Incline Wealth
Bluespring Hires Former LPL Exec to Lead Organic Growth Push
Incline Wealth, Granite Heights, Wisconsin, United States
Bluespring Hires Former LPL Exec to Lead Organic Growth Push
Graeme Lee, former head of LPL’s advisor affiliation model, joins Bluespring Wealth Partners to help its RIAs with organic growth and practice management. Bluespring Wealth Partners, Kestra Holdings’ registered investment advisor acquisition arm, has hired a former LPL Financial executive and made other leadership changes to bolster organic growth and practice management for its RIAs. The firm has hired Graeme Lee as head of strategic growth. Lee will focus on leading the Austin, Texas-based aggregator’s RIA network regarding organic growth, the advisor experience and the integration of advisory-adjacent services within Kestra’s universe of companies, which range from insurance to health to asset management. Lee is leaving his role as senior vice president and business line owner for Strategic Wealth Services, LPL’s RIA affiliation channel, which he helped launch. Before that job, he had been with Kestra for eight years, leading the firm’s financial business consulting group. The move comes as Bluespring oversees an RIA network that has been growing since its launch in 2019, when it entered the market as a solution for RIAs needing succession planning solutions. In March, Bluespring brought on Charter Capital Management, a Brookfield, Wis.-based RIA, with $400 million in assets under management; in February, it announced the acquisition of Louisville, Ky.-based Reliant Wealth Planning, with $560 million in AUM. “At Bluespring we are very lucky to have a great group of entrepreneurial firms that grow well organically,” said Pradeep Jayaraman, president of Bluespring. “We want to be seen as a resource for our advisors from an organic growth perspective.” Jayaraman said a large part of that focus will be on attracting and retaining talent for Bluespring’s RIA network, with the firm “investing a lot more into those efforts.” In addition, he said Lee and the team will be focused on the “basic blocking and tackling” with advisors to ensure they have best practices around client acquisition, sales and management. Lee’s team will include two new strategic relationship directors, Jeremy Ransom and Jon Bartholomew, to consult and work with RIAs. Ransom joins from his prior position as principal with Ransom Capital Ventures. Jon Bartholomew has been with Bluespring since November and was previously a regional director in Dimensional Fund Advisors’ national accounts group. In addition to Lee’s hire, Bluespring promoted Josh Bartholomew (unrelated to Jon) to head of business development, a bump from his former role as vice president of corporate development. In the new post, Josh Bartholomew will work with Jayaraman on independent RIA and hybrid advisory acquisitions, which, according to the firm, include a “robust pipeline” for the next three quarters. Jayaraman does not see the current market environment as slowing M&A activity. He also said it was an opportunity for Bluespring advisors. “We are lucky to be in an industry that, when there’s a market shake-up like this, good advisors differentiate themselves from the rest and they can actually gain market growth,” he said. “This is a great opportunity for us because our advisors are always going to be at the center of their client's financial life.” Kestra does not break out Bluespring’s total AUM, but the holding company has about $86 billion in client assets.
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Graeme Lee, former head of LPL’s advisor affiliation model, joins Bluespring Wealth Partners to help its RIAs with organic growth and practice management. Bluespring Wealth Partners, Kestra Holdings’ registered investment advisor acquisition arm, has hired a former LPL Financial executive and made other leadership changes to bolster organic growth and practice management for its RIAs. The firm has hired Graeme Lee as head of strategic growth. Lee will focus on leading the Austin, Texas-based aggregator’s RIA network regarding organic growth, the advisor experience and the integration of advisory-adjacent services within Kestra’s universe of companies, which range from insurance to health to asset management. Lee is leaving his role as senior vice president and business line owner for Strategic Wealth Services, LPL’s RIA affiliation channel, which he helped launch. Before that job, he had been with Kestra for eight years, leading the firm’s financial business consulting group. The move comes as Bluespring oversees an RIA network that has been growing since its launch in 2019, when it entered the market as a solution for RIAs needing succession planning solutions. In March, Bluespring brought on Charter Capital Management, a Brookfield, Wis.-based RIA, with $400 million in assets under management; in February, it announced the acquisition of Louisville, Ky.-based Reliant Wealth Planning, with $560 million in AUM. “At Bluespring we are very lucky to have a great group of entrepreneurial firms that grow well organically,” said Pradeep Jayaraman, president of Bluespring. “We want to be seen as a resource for our advisors from an organic growth perspective.” Jayaraman said a large part of that focus will be on attracting and retaining talent for Bluespring’s RIA network, with the firm “investing a lot more into those efforts.” In addition, he said Lee and the team will be focused on the “basic blocking and tackling” with advisors to ensure they have best practices around client acquisition, sales and management. Lee’s team will include two new strategic relationship directors, Jeremy Ransom and Jon Bartholomew, to consult and work with RIAs. Ransom joins from his prior position as principal with Ransom Capital Ventures. Jon Bartholomew has been with Bluespring since November and was previously a regional director in Dimensional Fund Advisors’ national accounts group. In addition to Lee’s hire, Bluespring promoted Josh Bartholomew (unrelated to Jon) to head of business development, a bump from his former role as vice president of corporate development. In the new post, Josh Bartholomew will work with Jayaraman on independent RIA and hybrid advisory acquisitions, which, according to the firm, include a “robust pipeline” for the next three quarters. Jayaraman does not see the current market environment as slowing M&A activity. He also said it was an opportunity for Bluespring advisors. “We are lucky to be in an industry that, when there’s a market shake-up like this, good advisors differentiate themselves from the rest and they can actually gain market growth,” he said. “This is a great opportunity for us because our advisors are always going to be at the center of their client's financial life.” Kestra does not break out Bluespring’s total AUM, but the holding company has about $86 billion in client assets.
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