The COO Roundtable

In the fifth episode of The COO Roundtable, host Matt Sonnen was thrilled to sit down with Heather Fortner of SignatureFD and Lucas Winthrop of Winthrop Wealth Management.  SignatureFD, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, currently manages approximately $3.5 billion in client assets with over 80 employees. Winthrop Wealth Management, located in Boston, Massachusetts, manages about $1.1 billion in client assets with 17 employees. Matt, Heather, and Lucas discuss the steps they take to put time back into the hands of their advisors and much more, including: The history and background of SignatureFD and Winthrop Wealth How Heather and Lucas came into their current COO roles Where the two see the COO role fitting into the broader organization How Heather and Lucas allocate their time to the dozens of responsibilities COOs are tasked with daily The initiatives they take as COOs to help build and uphold firm culture The never-ending debate: buy vs. build when it comes to an RIA’s technology stack The balancing act required between 1st generation and next-gen employees, and the need for appreciation and communication on both sides We hope you enjoy, share, and subscribe! To subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, click here or to subscribe on Google Play, click here. We are increasing the frequency of our own RIA practice management articles – to be notified of new content, click here.

In the fourth episode of our podcast, The COO Roundtable, Matt sat down with Tom Harms of Summit Trail Advisors and Stacey McKinnon of Morton Capital Management.  Summit Trail Advisors manages about $5.2 billion in client assets across five office locations: New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, and Washington D.C.  Morton Capital Management, located in Calabasas, California, manages roughly $1.8 billion in client assets.  Matt, Tom, and Stacey discuss the core values and structure they’ve instilled at their respective firms and much more, including: The history and background of Summit Trail and Morton Capital Their individual professional experiences and how those experiences have shaped their roles today Stacey’s extensive work in career pathing and establishing Morton Capital’s 5 E’s Tom’s comprehensive risk management work he’s done across all of Summit Trail’s teams Stacey’s standardization of Morton Capital’s client-facing marketing material and the greater importance this initiative has had on their organization Tom’s crucial role in Summit Trail’s aggressive M&A strategy The networking groups and industry consultants that Tom and Stacey turn to for peer insights and professional help How Tom and Stacey see their role as COO fitting into the greater organizational structure We hope you enjoy, share, and subscribe!  

In the third episode of our podcast, The COO Roundtable, Matt was thrilled to sit down with Trevor Chuna and Shaun Kapusinski of Sequoia Financial Group, an RIA in Akron, OH managing over $4 billion.  Trevor, also featured in our latest White Paper, is the Chief Technology Officer and Shaun is the Director of Technology and Operations at Sequoia.  Matt, Trevor, and Shaun dive deep into how Sequoia has evolved the client experience through technology and much more, including: The history and background of Sequoia Financial Group Their respective professional experiences and how those experiences have shaped their roles today How Trevor and Shaun manage the inevitable growing pains of implementing new technology in an acquisitive firm The key differences Trevor sees between his CTO role and a more traditional COO role Their extensive work in building out firmwide use of Salesforce Trevor’s development of Sequoia’s financial planning platform Shaun’s networking group founded for operations professionals, HIFON Sequoia’s recent acquisition of LJPR Financial Advisors (a $776 million RIA) Shaun’s new book, The Financial Advisor M&A Guidebook, co-authored with Greg Friedman of Private Ocean We hope you enjoy, share, and subscribe!  Be sure to keep an eye out for Episode 4, which will feature Stacey McKinnon of Morton Capital Management and Tom Harms of Summit Trail Advisors.  Both firms manage roughly $1.8 billion and $5.2 billion in client AUM, respectively. To subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, click here or to subscribe on GooglePlay, click here. To learn more about Shaun’s networking group, HIFON, click here. To purchase Shaun’s book, click here.

In the second episode of our podcast, The COO Roundtable, host Matt Sonnen sits down with Gary Bonner of Avalon Advisors and Mike Lee of LourdMurray.  Also featured in our most recent white paper, Gary and Mike are two accomplished Chief Operating Officers who have been catalysts for incredible growth at their respective RIAs.  Matt, Gary, and Mike detail how the COO of an RIA really acts as a firm-wide business consultant; how they are more than a just technology guru; and much more, including: The history and background of Avalon Advisors and LourdMurray Their professional experiences and how they influence their approach to their current roles How Gary and Mike cope with the natural growing pains of firms their size What they feel is the main focus of their role at their respective firms The two tackle the age-old debate: profit vs. growth The networking groups they turn to for practice management insights And finally, what makes for a successful day We hope you enjoy, share, and subscribe!  Be sure to keep a lookout for Episode 3, which will feature Trevor Chuna and Shaun Kapusinksi, two operations professionals from Sequoia Financial Advisors, an RIA in Akron, OH managing over $4 billion. To read the executive summary of Episode 1, please click here.  

