Acquisition of MarketRiders Boosts Offerings

Former Scottrade executives Jonathan Yao and Kristopher Wallace announced the acquisition of the robo-advisory firm MarketRiders. It was acquired through its parent company Sogo Financial Group, which also owns the discount broker SogoTrade.

“For nearly 10 years, MarketRiders has provided its Do-It-Yourself clients with powerful portfolio building tools,” says Wallace. “MarketRiders is now introducing its new managed portfolio service—where we help investors build portfolios and then manage and periodically rebalance the portfolios for them.” 

MarketRiders will buy and sell exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for their clients and automatically rebalance for them, eliminating the need for clients to manually enter trades. Managed account holders will no longer owe subscription fees or trade commissions. Instead, they will be charged an annualized fee.

Yao, SogoTrade’s CEO since 2014, was previously the director of Scottrade’s Asia Pacific operations, where he built a $5 billion division within Scottrade. 

“With the addition of MarketRiders, we can now provide SogoTrade customers with multiple ways to trade and invest,” says Yao. “We offer great technology coupled with SogoTrade’s outstanding customer service. We’re very excited to offer our customers advanced trading and managed solutions to help them meet their financial goals – both in the near term and for retirement.”

NEXT: GW&K Appoints New Partners 

GW&K Investment Management (GW&K), an investment management firm offering active equity and fixed income investment solutions, has named Robert L. Gray, James M. McCarthy, and Brian T. Moreland as partners of GW&K. 

“We are very pleased to have Bob, Jim and Brian as partners of the firm,” says Harold G. Kotler, chief executive officer and chief investment officer. “In an investment environment that continues to change and present new challenges, we are happy to have professionals of their caliber help us provide a broad spectrum of top-tier investment solutions and resources for our clients. We look forward to their continued success.” 

Since joining the firm in 2001, Gray has developed many of GW&K’s strategic distribution relationships and serves as head of national accounts. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Denison University.

McCarthy, who joined the firm in 2003, is director of GW&K’s client service group and has managed key relationships in the firm’s Private Client business. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Marist College, and a master’s degree in finance from Boston College. He has also earned the CFA designation, and is active in several industry organizations including the CFA Institute and the CFA Society Boston.

Moreland joined the firm in 1998 and he serves as a portfolio manager for the municipal bond team and as a member of GW&K’s Investment Committee. He graduated from Boston College with a bachelor’s degree in finance and earned the CFA designation. He participates in many industry organizations including the Boston Municipal Analysts Forum, the National Federation of Municipal Analysts and the CFA Institute.

NEXT: Apriem Advisors Appoints VP of Wealth Management

Apriem Advisors Appoints VP of Wealth Management

Apriem Advisors, an Irvine, Calif.-based wealth management firm, has promoted Landon Yoshida, CRPC, to principal and vice president of wealth management. He leads the firm’s Refinery Retiree Practice, serving current or soon-to-be retirees from ExxonMobil’s refinery operation in Torrance, California, now Torrance Refining Company. This model, which he devised a decade ago will expand to serve Southern California’s growing population of retirees in the aerospace sector.

“The expansion of this practice into other industrial retiree segments is a significant step in Apriem’s growth strategy,” says Harmon Kong, chief wealth manager and founding principal of Apriem Advisors. “Under Landon’s leadership, we look forward to adding new clients and serving them with the highest degree of integrity.”

Yoshida joined Apriem in 2011 as a wealth manager after working at a large investment firm as an adviser.

“I am proud to be a part of Apriem family and am incredibly honored to be named a partner,” Yoshida says. “They have shown me tremendous support, and together we will grow our Industrial Retiree Practice for many more years.”

Located in Irvine, California, Apriem Advisors is an independent, registered investment advisory firm.

NEXT: Pentegra Appoints Regional Directors

Pentegra Appoints Regional Directors

Pentegra Retirement Services announced that John Low and Joe Reese have joined the organization as regional directors for qualified retirement plan sales. Low will spearhead the company’s business development efforts throughout Michigan, Missouri and Southern Illinois; meanwhile, Reese will lead efforts in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and Washington, D.C.

“We are very pleased to have John and Joe join our growing team,” says Pete Swisher, Pentegra senior vice president of National Sales. “With extensive industry knowledge and strong track records of professional success, Joe and John will be instrumental in marketing Pentegra’s qualified retirement plan and fiduciary outsourcing solutions to advisers and their clients and will further broaden our expertise and bench strength.”  

