Securities America, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services, announced that a consortium of independent financial advisors with $2 billion in client assets and a Super OSJ with $1.5 billion in client assets have transitioned to its independent advisory and brokerage platform.
The consortium’s 35 advisors are based on the east coast. Mike Rees, Bay View Capital Advisory Group, St. Petersburg, Florida, serves as the group’s OSJ.
“We’re a unique, totally independent group of advisors,” said Rees. “It takes a special broker-dealer to understand what independence means to us. We run as a single unit – collaboratively.”
Decision-making responsibilities don’t fall on any one advisor’s shoulders, said Rees. When Hurricane Irma threatened his home state of Florida and put his home office visit to Securities America in jeopardy, Rees didn’t hesitate. He asked fellow advisors David Blaydes and Joshua Kadish to step in and go without him.
Not every broker-dealer can provide the type of onboarding these large groups require, said Gregg Johnson, Securities America executive vice president of branch office development and acquisitions.
“We’re experienced at welcoming large groups of independent advisors,” Johnson said. “Especially highly independent ones.”
Growth and recruiting are important to the consortium, Rees said, and aligning with Securities America will make recruitment that much easier.
The group recently recruited Edward Knowles and Mark Friedman of Florida-based Private Wealth Management & Consulting. Knowles serves as the firm’s president and works out of Tallahassee. Friedman’s office is in East Point.
The Denver-based Super OSJ, co-managed by Brenda Wille-Cope and Gary Stirk, has more than 30 advisors in Colorado, Arizona, Washington and New York. Stirk is the group’s registered principal and manages the New York branch. Wille-Cope oversees the Colorado, Washington and Arizona branches.
Wille-Cope is managing partner of First Financial Strategies, Denver. She was preceded by managing partner Phil Lubinski, who spearheaded the search after their broker-dealer was sold in late 2017. Lubinski is the co-creator of the Income For Life Model™, the matrix for Securities America’s NextPhase program. He also co-developed IncomeConductor™, which was recently approved for Securities America advisors.