In our inaugural episode, Matt sits down with Jeff Fuhrman of Coastal Bridge Advisors and Tony Craun of Sand Hill Global Advisors.  These two were gracious enough to be profiled in our latest white paper, “Exploring the Benefits of Professional Management for RIAs: A Deeper Look into Chief Operating Officers.”  Matt, Jeff, and Tony discuss the strategies they incorporate to successfully tackle their day-to-day responsibilities, help their firms grow, and much more, including: The history and background of Coastal Bridge Advisors and Sand Hill Global Advisors How their personal experiences affect their current roles in their respective firms How Jeff and Tony handle inevitable challenges that come with the growth their firms have experienced Tony dives deeper into Sand Hill Global Advisors’ millennial hiring campaign Jeff describes Coastal Bridge Advisors’ hyper-specific job descriptions, and how they maintain their relevancy How their respective firms view M&A/industry consolidation, and how they personally influence those views within their respective firms And finally, what makes for a successful day in their roles? We hope you enjoy, share, and subscribe!  And keep a lookout for Episode 2, which will feature Gary Bonner of Avalon Advisors and Mike Lee of LourdMurray. To read Matt’s introductory blog post, please click here.    

I am thrilled to announce the launch of The COO Roundtable, Powered by PFI Advisors; our latest endeavor in championing the role of operations professionals within the RIA industry.  This podcast series will feature panel discussions with Chief Operating Officers at some of the country’s leading independent firms.  We plan to highlight operational best practices and the benefits that professional management can bring to an RIA. Our inaugural guests will be the COOs most recently highlighted in PFI Advisors’ white paper, “Exploring the Benefits of Professional Management for RIAs – A Deeper Look into Chief Operating Officers:” Gary T. Bonner of Avalon Advisors, Jeff Fuhrman of Coastal Bridge Advisors, Michael Lee of LourdMurray, and Anthony Craun of Sand Hill Global Advisors. We view this podcast as a natural extension of our core mission here at PFI Advisors: To further evolve the RIA industry from a collection of practices to businesses, and to be a continued voice in validating the industry as a legitimate landing spot for billion-dollar teams and their clients. With the goal of shedding light on the tremendously important work COOs perform every day in the trenches, this podcast is a bit of a passion project of mine, as I have seen throughout my 20-year career in financial services that operations professionals are widely viewed as “cost centers” and not “revenue generators” within sales organizations.  Industry luminaries such as Mark Tibergien, David Canter, and Philip Palaveev have been advocating for the professionalization of our industry for some time, and we intend to demonstrate that without leveraging a Chief Operating Officer, RIAs cannot achieve the organic or inorganic growth initiatives they set for themselves.  We strongly believe that COOs are needed to free the owners of these organizations from the daily minutiae of running a business. As Jeff Fuhrman said during his interview for our recent white paper, “It’s the Chief Operating Officer’s duty to be in the wings, supporting the role of the advisor.  Leave the management of the firm to the COO, and they will make sure advisors get what they need so they can do the most effective job for their clients.” We at PFI Advisors are declaring 2019 as the “Year of the COO” in the RIA Industry and aim to spend the year illuminating the hard work successful Chief Operating Officers bring to their respective firms through The COO Roundtable.   Our featured COOs will discuss how they overcome challenges pertaining to the day-to-day administration of their firms; how they maintain a holistic view of their organization’s culture; how they drive workflow improvements; and how they navigate the human resources element of being a COO, all at once.  We’ll also look to share their stories of hanging pictures on the walls, drilling holes in desks, and duct taping phone cables together, as no job is ever beneath a competent COO. Our goal is to help the industry realize the massive value Operations professionals bring to RIAs.  Every advisory firm struggles with the goal of providing high-touch service to a larger and larger client base in a scalable and efficient fashion.  It is the COO’s job to execute the owner’s vision through people and technology, and to execute that vision profitably. We hope you take a listen, subscribe, and enjoy!