Jon Stein is stepping down as CEO of Betterment, a $25 billion robo advisor he founded a decade ago.
His departure is effective Dec. 8, although he will remain chairman of the company and will help his successor, Sarah Kirshbaum Levy, transition into the new role.
Levy, Viacom Media Networks’ former COO, joined Betterment for a “trial run” this summer as a full-time consultant, according to a
It’s not immediately clear why Stein is stepping down as CEO. A Betterment spokeswoman said in an email that “Jon is just ready for a change, and the time felt right for him.”
Stein said in the blog post that, “for some time,” he had been looking for an operating leader to “drive the company forward.”
“When I look at what is next for Betterment, the time has come for someone else to lead the company through its next stage of growth," he said in a statement published in a
A Betterment spokeswoman said that the time commitment for his role with the board will vary, but he will no longer have a full-time role — “for Jon a full time role often meant 70-80 hours a week,” she wrote in an email.
Betterment made its debut at TechCrunch Disrupt conference in
Clients pay 0.25% per year for Betterment’s robo product, according to the company. Phone access to CFPs cost 0.40% per year.
“Prior to robo advice, investors with less than $250,000 in investable assets had few affordable professional financial advice choices,” David Goldstone, head of research at Backend Benchmarking, said in an email.
Since the launch of robo advisor pioneers such as Betterment and Financial Engines, a slew of competitors have entered the market. There are now at least 41 providers, including big names such as Vanguard and Charles Schwab.
“Jon and the Betterment team are among the few independent robo-advice platforms that have reached the scale to both survive and stay independent,” Goldstone wrote in the email.
For a time, burgeoning robo advisors had financial advisors
Betterment added to its growth strategy by launching a new business to work with financial advisors. The unit, Betterment for Advisors, services about 550 firms. It started charging advisors monthly fees
Before serving as COO of Viacom Media Networks, Levy served as COO of Nickelodeon for more than 10 years, according to Betterment. She led Nickelodeon’s entrance into new segments including digital gaming, consumer products and resorts.
Levy is considering an IPO for the company, according to statements made to
“Betterment may be looking for someone who can help the company sustain its high level of growth with this hire,” Goldstone said in the email.
Stein, who worked in the communal space in Betterment’s Manhattan headquarters and didn’t have an office, laid out in the blog post how the company he started in 2010 had become an integral part of his life.
“At times, it feels like all of my being, every waking hour, every dream, is intertwined with my company. I am Betterment. There is nothing else,” he wrote.
Stein emphasized his confidence in Levy taking on the new role.
“A dream for me ... has been to build a sustainable institution, to build something that will outlast me,” Stein wrote in the blog post. “I’ve never taken a larger step toward that accomplishment than I am today in passing the torch to Sarah.”
