Advisors join Concurrent from Edward Jones, RBC, other firms

Six financial advisors formerly managing hundreds of millions at various firms are moving to Concurrent Investment Advisors, pushing the RIA and custodian's asset total to nearly $10 billion.

Concurrent, founded in 2017 in Tampa, Florida, announced Thursday it had recruited advisors formerly managing $885 million at firms ranging from Edward Jones to RBC Capital Markets and other firms. Their joining Concurrent is expected to push the RIA aggregator's assets under management total to $9.7 billion, according to a press release.

The new advisors are coming to Concurrent in a variety of ways. Jason Hudson, formerly of Edward Jones, will work under his own brand, Hudson Wealth Management, based in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Dennis "Carl" Lambert and Lindsay Lambert, a father-daughter duo formerly with RBC, and Lora Hoff, formerly of Investment Planners, are all joining Concurrent's  Wealth Partners Alliance, a team managing $1.5 billion. Hoff will work out of Dallas and the Lamberts out of Houston.

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Meanwhile Ken and Tye Pipkin, a father-son team, are bringing over their independent RIA, Canopy Asset Management, which will continue to operate under its own brand from its office in St. Simons Island, Georgia. Making the move with them are Chief Operating Officer Jennifer Fussell and client relationship manager Kristen Moore.

Equity stakes in Concurrent

Concurrent CEO and founding partner Nate Lenz said his firm followed its standard plan with these new recruits and acquired minority, noncontrolling stakes in their advisory practices. He said that arrangement gives the firms capital to reinvest in their businesses while also allowing them to maintain independence.

"So they have an option, not an obligation, to sell a minority stake in their business," Lenz said. "We give them cash as well as equity in Concurrent in exchange for that stake. And they can leverage that to bridge any revenue gap in the move over to us."

Lenz said equity in Concurrent gives the new recruits a sense of interest in the larger firm.

"They benefit right from the collective," Lenz said. "So it's much easier to put the Concurrent hat on when necessary. So we love the dichotomy of, 'Hey, you're fully independent, right? We're there to support you. We know our role as your middle- and back-office service provider, your platform, your RIA. But at the same time, we're partners.'"

Private equity, other consolidation drivers

Concurrent is one of many large firms driving consolidation in the RIA industry. After slowing down during the Federal Reserve's recent interest rate-hiking campaign, signs suggest the trend is gaining steam again.

The industry-tracking firm DeVoe & Co. recently reported there were a record 39 merger and acquisition deals for RIA firms in October. That was nearly double the number for October last year and surpassed the previous monthly high of 33, set in January 2021.

"Although one shouldn't read too much into a single month of data, the surge in October's RIA M&A activity is a conspicuous spike following nearly three years of unremarkable activity," founder David DeVoe said in a statement.

Much of the consolidation is being financed, at least in part, by private equity. Concurrent gets support from Merchant Investment Management, a private equity firm that acquired a minority stake in the RIA aggregator in 2021.

Concurrent had formerly operated as an office of supervisory jurisdiction under the large independent broker-dealer Raymond James. It exited that relationship in 2022 in a bid for greater independence.

Offices of supervisory jurisdiction, or OSJs, are branch offices providing supervision and other services that would otherwise have to come from an independent broker-dealer's central office. Since leaving Raymond James, Concurrent has taken on Purshe Kaplan Sterling Investments as its broker-dealer.

Lenz said Concurrent's recruiting prospects continue to look strong in 2025. He predicted the firm will be able to pull advisors both from large wirehouses that have been giving up headcount to independent firms in recent years and independent broker-dealers. Yet another source of recruiting deals, he said, will be small RIAs looking for the benefits of associating with a larger partner.

"I think we're in the early innings of this," he said. "And I'd say that's backed up by what we're seeing in our pipeline. We're still continuing to see a lot of advisors that are breaking away, but we're also seeing advisors that are already independent that are looking to take that next step."