The COO Roundtable

Matt was joined by Amy Flourry, Director of Operations of Rehmann Wealth, and Maria Millner, Partner and Head of Operations of Transcend Capital Advisors. Rehmann Wealth is headquartered in Lansing, MI, with additional offices in Ohio and Florida, and advises on approximately $4 billion across private client and retirement plan assets. Transcend Capital Advisors is headquartered in Madison, NJ, with additional office locations in Michigan and Florida, and works with approximately $3 billion in client assets and has 40 employees. Matt, Amy, and Maria have a deep conversation on the struggles of work/life balance in a hybrid environment, as well as:

Matt was joined by Jeremy Massullo of Concurrent and Dr. Jordan Hutchison of RFG Advisory for Episode 70.  Jeremy was Concurrent’s very first employee seven years ago, and currently serves as VP of Operations. The firm is headquartered in Tampa, FL, started as an OSJ on Raymond James’ platform, and currently has approximately $9.5 billion of client assets. Jordan serves as RFG’s Vice President of Technology and Operations. RFG Advisory is headquartered in Birmingham, AL, and manages approximately $5.5 billion with 65 employees. Matt, Jeremy, and Jordan tackle many operational topics that RIAs struggle with, including:

We are joined by Jina Yi of Wealth Architects and Victoria Latham of Parallel Financial and the Fiduciary Alliance for Episode 69. Jina has been with Wealth Architects, headquartered in Mountain View, CA, since 2007 and was appointed the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Compliance Officer in 2021. The firm employes 25 team members, managing close to $2 billion in assets under management for approximately 400 clients. Victoria is the Director of Operations for Parallel Financial, located in Greenville, South Carolina, and also the Chief Compliance Officer for Fiduciary Alliance, a roll-up of which Parallel Financial is one of 11 member firms under Fiduciary Alliance. Matt, Jina, and Victoria have a wide-ranging conversation covering their varied histories in the industry (including Victoria’s time as a police officer!), as well as:

Episode 68 could very well be the most impactful episode we have recorded. For five and a half years, The COO Roundtable has highlighted the incredible work COOs perform daily across the RIA industry. As such, we’ve tended to focus on the tactical elements of the job: How do you effect change at your organization? How do you approach technology or process implementations? How do you tackle your never-ending to-do list?

In this episode, Matt focuses on the essential soft skills required for the COO role and interviews author Rachel Lebowitz about her research and new book, “Empowered COO – Eliminate Burnout, Resentment and Self Doubt as a Second-in Command.” After revealing his own past insecurities related to the role of COO, Matt asks Rachel to not only define the role of “Second-in-Command,” but to explain what about this unique position leads to burnout in so many cases (Rachel points out that the average COO engagement at a firm lasts about two and a half to five years).  During this far-reaching conversation, Matt and Rachel discuss:

With Episode 67, we are joined by Meghan Martin of Apella Wealth and Chrissy Lee of Merit Financial Advisors.  Meghan is the newly appointed Chief Operating Officer at Apella Wealth, headquartered in Hartford, CT.  The firm advises on approximately $4.35 billion and has 93 employees across 16 office locations.  Chrissy is the Chief Operating Officer at Merit Financial Advisors headquartered in Atlanta, GA. The firm manages approximately $12 billion of client assets and currently has close to 250 employees firmwide, with 48 locations around the United States. Matt, Meghan, and Chrissy focus their conversation on the operational aspects of mergers and acquisitions in the RIA space, but also hit on other topics near and dear to our listeners, including:

For Episode 66, we break the rules of a “roundtable” and have only one guest, Carolyn Armitage, joining Matt for a deep conversation around our industry’s continuing evolution of turning practices into businesses.  It was a real thrill for him to interview one of his most respected RIA leaders for this conversation.  As he states in the introduction, his Mount Rushmore of RIA practice management leaders consists of Mark Tibergien, Michael Kitces, and Carolyn Armitage.  You will see very quickly why he holds Carolyn in such high regard.  From her time heading up LPL’s enterprise business management consulting business, to acting as a “change management catalyst” as managing director at Echelon Partners, to running Thrivent Advisor Network, Carolyn has become an expert in strategic planning, organizational design, succession planning, and maximizing enterprise value.  She has now hung her own shingle and started Carolyn Armitage Consulting, where she acts as a CEO Whisperer – helping RIA owners better lead their people, form more precise strategic plans, drive change within their organizations, and create better enterprise value and succession solutions.  During this deep conversation, Matt and Carolyn discuss:

We are joined by Rebecca Davis of Greenspring Advisors and Joe Klein from The Bahnsen Group for Episode 65.  Rebecca is the Director of Operations at Greenspring, headquartered in Townson, MD with additional offices in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.  The firm has 41 team members and manages approximately $6.8 billion.  Joe has the dual role of Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director of the firm’s Family Office offering.  The Bahnsen Group is headquartered in Newport Beach, CA with offices in 6 other states.  The firm manages about $5.5 billion of client assets and employs 60 team members.  Matt, Rebecca, and Joe discuss what makes their firms unique from a cultural standpoint, as well as:

In this episode, Matt welcomes COO Adrian Chastain of Gratus Capital and Partner and COO Kailee Ostroski from Connecticut Wealth Management.  Gratus Capital manages approximately $3 billion of client assets, has 50 team members, and is located in Atlanta, GA.  Connecticut Wealth Management, in Hartford, CT, has 65 team members and oversees about $3.3 billion of client assets.  Matt, Adrian, and Kailee discuss what it means to be an RIA Operations professional, the core focus on People, Process, and Technology, as well as:

In his third ever monologue “rant,” Matt takes a break from our normal interview format to speak directly to RIA owners and COO candidates to discuss the “Do’s and Don’ts of COO Onboarding.”  Referencing conversations with COOs, past articles he’s written, and former podcast guests, Matt urges RIA owners to have a clear understanding of what they need from their next Operations hire before beginning a search (how will you know you’ve found a good candidate if you don’t know exactly what you are hiring for?).   He also recommends that newly-appointed COOs consider the firm’s capacity for change as they look to make recommendations to add efficiency and scale to their new RIA.  His ultimate goal is for COO candidates and RIA owners to use this episode as the foundation for productive conversations during the interview process to ensure the right people, with the right level of experience, are being hired for the right roles.  During this episode, Matt hits on the following topics:

We are joined by Megan Hannah of Emerald Advisors and Spencer Rand from Five Oceans Advisors for Ep 62.  Megan has the unique position of Chief Operating Officer and Portfolio Manager.  Emerald Advisors is located in Bellevue, WA and manages approximately $700 million of client assets.  Spencer has the dual role of Director of Operations and Chief Compliance officer at Five Oceans Advisors, headquartered in Los Angeles with a fully remote staff, managing around $500 million.  Matt, Megan, and Spencer discuss their varied histories in the business, the fact that both guests have earned their Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation, as well as:

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