Atria’s first purchases were backed by Lee Equity Partners, a private equity firm focused on backing growing wealth management businesses. Lee Equity is also one of three private equity investors in Edelman Financial.
Ketterer and his partners brainstormed the new firm in a series of meetings in midtown Manhattan.
“We were starting a business from scratch, so we were meeting in Lee’s offices and around Manhattan, literally sitting in atria in mid-town,” he says. “If you think about an atrium, it’s dynamic, trafficked but sheltered, and you feel safe and at ease though it’s a central place. We thought it was a good name.”
Ketterer says Atria’s founding leadership helps differentiate it from other acquirers. While all three worked directly with advisors in previous roles, they had different areas of focus. Elias, for example, brings knowledge and experience working with technology, which Atria may use to help its partners build out their own platforms. Beard, on the other hand, is well-versed in acquisitions and recruitment. Ketterer adds operational skill to the mix.
As Atria matures, it will help its partner firms build out efficiencies, technology platforms and support services, with a focus on offering firms an open architecture platform for holistic wealth planning.
Ketterer sees Atria moving beyond the bank and credit union space with future acquisitions.
“If you look at CUSO and Sorrento Pacific, they’re primarily in the bank and credit union channels, but they also have independent reps,” he says. “It’s not a big focus of their business, though. The client segment of the independent channel is interesting and exciting to us.”