Steward Partners filled a vacant executive position by tapping a former wirehouse manager already known to several advisors and leaders at the independent firm.
Troy Erickson will serve as a divisional president at the Raymond James-affiliated firm, overseeing advisors and recruiting in New England.
In making the move, Erickson returns to wealth management after a sojourn from the industry to run his family’s business following his father’s death.
At Steward, he will reunite with several former colleagues from his time at Smith Barney and Morgan Stanley.
“I was looking to get back into the industry, but to do it in a way that made sense,” Erickson says, citing opportunities to grow Steward’s business, recruit advisors and work with old colleagues once again.
Steward Partners has been on an aggressive recruiting push for several years running. Founded in 2013 by former wirehouse managers, the firm now has more than 100 financial advisors operating from more than 20 offices.
Last year, private equity firm Cynosure Group took a minority stake in Steward Partners, which said it would use some of the funds to make payments to other equity partners and fuel additional expansion efforts.
More often than not, wirehouses were on the losing side of these moves.
Last month,
In handling these presumably short-term restrictions, Erickson says advisors’ health concerns had to come first. “It’s about their ability to take care of their families and loved ones,” he says, noting he can easily connect with potential recruits via telephone or virtual meetings.
When restrictions on movement abate, Erikson says he’ll be ready to hit the ground running.
Erickson started his career at Merrill Lynch in 1995, and later worked at Smith Barney where he was a manager in Boston. After the merger with Morgan Stanley, he was transferred to Cincinnati. In 2011 he returned to Boston to work at UBS.
“I think about my days with Smith Barney and there is no question that was the happiest I had ever been in the business,” Erickson says.
In 2017, he left wealth management to run the family business, a metal distributor.
He’s now reconnecting with several former colleagues, including Hy Saporta, chief operating officer, and Ali Mandalinci, an advisor in Boston.
A former and now current colleague, Doug Kentfield, head of wealth management at Steward Partners, says Erikson is a good choice for the role, given his ability to connect with advisors.
Kentfield recounts running into Erickson at a Panera Bread in Boston several years after both men had left Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. “We had this great, engaging conversation and I kept thinking to myself this guy is a real connector, a real people’s person,” Kentfield says. “It’s funny how you remember little things about people.”
