Kestra Financial Hires Wealth Management Head from BlackRock

Yahoo Finance ·

Kestra Financial President John Amore took more than a year to find his replacement—someone who could oversee investment, planning and advice while also “moving the ball forward.” Kestra Financial, an Austin, Texas-based broker/dealer and registered investment advisor, has appointed former BlackRock executive Kelly Apple as head of wealth management to lead the firm’s investment, planning and advisory operations. Apple was hired after more than a year’s search by Kestra President John Amore, who previously held the head of wealth management position. “It’s an executive committee role for us—a really important role for us,” Amore said. “It’s a job that I loved doing, and so it was important to me that we found the right person.” Apple will oversee Kestra’s wealth management organization, overseeing teams and resources for advisors across investment management, high-net-worth and advanced planning, advisory solutions, retirement, insurance, alternative investments and due diligence. The role goes across Kestra Financial and its breakaway-advisor channel, Kestra Private Wealth Services . Related: Edward Jones Posts Record $5B in Quarterly Revenue "Kelly and I had the opportunity to meet at the end of spring, and then quickly realized she had the wealth management expertise around, particularly the products and the solutions that advisors use,” Amore said. Apple joins Kestra from BlackRock, where she spent more than 13 years, most recently as managing director and head of national accounts, leading the team responsible for the firm’s largest distribution partnerships. Before that, she had more than two decades of leadership experience in asset management and intermediary distribution, including senior roles at DWS Investments and Van Kampen Investments (now Invesco). "My entire career has been really centered around businesses that focused on financial advisors in a number of ways," Apple said. “My very last role was really working across the wealth management landscape. I led national accounts at BlackRock for their broker/dealer channel, so it was really focused on independent wirehouse-type firms and working with some of their largest clients across the landscape." Apple said she had not been looking for roles, but that what she knew about Kestra, combined with conversations she had with Amore and others about the job, made her want to make the move. “What stood out was the advisor-centric culture that Kestra has, and it really shows in terms of the development of their platform, the resources that they’ve created, and they’ve had tremendous growth because of it,” she said. Kestra Holdings, which includes RIA Bluespring Wealth Partners, is majority owned by Stone Point Capital and has a minority investment from Oak Hill Capital. Related: Edward Jones Set for January Bank Launch to Widen Client Lending Options The firm has been competing in the advisor space for talent, including landing a number of Commonwealth Financial Network advisors after LPL Financial acquired the firm. In April, Kestra hired four business development leaders to its recruiting team to focus on advisor engagement and regional support, including two who previously worked at LPL. Amore, however, stressed the wealth manager was focused on “quality over quantity,” with firm growth coming from organic client growth from current advisors, alongside recruiting. “It’s really important to us that we can protect the culture and community that we have, and so we are incredibly thoughtful about every advisor who comes into the Kestra community,” Amore said. “I got here six years ago. We had about 1,300 advisors. Now we have maybe 1,500 advisors, but in that time have had meaningful expansion of our business.” Alex Ortolani is a New York-based senior reporter with Wealth Management with a focus on deals, moves and trends in the registered investment advisor space. In addition to financial and business reporting, he has worked in media relations and corporate communications for tech firms and Fortune 500 companies.

AI 시장 분석

Kestra Financial has filled a key executive position that had been vacant for over a year by recruiting Kelly Apple from BlackRock as the new head of wealth management. This appointment is a strategic move to strengthen core advisor services such as wealth management, retirement planning, and alternative investments. It is expected to serve as an opportunity to promote qualitative growth amidst fierce talent acquisition competition within the industry.

DYAX 전담 분석

The recruitment of a key executive will strengthen Kestra's wealth management platform capabilities, directly impacting the expansion of independent advisor channels and high-net-worth client services. Bringing in talent with 13 years of experience at BlackRock can contribute to increasing corporate value through product diversification and expanded distribution partnerships.

The bullish scenario is that asset attraction and advisor recruitment will accelerate under the new head's leadership, while the bearish scenario involves cultural friction during the organizational integration process or poor performance. Key metrics to watch are the growth rate of assets under management (AUM) in the wealth management division and the inflow rate of new advisors.

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