The upper RIA echelon mass-exit is now at 25 execs and counting -- for 25 'reasons' -- but it's hardly a coincidence, analysts say

First generation RIA CEOs, pioneers and other bigshots are leaving jobs or scaling back roles – and sometimes in bunches – signaling a palpable, if gradual, shift in RIA leadership. 

The $9-trillion business and its vendor society have hemorrhaged leaders since the start of 2023, spanning big RIAs, big corporations and software firms – claiming early adopter entrepreneurs, vital cogs and c-suite denizens.

The explanations for the departures are consistently vague and varied, making them take on a mystical element – almost like migrating birds flocking alone, attuned to a geomagnetic field or celestial cues.

Virtually all the noted executives are 65 or younger, none with known health issues, and few, if any, are known to have suffered a disgrace or grand setback.

In fact, many exited while citing their comfort with having bagged a momentous achievement — like an IPO, sale, legendary growth spurt, a string of acquisitions, or a technology positioning.

Yet some circumstances suggest their departures are far from coincidental – at least in terms of their internal states..

“People are worn out, even if they were successful. They're burned out and emotionally drained,” says Cecile Munoz, president of U.S. Executive Search and Consulting, a recruiting and executive development firm in Los Angeles.  

Inevitable turnover

Advisors, staffers and executives across the industry have been in an opportunity grab during a bull market and the growth of the RIA industry from $1 trillion in 2009 to $9 trillion today.

The whole cottage industry of software firms and custodians supporting the rag-tag army of unaffiliated, mom-and-pop brand companies has grown apace, bolstered by a move from the desktop to the cloud.

But with that came the pressures of increased competition, laws of large numbers, urges to merge, professionalization and then – finally – the operational and human resources black swan of COVID.

This turnover at the top is an “inevitable growing up phase of the industry,” says Tim Welsh, founder of Nexus Strategy. 

“Meaning that the good times, collegiality, easy money, high growth and massive bull markets enabled visionaries and innovators the chance to build and make great things in the RIA space, without as much discipline as probably needed.” 

"Now that the easy growth is gone, a different environment is creeping in," Welsh says from Larkspur, Calif. "One that is not as much fun or collegial, and which is why I think we are seeing these mass executive departures.

 …The RIA industry is becoming more mainstream, competition has kicked up quite a bit and the new regime/owners don’t have a sense of humor anymore, nor any real patience to focus beyond the next quarter. Sounds more and more like Wall Street." 

Avalanche of change

What made RIA executive-exit epidemic unmistakable was the one-day wipeout at Schwab; Bernie Clark, Peter Crawford, and Joe Martinetto all announced they were exiting post-haste. See: Why RIAs see Bernie Clark's appointment at Schwab as a positive event

Clark, 65, Martinetto, 61, and Crawford, 55 are head of RIA custody, chief operating officer and chief financial officer, respectively. Clark headed Schwab's RIA unit, which represents about 

It's likely it took sleep-depriving days and nail-biting nights to execute the nearly five-year conversion turning TD Ameritrade (TDA) clients into Schwab clients. 

The moves came on the heels of Vanguard's search to replace Tim Buckley as CEO, hence expediting his desk-clearing by several months. See: Walt Bettinger discloses expiration of unknown 'pact' to explain to Schwab investors why Bernie Clark, Peter Crawford and Joe Martinetto all chose to exit at once

As the industry has grown, small family firms are now owned by giant conglomerates demanding certain returns, which causes their stress, says Alois Pirker, principal of Pirker Partners. 

“I fully agree, the wealth management and wealthtech industry has seen an avalanche of senior leadership change lately. My take is that we are seeing new market conditions that require new talent at the helm,” he says. 

It also requires a different kind of leader to catapult the firm to the next level - which causes the domino effect of executives moving up or out. 

Revolving doors

Pirker says founders are often replaced shortly after a flood of investment and M&A deals -- often fueled by private equity money. 

Last April, Carson Wealth replaced founder Ron Carson as CEO and named Burt White the new CEO. 

In Nov. 2023, Aaron Klein, who founded then-named Riskalyze, announced he was stepping aside as CEO. Dan Zitting is at the helm of the newly named Nitrogen.

On Oct. 23, 2023, Focus Financial announced that its CEO and founder, Rudy Adolf, was leaving the firm. 

The move came just two-and-a-half months after Clayton, Dubilier & Rice closed on its $7 billion purchase of Focus. Neither the firm nor Adolf offered an explanation at the time. 

Similarly, in Sept. 2023, Orion replaced CEO and founder Eric Clarke with Natalie Wolfsen. 

