski says. "I wish I'd gotten a growth guy two years ago."
Janachowski admits M&A proved elusive over the past six years -- despite having piles of capital and deal knowledge on tap. His RIA is part of the reinvigorated Fiduciary Network. See: Emigrant Bank 'doubles down' to send Mark Hurley packing and fire up Fiduciary Network, its RIA deal machine
"We haven't done an acquisition since 2014," he says.
Clear strategy
Orme says he's pretty sure how he can bust the firm out of the doldrums.
“Our strategy is that while I am building sales and marketing processes and hiring two new experienced wealth advisors to accelerate organic growth," says Orme, "Steve will focus on acquiring RIA’s where owner-management either want to exit the business or wish to expand and need additional capital and more efficient internal systems.”
Orme is a graduate of the United States Marine Corps Officer Candidates School in Quantico, Va.
The story first got reported in CityWire.
Rely on RIABiz? Tell Google.
Naming us a preferred source puts our reporting first in your Top Stories and AI Overviews. Takes one click, and only you see the difference.