Low has spent more than 15 years in the industry specializing in product construction, plan design and administration. Before joining Pentegra as a regional director, he served similar roles with Transamerica Retirement Services and Nationwide Financial. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Bowling Green State University. He maintains FINRA Series 7 and 63 licenses and holds Missouri Accident and Health, Life, and Variable Annuity licensing.

Reese brings to the firm more than 20 years of experience in the industry. He’s worked at Western Division for Unified Trust, Mutual of Omaha and Manulife Financial. He earned his bachelor’s degree from St. Lawrence University. Reese holds AIF and QPFC designations.

Pentegra is a provider of retirement plan and fiduciary outsourcing solutions to organizations nationwide.

NEXT: Milliman Hires Employee Benefits Senior Consultant

Jeffrey Nipp has joined global consulting and actuarial firm Milliman as a senior consultant in its Employee Benefits unit. He will be tasked with evaluating, researching, constructing, and monitoring multi-asset class portfolios, with an emphasis on public pension plans. Nipp has more than 30 years of experience having worked for Invesco, BlackRock, Watson Wyatt and Towers Perrin.

"Jeff is a valuable addition to the Employee Benefits practice at Milliman with a varied range of experience that will be an asset to the firm,” says Rich Wright, principal at Milliman. “He has a proven track record of successfully meeting clients' needs and is widely respected in the industry. We're excited to have him join our team."

Nipp says, "I'm thrilled to join an organization that places such a high value on independence and excellence. This role will allow me to focus on producing the best results for clients, and to do so at a firm which has a reputation for thoughtful analytical work that is second to none in the industry." 

NEXT:Capital Investment Companies Partners with Pershing

Capital Investment Companies Partners with Pershing

Independent broker/dealer Capital Investment Companies has entered into a multi-year relationship with Pershing, which provides its advisers with an extensive platform of services through their Ensemble Platform.

The Ensemble Platform offers a team of professionals with comprehensive services working together as one for the client.

“Pershing is a world class clearing firm and we are excited to offer our investment professionals the additional capabilities that Pershing brings to the table,” says CEO Richard Bryant. “Pershing’s longstanding commitment to the financial services industry mirrors Capital’s dedication to our core values of integrity, independence and innovation.”  

Jim Crowley, chief relationship officer for Pershing adds: “Pershing is committed to helping Capital Investment Companies support the success of their investors. By providing their investment professionals with a strong foundational platform that delivers industry-leading technology, Pershing is providing innovative solutions to help them grow their businesses and more efficiently service their investors.”

Capital Investment Companies is comprised of Capital Investment Brokerage and Capital Investment Group registered broker/dealers.

NEXT: USI Insurance Acquires Carolina First Associates

USI Insurance Acquires Carolina First Associates

USI Insurance Services (USI) has acquired Carolina First Associates, an employee benefits insurance adviser. Carolina First Associates and its employees will remain at their current location in Hickory, North Carolina. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

"Since 1980, Carolina First Associates has built its reputation on helping businesses navigate the intricacies of evaluating and purchasing employee benefit plans, wellness programs and employee education and communication strategies,” says James W. Dunn, USI Southeast regional chief executive officer. “Their consultative approach to cultivating long-term relationships aligns perfectly with the USI ONE Advantage and we are thrilled to welcome Sam and his team to USI. We look forward to continuing to invest in the Carolinas and to bringing our game changing approach for delivering solutions to clients, associates and local communities."

Samuel E. Rhodes, principal and owner, Carolina First Associates, adds: "Our depth of experience in the ever-changing era of health care reform has helped us to understand and overcome the high costs and limited options faced by most businesses. With this acquisition, our clients will continue to enjoy this high touch, specialized customer care, but now they can tap into USI's expanded suite of employee benefits, retirement consulting and personal risk solutions. We are excited to be joining a nationally recognized company and to playing an important role in growing USI's footprint in this strategic growth marketplace."

NEXT: Westminster Consulting Hires Senior Consultant 

Matt Barber has joined Westminster Consulting as a senior consultant. He will lead the firm’s new business unit Westminster Workplace Solutions, which is dedicated to providing advice and guidance services to retirement plan participants.

Before joining Westminister, he served as wealth adviser and founder of Barber Financial for more than 10 years. He earned his bachelor’s degree from SUNY Fredonia, where he majored in business. Barber has received the industry designation of Accredited Investment Fiduciary (AIF).

Westminster Consulting provides fiduciary advice, counsel, and investment analysis to boards of directors, trustees, investment committees, and more.