“Competing with the rapid jump in interest rates, PE firms are expecting higher returns from their portfolio companies and this creates a lot of pressure for leaders that now need to deliver synergies of all the various capabilities and firms they have acquired,” Pirker says. 

Skill sets needed

Ultimately, this is a common thread; PE firms and new owners have decided that the executives who launched the business may not be the right ones to get the business to the next level, Pirker says.

 “As a result, PE firms are asking themselves if the talent at the top of their portfolio firms will be able to live up to these new expectations, or if different expertise is required at the helm. 

"Founders are especially great at getting businesses off the ground; however, growing the firm to the next level might require a different skill set. InvestCloud is a clear case of this situation,” he says. 

Two years after the company sold a majority stake to private equity investors, InvestCloud announced on April 17, 2023 that Founder John Wise was leaving the firm. The release did not state why and it also included six other top executive departures. 

The departures boil down to CEOs being unable to answer that critical question, Munoz says.

“The question everyone is asking is, ‘Where is the EBITDA growth?’”

New opportunities

It takes a new mindset to take that startup to the next level, she adds.

“Leadership is exhausted, and sometimes leadership struggles to find the balance or the midpoint between the way they know how to lead and the way the new talent wants to be led.  

"This creates a problem of both skill set and mindset.  We have a skill set problem where we don't have enough professional leaders with the experience of building and scaling the firm.” 

Muoniz says new leadership brings about either an opportunity or a problem. 

“You can call it a problem, or you can call it an opportunity,” she says. 

“I call it an opportunity because it allows the firm to look at things differently and rethink how we are going to deliver the services and the value.”

Cashing out

While change is hard for the remaining staffers, most of these individuals got a large payout — at a time when the market is at a near-all-time high, Welsh says. 

“These were all pretty much founders, so once their buyouts were finalized and earn-outs achieved, there wasn’t much more personal upside left, so no golden handcuffs if you will," Welsh says.

Below, are a number of top executives who have left longtime posts or executives who have bounced around since the start of 2023.

Schwab executive exodus

Clark, Crawford and Martinetto left or moved into revised roles and Jon Beatty, a Schwab veteran of 27 years, who previously held the post of chief operating officer, is stepping into Clark's shoes. 

In 2019, Schwab had 7,500 RIAs and $1.1 trillion in custodian assets. When the company announced it was buying TDA that year, Clark hired former TDA  Chief Tom Bradley, who helped shepherd TDA advisors onto Schwab's platform. 

Now, four years later, the custodian has $4.26 trillion and about 15,000 RIAs. See: Bernie Clark's parting remarks -- webcast and media -- center on Schwab's outsized symbiosis with national W-2 RIAs; he declines to 'name names' of ones he doesn't love but names some he does

Here's more top executives who have left:

Ron Carson

On April 9, Carson Group announced that its longtime founder Ron Carson was out as the CEO of Carson Wealth Group just three years after Bain Capital bought shares at a $1 billion valuation. Carson founded the firm in 1983, famously planning it out from his dorm room at the University of Nebraska, and has been at its helm ever since. See: Ron Carson is out as Carson Wealth CEO three years after Bain buys a big stake and subdued asset growth persists; Ron Carson pivots life toward leading a 'movement'

At the announcement, Carson, 59, said the reason for the change was strategic. “I realize that to continue to be a growth leader in the RIA space, we must atop a bifocal ability to execute on what’s right in front of us while also innovating and anticipating the needs of our advisors – and clients – years and even decades from now.”  See: Burt White is busy re-staffing Carson Wealth with trusted non-Carson executives but the new CEO is caught in classic Catch-22 as villain and white knight in alleged sex assault suit

Tim Buckley 

Vanguard Group CEO Tim Buckley made a stunning announcement on Feb. 29, that he was retiring and offered little explanation. Buckley, 55, has been at the Malvern, Pa.-fund company for 33 years and spoke of his tenure in a LinkedIn post. He officially became CEO in 2018. See: Tim Buckley sends shockwaves by retiring as Vanguard CEO after adding $750 billion per year during his stay in the executive suite

“Our crew are more impressive and accomplished than ever and our senior leadership team is the best in the business… And so it’s time for others now. By the end of this year, I will retire from Vanguard,” Buckley said at the time on LinkedIn. 

It appeared to be a hasty decision, and analysts noted that when Bill McNabb announced his retirement as CEO in July 2017, Vanguard immediately named Buckley for the CEO role. 

