Former LPL executive Derek Bruton has resurfaced as the new chief executive officer at Lucia Capital Group.

Bruton will officially start at the San Diego-based firm on Friday, taking over for founder Ray Lucia Jr., who becomes chairman of the company.

Bruton, formerly the managing director of independent advisor services at LPL Financial, was forced out of LPL in April over what the firm said were “concerns about Mr. Bruton’s interactions with other employees.”

In an interview, Bruton declined to talk about the circumstances that led to his ouster.

“I’ve had the good fortune of being with a number of good organizations in the past [that] have really prepared me to lead a wealth management firm,” he said.

The new role “gets [me] back to my roots” on the wealth management side, Bruton added.

“I’ve known Derek for years, and this is right in his wheelhouse,” Lucia said.

Nevertheless, the new post is a marked change for Bruton, who had been responsible for platform and service development at LPL for its far-flung network of nearly 14,000 advisors. By contrast, Lucia Capital has just two dozen advisor/employees in 16 branch offices scattered across California, Arizona, Nevada, Texas, Oregon, Washington, Florida and Maryland.

Lucia Capital advisors handle $2.1 billion for clients. About 80% of that is traditional commission business.

Bruton said the growth potential of Lucia Capital attracted him.

“The way I looked at it, rather than the size [of the firm] was how big a … change I could make [and] where we’ll be 10 years from now,” he said.

Lucia Capital is well positioned to take advantage of the independence trend, the movement toward holistic advice, and the growing number of aging advisors who will be looking to sell their practices, Bruton said.

His first priority is to grow organically and secondarily to attract recruits from the employee channel who like the firm’s “bucket” planning strategy.

The “buckets of money” strategy was popularized by Lucia’s father, Ray Lucia Sr., who was banished from the industry last year after an SEC law judge found he had used misleading back tests to promote the strategy’s performance.

Lucia Jr. acquired his father’s book of business in 2010. The senior Lucia is not involved in Lucia Capital.

A separate advisor consulting business, Bucket Strategy Advisor Network, teaches Lucia Capital’s process to outside advisors.

“It’s a liability-driven approach, where we design client allocations by matching [current and future] income needs to their assets,” Lucia said.

As for his own new role, Lucia said he will be involved with overall strategy and the firm’s small asset management unit, RJL Capital Management, which manages the $110 million-in-assets Multi-Strategy Growth & Income Fund (MSFDX), a closed-end interval fund with a large stake in non-traded REITs.

“It’s been a passion of mine for a long time to be [more] involved in the asset management side of the business,” Lucia said.