Snowden Lane introduced it has recruited its seventh advisor and greater than $1 billion in shopper property in 2023. After passing $10 billion in complete shopper property over the summer time, the hybrid registered funding advisory agency oversees now greater than $10.5 billion throughout 27 groups working from 13 workplaces in 9 states.
Working as The Jones Group in Philadelphia, Associate and Managing Director William “Trey” Jones III, together with one extra group member, will set up a brand new Snowden Lane workplace in a tenth state, Pennsylvania, within the coming months.
Jones left Merrill on Friday, after a decade on the wirehouse. Most lately within the function of vice chairman, he began his profession in operations in 2013 and accomplished the Merrill Lynch Monetary Advisor program in 2017. He now focuses totally on serving to small enterprise house owners and philanthropic organizations handle wealth, taxes, retirement and a variety of different wants.
“He’s gifted in a whole lot of areas, however that’s actually the place his ardour is,” mentioned Snowden Lane President and COO Greg Franks, describing Jones. “He’s very disciplined, very course of oriented and his total focus is 100% on his purchasers and never on himself—that’s refreshing on this business. Once we sat down collectively, I knew he’d slot in completely, and he’ll.”
Franks mentioned he expects greater than 90% of the $230 million in property Jones managed at Merrill will comply with him to Snowden, primarily based on the agency’s monitor report.
At Merrill for practically three a long time earlier than becoming a member of Snowden Lane in 2012, Franks mentioned he’s been conscious of the youthful advisor for a lot of his 10-year profession. He was the one who reached out to gauge Jones’ curiosity in making a transfer.
“I do not need to communicate for him, however I feel that, like many different people who work for what are actually these very, very giant conglomerates, that are all banks, there’s a degree of frustration that builds up,” mentioned Franks. “Once you’re a small cog within the wheel of a company that has a whole bunch of hundreds of staff, it turns into onerous to get issues executed.
“I feel he is been feeling that stress over time and was on the lookout for independence—which is what we provide—and freedom,” Franks mentioned. “And I feel that us coming collectively at precisely the correct time when he had made that call, it labored out completely for each of us.”
“I’ve all the time sought to fulfill every of my purchasers the place they’re of their monetary journeys and ship bespoke options that meet their particular person wants,” Jones mentioned in a press release. “As I examined choices for the following section of my profession, Snowden Lane stood out as a vacation spot the place I’d be empowered to hold those self same values ahead.”
Based in 2011, Snowden Lane has grown nearly completely by way of the recruitment of financial institution and wirehouse advisors, on a mission to create a non-public partnership of employee-owners that embodies the very best of each the unbiased and institutional areas. All recruits are introduced in as W-2 staff and principals are supplied fairness within the transaction.
“We struggled to see how the 1099 mannequin produces worth,” Franks defined. “What we’re constructing is a real agency. Going again to the times once I began within the enterprise, most of the companies had been personal partnerships and we’ve recreated that mannequin. Our advisors are companions and managing administrators; it’s a really inclusive enterprise mannequin.”
Majority owned by Estancia Capital Companions since 2013, Snowden Lane additionally leveraged debt capital by way of ORIX Company to facilitate the recruitment technique since 2018. It reupped that credit score facility in January and proceeded so as to add The Upland Group and a brand new workplace in New Hampshire the next month, bringing over a group of three overseeing $212 million at Morgan Stanley. One week later, one other Morgan Stanley advisor managing $132 million made the leap to Snowden in Miami.
In June, the agency introduced in Douglas Gill, who was working his personal funding administration firm with $420 million in property after 28 years cut up between Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. And final month, the agency introduced the addition of a duo from UBS that suggested on round $200 million.
“We search for skilled advisors which can be in progress mode and are annoyed as a result of their present atmosphere just isn’t permitting them to try this simply,” Snowden Lane Head of Enterprise Growth Alison Burkett instructed WealthManagement.com’s Director of Editorial and Content material Methods David Armstrong final month throughout an RIA Edge Podcast. “So, we need to encourage our advisors to have entry to the services that they should develop. We offer all the back-office sources, so they do not should run their very own enterprise they usually can give attention to their purchasers.”
A few yr in the past, Snowden Lane added TD Ameritrade as a custodian alongside Pershing in anticipation of TD’s introduced sale to Charles Schwab. After what Franks described as a easy transition, the agency may welcome its first Schwab-based recruit earlier than the tip of the yr.
“I don’t need to overplay my hand,” Franks mentioned. “However there’s actually extra to return. It’s trying just like the fourth quarter goes to be very busy. And I’d say that, trying into the following yr, the pipeline of offers is the biggest it’s been in our historical past.”