When Buckley announced his departure, it took the $7.2 trillion manager  2 ½ months to name  Salim Ramji, BlackRock’s former exchange-traded funds and index investing head to the CEO role. See: Salim Ramji, who BlackRock may have shunned for Larry Fink's job in January, is named Vanguard CEO -- now he has to reassure investors he believes in the Vanguard way, even as an ex-Wall Street wolf

Buckley is slated to leave in July, though the company initially announced he would stay through 2024. Ramji will start in July. 

Bill Crager

CEO and co-founder of Evenestnet Bill Crager announced in January he was 

stepping down as CEO - reportedly of his own volition. See: Bill Crager is dropping CEO role after multiple shoes dropped; the company insists it was his 'decision' but vision, Yodlee future uncertain

Crager, 59, had just wrapped up a battle with an attempted board takeover and had suddenly become chief executive when his longtime friend and former CEO and co-founder Jud Bergman died suddenly in a 2019 car crash. See: Jud Bergman, wife Mary Miller-Bergman die tragically in San Francisco head-on car collision, stunning a devastated RIA business community

Crager, who has been a mainstay at the firm since the beginning in 1999, said in an email in January that he is leaving because Envestnet has reached a “gateway.”

“The work we just completed opens the gateway to the future of advice,” he said by email in January. Crager will stay with the company to nurse the vision toward its larger destiny. James L. Fox became the interim CEO of Envestnet on April 1. 

Karl Heckenberg

Karl Heckenberg surprised the industry on April 11, 2023, when he announced he was walking away from a plum gig in the RIA M&A business—buying, selling, funding, and investing in RIAs. 

He had wide discretion, broad mandate, and oversight at Emigrant Bank, where he had worked for five years. 

His boss was Howard Milstein, owner of Emigrant Bank and son of famed real estate magnate Paul Milstein. See: Karl Heckenberg ends phenomenal five-year run of reining in Mark Hurley, forming Emigrant Partners -- and selling high on long-held RIA stakes -- as bank boss hired gun

Heckenberg had a whirlwind run, and he seemed to come out of nowhere as a consultant in 2017 when he joined Emigrant. 

He took on the estimable Mark Hurley and helped Milstein gain control of Fiduciary Network. The firm provides financing for independent wealth management firms. See: Emigrant Bank 'doubles down' to send Mark Hurley packing and fire up Fiduciary Network, its RIA deal machine

Heckenberg became an Emigrant employee in January 2018 and claimed 100% control of Fiduciary Network by Thanksgiving that year. 

Liz Nesvold

Liz Nesvold is considered one of the first visionaries and experts of the RIA M&A industry; she founded Silver Lane Advisors in 2007. 

She sold the firm to Raymond James in 2019 and stayed less than four years, departing in February 2023. See: RIA M&A superstar Liz Nesvold takes control of her own destiny by invoking a contract clause at Raymond James -- and signaling that there is a hard way and easy way the next 90 days can go

However, due to internal politics and sources saying her role was downsized, she submitted a resignation, citing “a good reason” for her explanation. 

“This morning, I provided notice to our manager, John Roddy, that I have terminated my employment for good reason,” she wrote in a memo to colleagues published by Citywire in February 2023.

Her message hinted at a stressful tenure. 

“A special thanks to those of you who were always supportive and supportive of me, and to my amazing team for sticking by me through thick and thin.” 

She released a statement in February 2024 stating she was ready to move on. 

“Having worked exhaustively with an amazing team to make significant contributions to center the company, I decided it was the ideal time to move on to the next chapter of my professional career,” her February statement said.

Later that month, on Feb. 27, it was announced that she would hold the helm of Emigrant. See: 'Second to none' Liz Nesvold, enters the PE game and may help give Karl Heckenberg and Joe Duran a run for their money?

Aaron Klein

In November 2023, Aaron Klein announced he was stepping aside for a new CEO, who joined the firm last August. Klein, who co-founded the firm in 2011, said he stepped aside so Dan Zitting could take over as sole CEO. See: Six months after 'Nitrogen' reboot, Aaron Klein pulls rip cord on CEO job but will stay on board to jumpstart quest for $1-billion valuation under hand-picked replacement

“You can only have one CEO at a time,” Klein said in November 2023.  “I don't want anyone to ask: Do I need permission of both parents?”

Klein said in November that he'll stay on the board and contribute to the company's strategic direction. He remains one of the largest shareholders on the board. Klein founded the firm under the brand Riskalyze. 

He's the largest “individual” shareholder and has said he won't start a new company that competes with Nitrogen, but he's already launched a side-hustle consultancy business. 

In 2021 he sold a majority of the firm to private equity firm Hg Capital and at the time said he would use that as an opportunity to exit a portion of his stake in the firm, according to a joint announcement. 

