Steward Partners has turned to a familiar face to fill out its executive ranks: a business development consultant at Raymond James, which has a partnership with the independent firm.
Rick Gaston will join Steward Partners as a divisional president of the firm’s mid-Atlantic division. He replaces Jeffrey Gonyo, who is now leading the firm’s new southern division.
Gaston joins Steward Partners at a moment of big change for the firm,
The firm needs more talent such as Gaston to accommodate that growth, says Doug Kentfield, head of wealth management at Steward Partners. Since its founding in 2013, Steward Partners has taken on more than 142 advisors and currently has north of $100 million in revenue.
Kentfield notes the firm has added new locations, in Austin, Texas for example, and is moving into a new office in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, one of its original locations, after growing out of its existing space.
“It’s not just the number of advisors; it’s the opportunities. We built these offices so we can expand into them, and we have new market opportunities,” Kentfield says.
Gaston says he was attracted to Steward Partners in part because of that growth. Plus, he was already familiar with many of its employees, including Gonyo and Kentfield. Gaston’s eight years of experience at Raymond James, where he helped recruit advisors for the firm’s independent side, will be an asset in his new role, he says.
“I’d like to think that knowing the people in the home office, many of them being friends, is a benefit. I think it enhances my ability to talk to someone, knowing who to call,” Gaston says.
He will be based in Steward Partners’ headquarters in Washington. Gaston says he expects advisor movement, which picked up after a coronavirus-related pause earlier this year, to increase in the months ahead.
“I would say that the momentum into next year is even stronger than it was going into 2020,” Gaston says.
Word of mouth will help, says Kentfield, adding that more than half of the firm’s recruits this year came via referrals from advisors at Steward Partners.
“To me, that really says something; that people are excited about this firm and they want other people to work here.”
