The COO Roundtable

The COO Roundtable Episode 48 By PFI Advisors   For our first podcast of the new year (and our fourth year running!), Matt is welcomed by two exciting guests – Daryl Seaton, President at Sowell Management and Barrett Karvis, Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of Edge Capital Group. Sowell Management is headquartered in North Little Rock, Arkansas.  Founded as a TAMP, they recently celebrated 20 years in business and have 29 employees. They currently manage $4B in AUA. Edge Capital Group is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 2007, their AUM as of last year was approaching $5 billion and currently have 37 employees. Matt, Daryl, and Barrett chat about how their roles as operations professionals intertwine with their firm’s inorganic growth strategies and much more including:   Who supports them running their larger than average RIAs The role of the COO in talent acquisition and talent management How each guest balances scalability with customization What metrics they use to judge the health of their organization   We hope you enjoy, share, and subscribe!   You can listen and subscribe on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.   Sign up here to be notified of new practice management content added to our blog on a regular basis.  

The COO Roundtable Episode 47 By PFI Advisors For our final episode of 2022, we were joined by two incredible members of our COO Society community: Julie Allen, Vice President of Business Operations at FirstWave Financial, and Chris Pelch, Chief Operating Office of Vance Wealth.  FirstWave Financial began as a CPA firm in 1995 with a strong family foundation aimed to help its clients “deal with the complexity that wealth brings.”  They are located in Satellite Beach, Florida, and currently have $400M in AUM and a team of 12 employees.  Vance Wealth was founded in 2003 and helps its clients tackle important questions they face when looking to retire. They have two offices in California, $450M in AUM, and a team of 18 employees.  During their discussion with Matt, Julie and Chris tackle both the Human Resources and Operations component of their roles and much more including: The different strategies each firm has used to successfully onboard new employees How each guest handles ongoing new-employee engagement and career development The steps each guest takes when evaluating different vendors Time management tips and tricks Their top initiatives for 2023 We hope you enjoy, share, and subscribe! You can listen and subscribe on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Sign up here to be notified of new practice management content added to our blog on a regular basis.

The COO Roundtable Episode 46 By PFI Advisors Our latest episode of The COO Roundtable features a rare single-guest format.  Stacey McKinnon of Morton Wealth recently wrote an important paper titled, “Your Career is Up to You” which features Philip Palaveev of the Ensemble Practice.  Matt and Stacey discuss the paper by turning the spotlight inward and instead of focusing on how listeners can help their firms achieve more growth, they discuss ways everyone can be more fulfilled and successful in their professional life.  Matt and Stacey have an honest and revealing conversation about their own career paths and much more including: What it means to really “own” your career How you can’t become the best version of yourself without the help of others Common obstacles people face in their careers and how to overcome them Keys to standing out in your organization to ultimately advance your career How to keep your sanity through it all! We hope you enjoy, share, and subscribe! You can listen and subscribe on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Sign up here to be notified of new practice management content added to our blog on a regular basis.

The COO Roundtable Episode 45 By PFI Advisors Our latest episode of The COO Roundtable features two leaders of relatively young and evolving RIAs. We are joined by Michael Wagner, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Omnia Family Wealth and Ben Gurley, Director of Heartwood Wealth Advisors.  Omnia Family Wealth was launched in 2015 and started with a team of 5 members. Currently headquartered in Aventura, Florida, they are now a team of 11 people and advise on $2.2B in assets.  Heartwood Wealth Advisors joined the RIA space in 2019. They are headquartered in Richmond, VA, have 11 employees, and $1B in AUM.  Together, Matt, Michael, and Ben (who both service clients in an advisory capacity in addition to operations) tackle the question, “Does make you better at operations or vice versa?” and much more including: Each guests’ career path, including Ben’s background as a middle school teacher and Michael’s experience joining the family business How each guest manages both the operations portion of their role as well as the additional responsibility of firm ownership How each firm is evolving to meet the needs of their clients Each guest discusses how operations has helped their firm grow organically How each guest approaches talent management, a hot topic at many RIAs today! We hope you enjoy, share, and subscribe! You can listen and subscribe on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Sign up here to be notified of new practice management content added to our blog on a regular basis.  

 In the “Reggie Jackson episode” of The COO Roundtable, Matt welcomes two thoughtful leaders of their organizations, Principal and Chief Compliance Officer of SYM Financial Advisors, Crystal Creekmore, and returning guest Gary Bonner, COO of Southwestern Investment Group.  SYM Financial Advisors is headquartered in Winona Lake Indiana and has 5 offices across Indiana and Michigan. Founded in 1968, they are currently in their 3rd generation of ownership. They manage $3.7B in AUM and have 68 employees.  Founded 20 years ago, Southwestern Investment Group is headquartered Franklin, Tennessee. They currently have 11 offices across 5 states and manage $5.5B in AUM with 176 employees.  Together, Matt, Crystal and Gary discuss how solid operations can better communication both within the firm and with clients directly, and much more including: Professional background of each guest, including how Crystal's kindergarten teacher served as a job reference when she applied at SYM Financial Advisors Each guest’s view on the dual-hatted role of COO/CCO Guests discuss whether it is best to centralize or silo operations How each firm tracks the status of projects and tasks How RIAs can leverage portal technology to communicate with clients Each guest shares how they have used the EOS framework within their firm We hope you enjoy, share, and subscribe! You can listen and subscribe on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Sign up here to be notified of new practice management content added to our blog on a regular basis.