John Wise

John Wise left as InvestCloud CEO in April 2023, along with six top executives, two years after the company sold a majority stake to private equity investors. See: InvestCloud CEO John Wise and management team ousted after VC investors grow impatient for long-promised deliverables that always seemed just over the rainbow

The release announcing his departure failed to reveal the cause, nor did it mention the departure of six other executives including four listed as InvestCloud co-founders.

The move put Motive Partners and Clearlake Capital in the driver's seat. At the end of the 2021 bull market frenzy, the firms bought 88% of InvestCloud for $1 billion.

“We believe that now is the time to set the company up for its next stage of growth,” says Motive Partners managing partner and InvestCloud chairman Rob Heyvaert, in the release in April 2023. 

InvestCloud, a cloud-native Cuisinart of bank, IBD, and large RIA applications, declined to explain Wise's departure in an email exchange in 2023. Jeffery W. Yabuki was appointed CEO and Chairman of InvestCloud in January 2024. 

Meanwhile, Wise is embarking on a brand-new venture and is happy to put the cloud behind him. He co-founded Just Build It, a technology provider for building and renovating companies. 

I’ve always loved building things… and this is one of the most exciting yet," he posted on LinkedIn when his company announced the purchase of Cody AI. 

James Gorman

James Gorman announced in May 2023 that he would step down as CEO of Morgan Stanley on Jan. 1, when Ted Pick took over. Then, on May 23, 2024, he announced he would step down as chairman of the board at the end of the year.

He had been at Morgan Stanley for more than 14 years. Morgan Stanley got back in trouble right after Gorman left. 

The New York City investment bank's “wealth” division, with 16,000 brokers and $6.2 trillion of AUA, is apparently under investigation by an alphabet soup of federal regulators, including the Treasury Department's crimes unit, according to a Wall Street Journal article citing anonymous sources.

Morgan Stanley recently resolved a years-long investigation into its block trading practices and beefed up its regulatory oversight by adding former UK financial regulator Megan Butler to its board of directors.

Rudy Adolf

On Oct. 23, 2023, Focus Financial announced that its CEO and founder, Rudy Adolf, was leaving the firm. This happened just two and a half months after Clayton, Dubilier & Rice closed on its $7 billion purchase of Focus. 

Neither the firm nor Adolf offered an explanation at the time. 

Adolf's vision for his roll-up was very laissez-faire relative to other  ventures. He would acquire the RIAs but then leave them as autonomous businesses that filed their own ADV with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Yet Adolf was often under fire because the 90 RIAs in his partnership cumulatively recorded little if any organic growth – except until the “tuck-in” acquisitions of partner firms were factored in. 

His LinkedIn lists him as Founder and co-CEO of E-3 Tech. CityWire reported that he joined fellow Focus co-founder Rajini Kodialam at her new technology-focused startup, E-3 Tech. 

Both Adolf and Kodialam serve as co-CEOs of the venture.

Adolf reportedly earned a $167.5 million payout on options upon the Focus sale.

Eric Clarke 

The founder of Orion Advisor Solutions stepped away as CEO in October 2023. The company hired Natalie Wolfsen to replace him (See below) 

At the time, Clarke said he was excited about Wolfsen joining the firm. 

“Natalie shares our vision for empowering financial advisors, so they can serve their clients more effectively,” he said.  

Now, Clarke has clinched a coveted gig at McKinsey & Co., according to a Jan. 22 SEC filing. Clarke confirmed the move this week. Clarke will become a senior advisor to the legendary New York City consulting giant. 

“Following my tenure as CEO of Orion, I have been eager to sustain my involvement in the industry in a meaningful capacity, while maintaining my position on the Orion board, and as a trustee for the Foundation for Financial Planning,” says Clarke, via email.

He also confirms his Orion non-compete is still in effect, although he says he is open to starting a new firm, albeit not at the present time.

Natalie Wolfsen

Natalie Wolfsen left her role as CEO at AssetMark in September 2023 to join Orion Advisor Solutions as the firm's new CEO. She had been at AssetMark for more than nine years and had been CEO since 2021. 

In her wake, AssetMark replaced her with Michael Kim, who engineered a new deal to sell a 100% interest to Chicago private equity firm GTCR. 

