Dave Barton, vice chairman of M&A at Mercer International Advisors, one of many nation’s largest and most acquisitive registered funding advisors, has retired.
Barton, 58, stepped away from the corporate to pay attention his power on an ongoing well being situation, the corporate confirmed. Martine Lellis, the agency’s former chief expertise officer till she was promoted to principal of M&A companion growth in Might, will tackle Barton’s function.
“I’m deeply proud to have performed a task in Mercer Advisors’ substantial evolution and development over the previous 25 years,” Barton stated in a press release. “I stay a dedicated shareholder with a robust perception within the firm’s mission and future. I’ve full confidence within the firm and my colleagues as they companion with advisors to assist them obtain the success they envision for his or her agency.”
Underneath Barton’s management in M&A, Mercer has accomplished 89 offers—over 10 a 12 months, on common—representing $41 billion in belongings beneath administration since 2016.
That features the 2022 acquisition of Regis Administration Firm, a $4.4 billion RIA with workplaces in San Francisco and Menlo Park, Calif., the agency’s largest deal so far.
Earlier than devoting himself full-time to acquisitions, Barton spent 9 years as CEO of Mercer. He stepped down from that function in 2017, eager to spend extra time on dealmaking than administration. Dave Welling, who beforehand led efficiency reporting behemoth Black Diamond, succeeded him as chief government. Since that transition, the agency has grown from slightly below $10 billion in AUM to about $64 billion. Barton was twice named RIA M&A Chief of the Yr by the judges for the WealthManagement.com Business Awards, first in 2018 and most not too long ago in 2024.
“This can be a second the place there’s each respect and reverence for all of the issues that Dave contributed to the enterprise but additionally immense confidence within the crew we now have and the place we’re as a enterprise,” Welling stated. “I believe Mercer’s develop into greater than anyone individual. We’ve constructed a platform that individuals are drawn to, and attracted an infinite quantity of expertise over the previous a number of years to amplify what the enterprise was after I joined.”
Barton joined Mercer in 2000 as common counsel, with subsequent roles as president and chief working officer. Earlier than Mercer, he labored as a trial lawyer in California. He earned his undergraduate diploma on the College of California, Irvine, and a J.D. from the College of the Pacific McGeorge College of Legislation.
He grew to become chief government in 2008 and was the architect of Mercer’s built-in wealth administration mannequin, which introduced a number of shopper companies collectively beneath one roof. That features monetary planning, funding administration, property planning, tax, and insurance coverage, typically buying smaller practices with the established enterprise strains and executives Mercer wanted.
“Once we name ourselves an integrator, not an aggregator, individuals are becoming a member of the crew and becoming a member of that imaginative and prescient,” Welling stated. “It’s excess of operational integration; it’s a perception that the buyer deserves a greater wealth administration expertise and deserves extra worth, and that the buyer doesn’t need to be the one in the midst of attempting to coordinate conversations between their tax advisor, their property planning lawyer, their monetary planner, and their funding supervisor, and others.”
Underneath Barton, Mercer was among the many earliest unbiased RIAs to elevate M&A exercise from pursuing one-off offers to institutionalizing the course of with a full-time crew to discover and vet goal companies, construction offers and onboard the acquired advisors. In February, the RIA employed 5 new executives for the M&A companion growth and integration groups.
That features Andy Burgess, former regional director of enterprise growth at NewEdge Advisors; Greg Mayes, former vp of strategic enterprise growth at LPL Monetary; and Jay Robinson, former managing director at Schwab. Lellis, now overseeing M&A companion growth, stated Mercer has over 40 offers within the pipeline—although not all will probably be finalized.
Mercer additionally added Stacy Orff, former managing director and head of selling at DeVoe & Firm, as a vp of platform advertising and Jeff Dadamo, a former government at Dimensional Fund Advisors, as senior director of M&A funding integration.
Mercer International Advisors was based in 1985 as a fee-only monetary planning agency by property planning lawyer Kendrick Mercer.
“Dave led this by himself within the early years, and he was an extremely succesful one-man band,” Welling stated. “However now we’ve constructed an orchestra of oldsters who assist make sure that not solely do we now have the fitting conversations with potential companions, however we’re positioned to assist these companions understand their desires after they develop into a part of Mercer.”
