Wirehouse defections far from done, says Verdence Capital CEO

investmentnews.com:

Prior to founding Verdence Capital Advisors, Leo Kelly was a proud member, not to mention managing director and Circle of Champions inductee, of Merrill Lynch’s vaunted “Thundering Herd” of financial advisors.

Then Kelly went the independent route and never looked back.

“I was one of those one of those guys who bled Merrill blue and thought I would retire at Merrill. And when Bank of America bought Merrill and the culture changed, we started to look around. We discovered independence,” said Kelly, who left Merrill for Hightower in 2012 before starting Verdence in 2017.

Kelly said the big difference between running a book of business at Merrill and operating his own shop is the fact that he was a “practice manager dealing with specific client issues” at the wirehouse, while at Verdence he is an “entrepreneur.”

Verdence operates as a private wealth advisory and multifamily office firm headquartered in Hunt Valley, Maryland, with offices in Northern Virginia and Naples, Florida. The RIA currently boasts a head count of 45, with 18 of those employees being advisors.

“We don’t have the conflict of interests that exist in the wirehouse,” Kelly said. “And not only is it more fun to run the business, but it’s easier to grow the business. Our relationship with the client has also deepened in a way that I don’t think we had when I was at Merrill.” 

He said the steepest part of the learning curve after leaving Merrill and starting his own shop was putting himself in the mindset of many of his clients. In other words, thinking like a business owner. That means having to meet payroll, learn and install new systems, and do all the other things for himself that “Mother Merrill” used to do for him.

In terms of asset growth, Kelly says