In our latest episode of The COO Roundtable, Matt welcomes two impressive guests: Amanda Barrale, Chief Platform Officer of Moneta and Eric Sontag, President and Chief Operating Officer of Wealthspire.  Moneta is headquartered in St Louis and has offices in Kansas City, Denver, and Boston and currently manages $32.8B in AUM with 440 employees. Wealthspire is headquartered in New York City and has 19 offices around the country.  Founded in 1995, they manage $19B in AUM and have 270 employees. Together, Matt, Amanda, and Eric have a great discussion about building RIA Operations at scale and much more, including: The crucial role Operations plays in M&A The balancing act of offering customization to clients in a scalable fashion The conundrum of centralizing operational tasks vs. allowing advisory teams to work independently How each firm uses data intelligence and transparency to communicate to the broader firm, especially in a hybrid work environment Career paths for Operations team members We hope you enjoy, share, and subscribe! You can listen and subscribe on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Sign up here to be notified of new practice management content added to our blog on a regular basis.

In our latest episode, Matt welcomes two incredible guests: Kristie Clayton, Integrator at iMatter and the Visionary Forum, and Melissa Bushman, VP of Operations at AltruVista.  Kristie’s experience in banking and credit unions led her to wealth management where she found her true passion – leading teams and developing people to their full potential.  Melissa brings a history of project management consulting, sports and entertainment, and non-profits to her current role at AltruVista.  In this episode, Matt, Kristie, and Melissa discuss their role as an “integrator” and the impact it has on their firms. Other topics of discussion include:     How each guest was introduced to the EOS system and how they have implemented it in their roles Kristie’s creation of FIM (Female Integrator Mastermind) developing from a desire to foster a community of likeminded individuals The difference between “Chief Operations Officer” and “Chief Operating Officer” How each guest gets everything done in their busy schedules Training and career paths for operations roles We hope you enjoy, share, and subscribe! You can listen and subscribe on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Sign up here to be notified of new practice management content added to our blog on a regular basis.

For the 41st episode of The COO Roundtable, Matt welcomes three special guests from Vestia Personal Wealth Advisors – CEO and Co-founder, Lauren Oschman, Co-founder and board member, Tommy Martin, and Partner and Chief Operating Officer, Brad Quick. Vestia has offices in Fort Wayne, IN, Indianapolis, IN, Los Angeles, CA, and Omaha, NE. They currently manage $500M and specialize in serving physicians. Together, Matt, Lauren, Tommy, and Brad have an insightful discussion about how focusing on their niche has helped Vestia become more efficient, knowledgeable, and consistent in providing stellar service to their clients’ unique needs.  Other topics of conversation include:   Each guests’ career paths and the skills they bring to Vestia’s leadership team How Vestia uses the EOS framework in their firm Their approach to succession planning The specific metrics Vestia uses to gauge the health of the organization (their answers are amazing, and we suggest you have a notepad handy!) How they use a physician’s heart transplant model as a roadmap for their employee development We hope you enjoy, share, and subscribe! You can listen and subscribe on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Sign up here to be notified of new practice management content added to our blog on a regular basis.

In the 40th episode of The COO Roundtable, Matt welcomes two extremely thoughtful and strategic guests, Yonhee Gordon, Principal, Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Marketing Officer of JMG Financial Group, and Christine DeMao, Chief Operating Officer and Managing Partner of Gibson Capital.  JMG Financial Group is headquartered in Downers Grove, IL just outside of Chicago. They recently celebrated 38 years in business, have 86 employees, and currently manage $4.7B in AUM.  Celebrating 33 years in business, Gibson Capital is headquartered in Wexford, PA, currently manages $2.3B, and has 15 employees.  Together, Matt, Yonhee, and Christine have a comprehensive discussion on the many ways a COO impacts the firm, including culture, creating a consistent and outstanding client experience, and much more, as they cover:   Their firms’ respective backgrounds, including ideal clients, service offerings, and growth trajectories Their professional backgrounds, including Yonhee’s lengthy tenure at JMG and the experience Christine brings with her 15 years at Gibson Capital   How to promote RIA ownership within the firm for not just those on the advisor track, but for those in operations roles as well Which Key Performance Indicators each guest keeps their eye on Steps each firm is taking to balance in-person vs. remote work to ensure everyone is on the same page We hope you enjoy, share, and subscribe! Read the full transcript here. You can listen and subscribe on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Sign up here to be notified of new practice management content added to our blog on a regular basis.

This month’s episode features two incredible guests: Rob Ziliak, Chief Operating Officer at Buckingham Wealth Partners and Ryan Armock, Head of Operations at Thrivent Advisor Network.  Founded in 2019, Thrivent currently has 450 employees, and manages $6.5B in AUM.  Buckingham Wealth Partners, a well-known RIA founded in 1994, currently manages $65B in collective assets between Buckingham Strategic Wealth and Buckingham Strategic Partners and has 540 employees.  Together, Matt, Rob, and Ryan discuss the effect their respective roles play in creating and ensuring a great client experience and much more, including: An overview of each firm and their respective strategies for growth How each firm has adapted their business throughout the pandemic and the long-term effects of these changes What our guests are doing to attract the best talent in the current job market How our guests’ roles in operations impact their firm’s M&A strategy  We hope you enjoy, share, and subscribe! You can listen and subscribe on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Sign up here to be notified of new practice management content added to our blog on a regular basis.   Investment advisory services offered through Thrivent Advisor Network, LLC., (herein referred to as “Thrivent”), a registered investment adviser. Advisory Persons of Thrivent provide advisory services under a “doing business as” name or may have their own legal business entities. However, advisory services are engaged exclusively through Thrivent Advisor Network, LLC, a registered investment adviser. Thrivent Advisor Network reported over $5.3 billion in AUM in its latest annual Form ADV filing. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans is ranked 369 on the Fortune 500. (Fortune Magazine, June 2021). Correction: When Ryan Armock states, "…and that brings us to where we are at today with about six and a half billion in assets under management, about 450 employees and about 300 IARs.” the correct number is 200 IARs.