But Wolfsen has been challenged replacing the longtime favorite Clarke. Shortly after she took over as CEO, staffers had ruffled feathrs when the company announced a new return to work plicy. Orion quickly reserved that program. See: Orion rescinds RTO order after its staff rebels by hijacking company email list, distributing petition and tipping off RIA media

Earlier this year, RIAs grumbled when the company announced it was increasing prices by 8.9% for some advisors - even those with locked-in-rates. See: Orion surprises RIAs with 8.9% price jump, effective April 1 (no joke!); blames 'extreme inflation' -- a possible boon for upstart competitors

The Omaha, Neb., technology firm, which administers $4.1 trillion in assets, says it can no longer bear the brunt of increased expenses and is left with no choice but to pass them on to RIAs.  the efficiencies, services and data that we make available on their behalf.”

Joe Duran 

Joe Duran sold his company, United Capital, to Goldman Sachs in 2019 and then announced three and a half years later he was leaving Goldman. He departed in February 2023. See: Joe Duran will co-develop Goldman Sachs unit aimed at outsourcing to non-Goldman RIAs after 'magic' never materialized for direct-to-consumer RIA

The Newport Beach, Calif., executive left his W-2 employment for a 1099 consulting gig - that didn't last long.  See: Joe Duran declares United Capital means little to him now beyond money and how relieved he is to pass its underdeveloped business model to Goldman Sachs

Six months after he left Goldman, the firm sold United to Creative Planning and freed Duran to start his own venture. 

He's already off and running with a deal only a master might attempt – promising to be a passive investor that also, paradoxically, will be a rapid-strike force that re-engineers an RIA for explosive growth.

The fledgling RIA investment firm, Rise Growth Partners in Austin, Texas, was founded by Duran, 55, and three others. He'll serve as CEO and will be largely paying from partner pockets at the outset. 

Duran netted an estimated $75 million to $100 million when he sold United Capital to Goldman Sachs in 2019. 

Mike Durbin

Mike Durbin joined Cetera as CEO in May 2023 after leaving his role at Fidelity at the end of 2022. Durbin had headed up custody at Fidelity. 

Durbin began making history at Cetera and within four months, he recorded his second big win for the broker dealer.  

He drew down the firm's cash to buy Avantax for $1.2 billion and convinced the firm's majority owner to replenish Cetera's diminished capital – after generating more forward progress than Cetera recorded in the five years since Genstar bought the firm in 2018.

Genstar is showering it with cash and praise in the bargain, according to the  $49 billion San Francisco private equity manager. 

Cetera Holdings owns Cetera Financial. Genstar reportedly paid about $1.7 billion in 2018 to gain controlling interest in Cetera Holdings. 

David Canter 

David Canter left Fidelity to take the helm at Kestra Financial-backed Bluespring Wealth Partners, but stepped down as president in Aug. 2023, just one year after he'd taken the post to focus on strategic initiatives.

The company announced the same month that Stuart Silverman, the current chairman, would be filling in and taking over the day-to-day management. 

“Elevating my involvement above the day-to-day management of the firm will allow me to focus more strategically on supporting what Bluespring does best – developing financial advisor partnerships that give business owners the flexibility, independence, support and resources they need to succeed,” Canter said in a statement.

Canter had left Fidelity in the summer of 2022 after 13 years. See: The 48-hour mystery of David Canter's Fidelity departure gets solved when RIA custody client steps forward with claim to his future but the headhunter lost his job to the headhunted

On Canter's LinkedIn page, he no longer lists his involvement with BlueSpring. Rather, he describes himself as CEO of Finley Point Strategy LLC, which appears to be a consulting firm.

Kartik Srinivasan

In the past six months, Schwab has seen tremendous turnover due to the merger of TD Ameritrade. Last fall, the company gave pink slips to 2,000 staff as it aimed to shave $500 million in expenses. See: Schwab 2,000-layoff aftershocks roil the industry as it's revealed top tech talent -- led by widely regarded veteran Kartik Srinivasan -- were axed, raising questions about future of Schwab innovation

Kartik Srinivasan who departed last November, was seen as a star at Schwab and critical to RIAs and the hundreds of vendors who do business with Schwab. He was managing director of third-party integration and authentication. This unit oversees user registration, login and password reset, social login, email verification and role-based access control. 

He quickly rebounded and snared the role as chief of Advyzon's new business. The company is a technology bundle for advisors of all sizes and he heads up Advyzon Institutional. See: Kartik Srinivasan bounces back from highly publicized Schwab layoff to work with a Morningstar 'mafia' of old colleagues at Advyzon to supercharge software offerings

“It’s more of like a brand-new business - everything from product and sales, marketing, to go-to-market, all of that, I'll be heading up for this institutional business," Srinivasan said in March when he started his new role. 

"I was fortunate to have several offers, and I have always been passionate about building technology for advisors.