Ex-Sanctuary CEO Jim Dickson launches new firm for growth-focused RIAs

investmentnews.com:

Jim Dickson, the former CEO of Sanctuary Wealth, has teamed up with fellow industry icon Mark Penske to launch a growth-focused wealth management firm dedicated to supporting independent-minded advisors and RIAs.

The newly launched firm, Elevation Point, aims to enhance the growth and independence of its partner firms through strategic investments, ranging from minority to majority stakes. The firm also provides its partners access to integrated services, technology, and support.

“Our mission at Elevation Point is clear: to partner with advisors who have a growth mindset, and who refuse to turn their back on their core values in order to achieve that growth,” Jim Dickson, CEO of Elevation Point, said in a statement announcing the new firm.

Jim Dickson was previously the founder and CEO of Sanctuary Wealth, which has become one of the top hybrid RIA platforms in the industry. By 2023, the firm had amassed $25 billion in assets and 76 partner firms across 28 states.

Dickson was abruptly ousted in February last year, replaced by industry veteran Adam Malamed. That was after the board at Sanctuary “received information that evidenced that Mr. Dickson had not conducted himself in accordance with the requirements of his employment contract and his duties and obligations as CEO,” according to his BrokerCheck report.

“As we stated in February 2023, Jim Dickson was terminated for cause by the Board, and beyond this, Sanctuary has no comment,” a spokesperson for Sanctuary told InvestmentNews.

Dickson also served as an executive at Merrill Lynch for two decades.

“In an industry being disrupted daily through continuous aggregation, we are bucking the trend and providing acceleration support to our partners that will not require them