Three financial advisors managing $800 million in client assets went independent from two industry giants with a rapidly expanding midsize wealth management firm.
Managing partner Tripps Moog and co-founder Kendall Southerland left the JPMorgan Securities unit of JPMorgan Chase, and managing partner Hays Evans left Capital Group — the American Funds issuer's high net worth wealth division — to launch Atlanta-based
In an interview, Moog and Evans said they knew each other for nearly 30 years before starting the newly independent advisory practice. The "breadth of offerings" from Arkadios and its ability to provide both brokerage and advisory services helped draw them to the firm, Moog said.
"We've learned a whole lot and seen a whole lot of different platforms," Evans said. "Arkadios provides the flexibility that we wanted and the platform that we wanted to build."
Representatives for JPMorgan, where Southerland had spent three years and Moog had an eight-year tenure, declined to comment. Representatives for Capital Group didn't respond to a request for comment on Evans' exit.
Their moves represent the latest example of "advisors from different firms who know each other opting to team up and form their own independent practice," according to recruiter
"There's definitely a market for smaller independent hybrid broker-dealers who can provide advisors with more high-touch service," he said. "There are definitely advisors who would find that an attractive business model."
In 2022, Arkadios and CFD Investments tied for the two fastest expanding firms in the channel in terms of revenue growth, with each firm boosting their annual business by 30.14%. At $79.1 million last year, annual revenue at Arkadios has soared sixfold since 2018, when the firm was No. 51 in the IBD Elite.
"We are excited to welcome Tripps Moog, Hays Evans and Kendall Southerland to Arkadios," Paul Pilcher, the director of strategic partnership at Arkadios, said in a statement. "We appreciate their trust and look forward to helping them accelerate their growth as our partnership expands."
Moog and Evans started their careers in the industry in 1995 at The Robinson-Humphrey Company, according to their respective profiles on
The new firm's
"By going independent, you broaden your investment choices by getting access to all of Wall Street, plus smaller, regionally sourced investments and co-investing alongside family offices and private equity firms," according to Clover Capital's site. "Being independent also eliminates conflicts of interest or models for the masses designed to keep the least sophisticated advisor within the firm's investment guidelines — managing assets to the lowest common denominator. As an independent registered investment advisor, our founders know how to navigate the street — who to listen to for strategy and research, and who to trust for asset management."
