Cetera Recruits $2.1 Billion Advisor Group From LPL in Wake of Atria Acquisition

Key Points

• Cetera recruited Sierra Ridge Advisor Group, a financial advisor practice overseeing about $2.1 billion in assets, from rival LPL Financial.
• Sierra Ridge, which has about 40 affiliated advisors, plans to expand beyond its six offices in California, Missouri, Oregon and Wisconsin.
• The firm also intends to create an independent registered investment adviser on Cetera’s Blueprint platform.

Wealth management company Cetera recruited a financial advisor practice overseeing approximately $2.1 billion in assets under administration from rival LPL Financial, adding to Cetera’s recruiting streak.

Photo: Courtesy of Cetera Financial Group

The practice, called Sierra Ridge Advisor Group, operates as an office of supervisory jurisdiction, providing additional resources to advisors that affiliate with it. Sierra Ridge, which has about 40 affiliated advisors, says it helps with compliance, staffing, technology, and marketing. It joined Cetera’s unit that serves enterprise-type groups like Sierra.

California-based Sierra Ridge is led by co-founders James Slaughter and Giancarlo Foti. It plans to expand beyond the six offices it currently has in California, Missouri, Oregon, and Wisconsin, according to Cetera. Sierra Ridge is seeking to expand in Mideast and East Coast states.

The firm also intends to create an independent registered investment adviser on Cetera’s Blueprint platform, which provides technology and services for RIAs. Slaughter says they joined with Cetera because it can support his firm’s strategy and help it connect with advisors seeking to join a firm like his.

“I know there are so many outstanding advisors who want to grow their practices while being client-focused but they’re not getting what they need from their broker-dealer or OSJ, and honestly, they feel abandoned on an island,” Slaughter says.

Slaughter and Foti had been registered with LPL Financial for 13 months before making the switch to Cetera. They were previously with Next Financial Group, which was acquired by Atria Wealth Solutions in 2019 and LPL acquired Atria in 2024.

San Diego-based Cetera has been striving to expand via recruiting and acquisitions. For instance, last month it picked up a former Commonwealth Financial Network advisor and his team which oversaw $608 million in assets under administration. The company says it serves approximately 12,000 financial professionals and institutions, which together oversee approximately $688 billion in assets under administration as of June 30.

Write to Andrew Welsch at andrew.welsch@barrons.com

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