Former Royal Alliance CEO Starts Super-OSJ With First Allied

When Arthur Tambaro retired as CEO of Royal Alliance under then-Advisor Group CEO Larry Roth, he thought that was the end of both his career and their partnership. One year later, Tambaro has returned to the business amid Roth’s recently appointed leadership at Certera Financial Group.

Tambaro will no longer report to Roth in his new independent venture with Tambaro Financial Service, a Super-OSJ utilizing service platforms at Cetera's independent broker-dealer First Allied Securities.

Tambaro says the move, while unexpected, makes sense in his career path. "Larry [Roth] and I have known one another for a long time, and I obviously trust, respect and admire him enormously," Tambaro said. "But the First Allied focus on practice management and the firm’s unique culture and talented leadership team were the key ingredients that attracted to me to this new relationship."

Before filing for retirement in January 2014, Tambaro most recently served under Roth as CEO of Royal Alliance for seven years, plus 16 years as COO. As of October 2014, Royal Alliance reported roughly $3.4 billion in assets under management with more than 21,000 total clients, according to SEC filings.

Roth took a new position as Cetera's CEO in May 2014. It was during that time that Tambaro said he decided on plans to start a Super-OSJ with his son and now business partner Louis Tambaro.

"I decided retirement wasn’t for me," he said. "Louis was indicating that he would like to get into this business for some time, outside of being a lawyer."

Under the terms of their agreement, Tambaro Financial Services plans to recruit independent advisory practices and teams to utilize both the commission and fee-based services of First Allied’s broker-dealer and registered investment advisor (RIA) platforms. In return, the Red Bank, N.J.-based firm says they plan to provide a wide range of, "turnkey transition, advisor marketing, strategic coaching and back and middle office services."

"Tambaro Financial Services intends to build a new business model specifically engineered to drive sustainable growth for sophisticated business owners with established and sizeable financial advisory practices," he said. "We believe First Allied is an ideal broker-dealer to support my firm’s efforts to evolve and enhance the engagement model between independent platforms and the successful independent advisors they support."

Prior to the partnership, First Allied reported $31 billion in assets under administration and 785 affiliated financial advisors as of Dec. 31, 2014. Kevin Keefe, First Allied's president and CEO since May 2014, said while he too has a close relationship with Roth, discussions surrounding the Tambaro Financial Services were, "fairly recent."

"From our initial meetings, it became very clear that both of our firms embrace the importance of a relationship-driven culture when supporting business owners of the industry’s most sophisticated financial advisor practices," Keefe said. "We are committed to supporting and servicing independent advisors to help them expand, build and promote their practices."

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