Murphy Takes Over the Reins at FSC Securities

Jerry Murphy has never launched an advisory practice, but he knows what it takes to make them successful.

That is why Advisor Group just appointed Murphy as president and chief executive officer of Atlanta-based FSC Securities, the company announced on Monday.

FSC is one of the three firms in Advisor Group’s independent broker-dealer network, along with New York–based Royal Alliance Associates and Phoenix-based SagePoint Financial.

Advisor Group, itself based in New York, is entrusting Murphy with FSC’s 50-year history in the business.

It helps that Murphy was an executive vice president of Advisor Group, and has been with the company for six years. During that time, Murphy created and implemented growth strategies for the firm, including the integration of it legal, compliance and technology systems.

All of that is done centrally now, Larry Roth, president and chief executive officer of Advisor Group, said in an interview on Friday.  

“Jerry is an excellent business person,” Roth said. “He knows many of our best advisors at FSC and will get to know them [even better] in this new role.”

Roth alerted the advisors at FSC Securities about Murphy’s new post last Friday, through in an internal letter. Financial Planning obtained a copy of the letter, in which Roth credited Murphy with helping create a growth strategy that has helped Advisor Group expand its business, retain its top advisors, and recruit some of the industry’s most respected advisors to the firm. 

“Jerry’s demonstrated capabilities, his knowledge of FSC’s culture, staff, and advisors, his deep roots in the Atlanta community, and his insights into the independent broker-dealer industry, make him the obvious choice to lead FSC into the future,” Roth wrote.

One of Murphy’s first tasks will be to start visiting advisors and listening to their input, Roth said. Murphy will also host the 2011 FSC National Education Business Conference in Phoenix, in September.

“We’re going to look to grow the FSC business year over year,” Murphy said. “We want to enable the [individual] reps to grow their businesses as well.”

Before joining Advisor Group, Murphy was a senior executive at Janney Montgomery Scott, where he worked closely with advisors and was on a number of business-focused committees. Before that, he was a director of the policy and practice team for the Nasdaq stock market. In that role, he led the team responsible for assuring the integrity of companies listed on the market.

Roth, who joined Advisor Group when Murphy did, had been interim president for the last six months. He replaced Mark Schafly, who held the reins at FSC Securities for a short time before leaving the company for family reasons.

Now, it seems that FSC Securities is settling into stable leadership.

 

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