Raymond James-affiliated Signature Wealth has added a team managing $220 million in client assets, boosting the practice’s overall head count to 18 advisors.
Lexington, Kentucky-based Gratz Park Private Wealth is made up of advisors Sherry Holley, Ginger Ford and Savannah Holley (Sherry's niece), alongside their operations specialist, Erin O’Brien. Together the group brings more than 45 years of industry experience to Signature.
After almost a decade with Hilliard Lyons, firm president Holley says the team made the “bittersweet” decision to move to Signature where they’d be able to take advantage of more sophisticated planning tools and greater flexibility to run their practice their way.
Holley and Signature Wealth Group managing partner Chip Munn were close colleagues when they were both at Hilliard Lyons. Holley says choosing to go to Signature over other possible firms had to do with a similar mindset she and Munn share.
“He has a lot of the same vision as far as how to create client experiences and processes and systems and things of that nature. We’re very similar in those ways,” Holley says. “We both have this big-picture vision of where we think we should move our practices and what we’re trying to do.”
Their goal is to build a practice serving high-net-worth clients, while also increasing gender diversity among the planning population. Holley also wants to work to develop Signature’s mentorship and training programs for younger advisors.
“My goal with this industry has been to introduce more females and one thing that really hit me was the fact that the broker-dealer we’re working with, Raymond James Financial Services had a lot of foresight back in the mid-'90s in creating the Women’s Advisor Network,” Holley says.
This support from Raymond James will help Gratz Park Private Wealth in its plan to increase gender diversity in the industry. Steps Holley and the team are taking include reaching out to universities in order to connect with younger soon-to-be professional women.
“We are going to coordinate with [Transylvania University and University of Kentucky] in working with women who have decided on business degrees or women who are interested in the business field but they don’t really know what to major in.”
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The team will be offering internship and shadowing programs as part of this initiative.
Signature completed the addition of Gratz Park Private Wealth on September 25, expanding its footprint to now include six offices in North Carolina, South Carolina and Kentucky.
“This team has been working in the high-net-worth space, with a concentration on helping women, for decades,” Munn says. “We knew they would be a great partner to provide insight to our advisors and their clients.”
Signature is powered by a force of 18 advisors and 38 total team members who collectively oversee more than $1 billion in assets. The firm is expecting to add two more offices this year, while evaluating other growth opportunities.
“We are building a forward-looking organization that is focused on continually improving the client experience, while also creating a collaborative community for our advisors,” Munn says. “The addition of Gratz Park Private Wealth reinforces the fact that our appeal to entrepreneurial advisors isn’t limited to the Carolinas.”
