Cetera, Morgan Stanley win big in Advisor Moves

Northwestern Mutual loses big team to Cetera, Merrill to Morgan Stanley

October 17, 2025 9:00 AM

Pillar Financial Group, a 34-member team, has joined Cetera from Northwestern Mutual.

Cetera Financial Group announced the recruitment of an advisor team with nearly $2 billion in assets under administration from Northwestern Mutual.

Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley picked up a team from Merrill, Janney Montgomery Scott added practices from UBS and Morgan Stanley and LPL Financial recruited a new practice for its employee channel from Janney. Check out details on those moves, notable deals and more below.

Cetera draws $1.8 billion AUA team from Northwestern Mutual

Cetera Financial Group is extending its presence in the Pacific Northwest by recruiting a 34-member advisory team for Northwestern Mutual.

Pillar Financial Group, based in Seattle, is joining Cetera Advisors, which provides various types of technological assistance, regulatory support and back-office services to independent advisors. Pillar Financial had roughly $1.8 billion in client assets at Northwestern Mutual, including $500 million held in retirement accounts.

The team is led by CEO Luke Madsen, who started his career at Northwestern Mutual in 2003. Cetera's network of financial professionals includes roughly 12,000 advisors and $590 billion in assets under administration and $263 billion in assets under management.

Morgan Stanley recruits $1B team from Merrill

Morgan Stanley has pulled a prominent advisory group from Merrill Lynch in New York City.

The team, which managed $1 billion in client assets and generated an estimated $6 million in annual revenue, is known as the Lewkowitz-Gersten Wealth Management Group. It's led by the advisors Harry Lewkowitz and Jeffrey Gersten. Joining them on their support staff are Walter Mould, Kevin Greenan and Lauren Nardone.

The advisors are now working out of Morgan Stanley's Midtown Wealth Management Center on East 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan. They report directly to market manager Damon Gallagher and branch manager Carl Jean.

Lewkowitz began his career in 1979 and worked at Thomson McKinnon Securities and Balfour MacLaine Financial before first moving to Merrill in 1990. He went to Smith Barney and UBS before returning to Merrill in 2016.

Gersten started at Merrill in 1999, followed by time at Smith Barney and UBS, before also rejoining Merrill in 2016. This recruitment deal was first reported by the industry publication AdvisorHub.

Janney draws teams with $550M AUM from UBS, Morgan Stanley

Janney Montgomery Scott has pulled a couple of advisory teams with $550 million in total client assets from the wirehouses UBS and Morgan Stanley.

Belice Leininger Private Wealth has joined Janney in Pittsburgh. The two-advisor practice had formerly managed $350 million at UBS.

The team consists of the financial advisors Allen Belice, also senior vice president of wealth management, and Kaitlyn Leininger. Belice started his career at Lehman Brothers in 1992, moved to Smith Barney the following year and then UBS in 2004. Leininger started at UBS in 2019.

Separately, Lord Kirstien Wealth Management joined Janney in Media, Pennsylvania. The three-member team comes from Morgan Stanley, where they had managed $200 million in client assets.

The group consists of the financial advisors Bruce Lord and John "Jack" Kirstien, both also first vice presidents of wealth management, as well as the private client associate Kristin Jones. Lord has 36 years of industry experience. He joined Smith Barney in 2001, which was partly acquired by Morgan Stanley in 2009, following stints at various firms. Kirstien has 19 years of experience and joined Morgan Stanley in 2018 following time at Prudential and various other firms.

LPL brings $330M team from Janney into employee channel

LPL Financial has gone to Janney Montgomery Scott for its business division for direct employees.

Stephen Carleton and Tom Niles have gone to Linsco by LPL, the firm's employee advisor channel, to start Paddock and Pine Wealth Partners. They had previously managed $330 million at Janney in Saratoga Springs, New York.

Carleton started his career at Merrill in 2003 and joined Janney in 2008, after time at Morgan Stanley. Niles started at Merrill in 1992 and moved to Janney in 2015 after stints at various other firms.

LPL's Linsco was started in 2019 to give financial planners the option to join the firm as employees rather than as independent contractors, which is what most LPL advisors are. Linsco provides various types of support services from a field management team, including help with marketing and technology.

LPL doesn't break out headcount for each of its channels but has reported having more than 29,000 advisors in total.

NorthRock Partners buys $2.7B team formerly at Ameriprise

The RIA NorthRock Partners is moving further into northern California with its purchase of an advisory team formerly affiliated with Ameriprise.

WGG Wealth Partners, a 15-advisor practice out of the Sacramento, California, suburb of Roseville, has joined the Minneapolis-based NorthRock Partners. The terms of the deal weren't announced.

NorthRock offers its clients what it calls a "personal office," bringing together investment management, tax planning, estate planning, help with philanthropic giving and other specialties. Before the purchase of WGG Wealth, NorthRock had over 3,300 clients and was managing $9.4 billion in assets.

Beacon Pointe acquries $944M Sensible Financial Planning

The RIA aggregator Beacon Pointe is extending its presence in Massachusetts with the purchase of a firm with $944 million in client assets.

Sensible Financial Planning, based in Waltham, Massachusetts, has joined Beacon Pointe's network of firms in the Boston area. Its addition pushes Beacon Pointe's asset tally to roughly $54 billion.

Sensibile Financial Planning is a 21-person team with expertise in retirement planning and tax planning, insurance analysis, estate planning and investment management. It has offices in both Waltham and San Diego, California.

Sensible Financial partner and managing director Rick Miller said the firm will keep its locations, employees and clients even as it becomes part of Beacon Pointe. "Clients have found value in our approach, as evidenced by our growth to over 350 clients and approximately $1 billion in assets under advice," Miller said in a statement.

Beacon Pointe now has more than 600 employees working out of more than 75 offices in the U.S.

Bahnsen Group launches division for institutional advisors

The Bahnsen Group, a wealth management firm with $8.2 billion under management, is starting a division for advisors who work with institutional clients.

TBG Institutional Advisory Services will specialize in working with nonprofit organizations, universities, foundations and endowments with between $10 million and $100 million in investable assets. The unit will be led by private wealth advisor Robert Graham and director of investment solutions Kenny Molina.

Even before forming TBG Institutional Advisory Services, The Bahnsen Group was working with institutional clients.

"From universities to churches to think tanks, there are organizations out there that we can serve with a sophisticated service model, in a highly cost-efficient way, above and beyond the turnkey experience so many institutional clients currently receive," founder and chief investment officer David Bahnsen said in a statement.

The Bahnsen Group was founded in 2015 by a group of advisors formerly at Morgan Stanley. It has gone from having $600 million in client assets and eight team members to more than $8 billion in assets and 88 team members in 10 offices throughout the U.S.

The Bahnsen Group is part of the RIA aggregator Hightower Group. Hightower owns firms managing nearly $325 billion in client assets and has nearly 660 advisors.