In the wake of an acquisition that nearly doubled its size but ushered in a recruiting push, Advisor Group tapped Erinn Ford for a newly created advisor engagement role.
The 30-year industry executive previously served as CEO of KMS Financial Services, one of five Ladenburg Thalmann wealth managers
Even as Advisor Group’s parent firm engaged
Effective Feb. 3, Advisor Group
“It's really important that our internal teams as well as financial professionals feel that sense of community and connection in what they do,” she says. “They do such important work with clients. We wanted to take the time to just let them know something that we uniquely appreciate about each one of them and why.”
Recruiting and retention of advisors looms especially large for Advisor Group, after it rolled up KMS and two other midsize ex-Ladenburg firms
Ford will remain involved with some of Advisor Group’s external recruiting, she says, though she reports to the firm’s president of advice and wealth management, Greg Cornick. Her duties include creating a new means of sharing feedback between practices in the field and executives in the corporate office and developing new retention strategies.
"Throughout her distinguished career, Erinn has demonstrated a knack for rapidly understanding what keeps financial professionals up at night and creating actionable, innovative, and high-impact solutions for their businesses,” Jamie Price, CEO of Phoenix-based Advisor Group, said in a statement. Advisor Group itself changed hands in 2019, when Reverence Capital Partners bought it from Lightyear Capital and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board of Canada for
In her new job, Ford will stay in the Pacific Northwest, but, as travel becomes more feasible, she expects to travel to practices around the country and to Advisor Group’s corporate offices. Like Ford, more than 1,000 advisors from KMS, Investacorp and Securities Service Network changed their BD registration to Securities America after Advisor Group’s deal last year.
Before joining KMS in 2018, Ford was president of Cetera Advisors for six years. In 2012, Advisor Group’s rival IBD network purchased a firm founded by Ford’s parents called Pacific West Securities, where she had worked alongside them for 20 years. Other KMS team members also joined Advisor Group and Securities America after the consolidation, Ford says.
“What I’m most passionate about is relationships and building that trust and confidence with financial professionals,” she says. “Even though advisors are learning a new home, there's a lot of familiarity with it, as well.”
