Merrill loses a team to NewEdge; RBC to Raymond James: Advisor Moves

April 4, 2025 2:38 PM

Merrill, NewEdge Advisors, Morgan Stanley, RBC Wealth Management and Raymond James all figured this week on the losing or winning ends of big recruiting deals.

Meanwhile, LPL Financial — with its planned purchase of Commonwealth Financial Network later this year — wasn't the only firm to announce a big M&A deal. Mercer Advisors and EP Wealth Advisors also extended their reach with some notable acquisitions. Read all about it below.

Merrill loses $1.4B team to NewEdge Advisors

NewEdge Advisors, a registered investment advisor that's part of NewEdge Capital Group, has turned to Merrill to recruit a nine-person team in Florida.

The group, now known as Krueger, Fosdyck, Brown, McCall & Associates, had been managing $1.4 billion for Merrill in Destin, Florida. It's led by founders Tim Krueger, Cory Fosdyck, Jerry Brown and Collin McCall, who are being joined by the senior wealth advisors Nina McClanahan and Gabe Campbell.

New Orleans-based NewEdge Advisors is the independent contractor division of NewEdge Capital Group, which also includes the separate RIA NewEdge Wealth and the broker-dealer NewEdge Securities. NewEdge Capital Group is in turn owned by EdgeCo Holdings, which receives backing from the private equity firm Parthenon Capital and Waterfall Asset Management.

NewEdge Capital manages about $60 billion in client assets through its three subsidiaries and has more than 450 advisors and registered representatives, according to its website. In joining NewEdge, Krueger, Fosdyck, Brown, McCall & Associates will custody their clients' assets at Goldman Sachs.

Krueger and Fosdyck were both at Merrill for the past 18 years. Krueger started at First Jersey Securities in 1983, then moved on to several other firms and eventually joined UBS in 1993. Fosdyck started his career at UBS in 2002.

Brown meanwhile first joined Merrill in 1987, moved to UBS in 1998 and Morgan Stanley in 2006 before returning to Merrill in 2014. McCall started at Merrill in 2012.

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Raymond James pulls $828M team from RBC

Raymond James has recruited an advisor trio from RBC Wealth Management to its channel for direct employees.

Brian Flader and his brother Michael Flader, along with Chris Young, are joining Raymond James & Associates in Scottsdale, Arizona. The team had previously managed roughly $828 million at RBC. Joining them are Brittney Beard and Jamie Turner, both client service associates.

Their new practice will be called Flader & Young Wealth Management of Raymond James and will serve business owners, families, individual clients, retirees and clients close to retirement.

Brian Flader started his career at UBS in 1995 and moved to RBC in 2008. Following a similar path, Michael Flader started at UBS in 1997 and went to RBC the same year as his brother. Young started at UBS in 2000 and also moved to RBC in 2008.

Raymond James recruits $465M team from Morgan Stanley

Raymond James has recruited a duo of advisors from Morgan Stanley to its channel for direct employees.

Jefferey Biederman and Andrew Burns moved to Raymond James & Associates to found Biederman Burns Wealth Management of Raymond James in Huntington, West Virginia. The duo had previously managed roughly $465 million at Morgan Stanley.

Biederman and Burns specialize in helping business owners, retirement plans, families and clients in or nearing retirement. Joining them are business manager Kelsey Patterson and senior client service associate Taylor Sherwood.

Biederman started at Morgan Stanley's Smith Barney predecessor in 1997. Burns began his career at Morgan Stanley in 2016.

Mercer Advisors adds more than $800M in AUM with two acquisitions

The RIA-aggregator Mercer Advisors is keeping up its pace as one of the most active acquirers in the industry with the purchase of financial planning firms in Kentucky and Tennessee.

The two acquired firms — D. Scott Neal in Louisville and Lexington, Kentucky, and Vishria Bird Financial Group in Memphis, Tennessee — bring more than $800 million in assets to Mercer. D. Scott Neal has more than $300 million under management and clients in 17 states. It's led by President and CEO Scott Neal, ice President and Chief Compliance Officer Jerome Zimmerer and senior advisor Richard Coles. The firm said in a press release that it's joining Mercer to gain greater access to its investment management, estate and tax planning tools and other resources.

Vishria Bird Financial manages roughly $583 million and specializes in working with U.S. citizens with ties to India. It has expertise in cross-border wealth transfers, business successions and multigenerational planning. The firm is led by Harish Vishria and Robert Bird, both founders.

Denver-based Mercer Advisors manages $71 billion in assets and more than 1,220 employees. It is majority-owned by the private equity firms Oak Hill Capital, Genstar Capital and AltasPartners.

EP Wealth Advisors acquires $660M practice

EP Wealth Advisors, a large fee-only RIA, is extending its presence in Northern California with a new acquisition.

EP Wealth announced this week that it is buying Peninsula Wealth, a San Francisco-based firm with $660 million under management, for an undisclosed amount. Peninsula specializes in providing financial planning and investment strategies to workers in the biotech and technology industries.

The addition of Peninsula complements EP Wealth's other Northern California locations in Berkeley and Walnut Creek. EP Wealth Advisors has its headquarters in Torrance in Southern California. It manages $31 billion in assets and has 48 offices in 16 states.

Osaic pulls chief legal officer from Meta

Osaic has gone to Facebook's parent company for its next chief legal officer and general counsel.

Saumay Bhavsar comes to the independent broker-dealer Osaic from Meta FinTech, a financial services division of Meta. She will join Osaic's executive leadership team and work to help advisors stay in compliance with constantly changing industry regulations.

Before joining Meta, Bhavasar had worked as global head of regulatory affairs at Credit Suisse and as a managing director at UBS. She spent the early years of her career in government, at the Office of the Comptroller of Currency and the U.S. Department of Treasury.

Citi pulls investment guru from Morgan Stanley

Citi has gone to Morgan Stanley to recruit an addition to the leadership team of its alternatives and investment manager solutions unit.

Citi announced in a memo Friday that it has hired Brian Rosevear as its head of third-party traditional single solution investments. Rosevear comes to Citi from Morgan Stanley, where he had been head of advisory platform strategy and model portfolios.

He will report to Dan O'Donnell, head of Citi wealth alternatives and investment manager solutions. His duties will have him leading the firm's investment business related to separately managed accounts, exchange-traded funds and other third-party vehicles.

Morgan Stanley names market exec for central New Jersey

Morgan Stanley has appointed Sarah Pittman as its market executive for its central New Jersey region.

Pittman has more than 17 years of industry experience and most recently worked as Morgan Stanley's market manager for its Annapolis, Maryland region.

Pittman started her career at a private equity firm in Bahrain in 2008. She returned to the U.S. in 2011 and joined Morgan Stanley as a financial advisor. She later became an associate complex manager in the firm's northern Virginia market and then a sub-complex manager in its Washington, D.C.-Annapolis market.