Wells Fargo recruits from UBS, Osaic, Merrill

Wells Fargo's indy channel recruits from UBS, Osaic, Merrill

August 22, 2025 11:59 AM

Raymond James continues to pull advisors from Commonwealth Financial Network amid that firm's purchase by LPL Financial.

Meanwhile, Wells Fargo's channel for independent advisors picked up teams from UBS, Osaic and Merrill, and Cetera pulls a team from B. Riley Wealth Advisors. Read about it below.

Wells Fargo recruits for its indy channel from UBS, Osaic and Merrill

Wells Fargo has turned to UBS, Osaic and Merrill to pull in advisors managing $879 million in total.

The teams are joining Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, or FiNet, the firm's channel for independent contractor advisors. James Leonard and Daniel Mason are joining Millennium Private Wealth in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Leonard and Mason had previously managed $404 million at UBS. Leonard started his career in 1994 at Smith Barney, and Mason started his in 2000 at Merrill. Both joined UBS in 2015 from Morgan Stanley following stints at various firms.

Also in Raleigh, Brian Carr and Phil Romano are joining Sullivan & Associates Wealth Management at Wells Fargo's FiNet. They had previously managed $324 in client assets at Osaic. Carr started his career at Morgan Stanley in 2011 and moved in 2014 to Signator Investors, a firm that in 2018 became part of Osaic (then called Advisor Group.) Romano started at Allegheny Investments in 2013 and moved to Signator Investors in 2017.

And Donald Stegall is joining Heirloom Wealth Advisors, another FiNet practice, in Wilmington, Delaware. Stegall had managed $151 million at Merrill and started his career at Morgan Stanley in 2011 before moving to Merrill in 2016.

Cetera pulls in team with $600M in assets under administration

Cetera is extending its presence in the Cleveland area with an advisory team pulled from B. Riley Wealth Advisors.

Oasis Asset Management Group, a seven-person group led by Michael Zawatsky, has joined Summit Financial Networks, a regional division of Cetera. The Oasis team, based near Cleveland, had $600 million in assets under administration at B. Riley.

Zawatasky has 31 years of industry experience and joined B. Riley in 2007 after stints at various firms. The Oasis team includes two support staff members. Its five advisors have worked together for 30 years.

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Raymond James recruits $300 million team from Commonwealth

Raymond James is continuing its streak of adding advisors from Commonwealth Financial Network amid that firm's acquisition by LPL Financial.

Jeremy Lobo, Chris Pascale and Michael Mendillo have joined Raymond James Financial Services, the firm's channel for independent advisors, from Commonwealth, where they had previously managed $300 million. Commonwealth was acquired at the start of this month by its longtime industry rival LPL Financial in a deal valued at $2.7 billion.

Raymond James has been the biggest gainer of advisors who have decided to leave Commonwealth since the purchase plans were announced in March, according to a recent tally of departees. Lobo, Pascale and Mendillo are bringing over a practice that they founded in 2001 and ran at Commonwealth for more than 24 years.

Lobo started his career at LPL in 1997 and moved to Commonwealth in 2001. Pascale started at John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance in 1994 and joined Commonwealth also in 2001. Mendillo began his career at Commonwealth in 2014.

Former Steward team joins Dynasty to start $850M RIA

A father-son advisory team and one of their colleagues have left Steward Partners to start their own practice with support from Dynasty Financial Partners.

Clear Trail Advisors will start off with $850 million in assets under management, according to Dynasty. The Houston-based firm is run by the advisors Randy Price and his son, Matt, along with their colleague Matthew Kerns.

The firm will specialize in working with "the millionaire next door," or affluent clients looking to invest to produce income and find ways to lower their tax bills. Clear Trail Advisors will use Charles Schwab as its custodian.

The Prices had previously run a practice at Steward Partners, an employee-owned RIA partnership, called The Price Group. Randy Price had been a managing director at Steward and, before joining that firm, had been at RBC for 18 years.

Dynasty is a financial network that provides technological support and other back-offer services to 57 firms and more than 500 financial advisors with more than $115 billion in assets under management, according to its website. Dynasty scrapped plans in 2022 to put shares on the market through an initial public offering and instead sold a minority stake in itself to Charles Schwab and the private equity firm Abry Partners. Last year, it raised more capital from BlackRock, JP Morgan Asset Management and Schwab.

Cresset buys Monticello Associates with $124B in client assets

The large RIA and multifamily office Cresset is boosting its asset tally to more than $200 billion with its purchase of the institutional wealth firm Monticello Associates.

Chicago-based Cresset announced this week that the purchase deal will combine Monticello's $124 billion in assets under advisement with the $72 billion it already has under management. Monticello, based in Denver, specializes in working with foundations, endowments and family offices.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Cresset plans to maintain Monticello's brand and bring on its entire 58-member team.

Large RIAs have been increasingly looking to build their businesses by taking on partners serving institutional clients. Last week, for instance, the investment advisory SaveView Advisory Group announced it had acquired Capital Strategies Investment Group, a large retirement consultancy and wealth manager in Illinois.

Cresset was founded in 2017 by a pair of former private equity investors, Eric Becker and Avy Stein, to manage their own families' assets. It sold a minority stake in itself late last year to the private equity fund Constellation Wealth Capital.