Advisor Group today announced that it has hired RBC veteran Kristin Kimmell to head its recruitment, transitions and onboarding functions across the company’s network of firms.

Kimmell, who spent more than 25 years at RBC, most recently as head of advisor recruiting and field marketing for the company’s U.S. operations, will serve as Advisor Group’s executive vice president, business development. She will report to Greg Cornick, president, advice & wealth management, and partner closely with other top executives of the firm.

“We are excited for Kristin to be joining our team,” Cornick said in an interview with Financial Advisor. He explained that based on her leadership, Kimmell will integrate all the teams that support the entire end-to-end process for advisors joining Advisor Group. “She will have responsibility for our internal recruiters, our external recruiters, third-party recruiting relationships, and in addition to that she will be responsible for sales enablement and the transition and onboarding,” he said.

Cornick said Kimmell’s hiring is a critical in the company’s growth strategy. “We are in the process of getting to that next phase in our growth plan in terms of how we think about recruiting out in the marketplace,” Cornick said, noting that the first element of that is ensuring that they provide advisors an efficient and streamlined approach, which includes a heavy dose of digitalization and technology, he said.

And while Cornick pointed out that Advisor Group continues to do well in its traditional target market around the broker-dealer space, he said the company is looking to widen its reach to include other channels of advisors where they believe there are opportunities. Those channels include sophisticated ensemble and enterprise firms, wirehouse breakaways and hybrid RIAs, he said.
 
Kimmell, who will begin her new role in August, said she is looking forward to meeting the team and building on their success. “I just think it’s a tremendous opportunity and I am excited to be part of this leadership team and to execute on the vision they have,” she said. And that vision is ensuring that transitions are more efficient for advisors and less disruptive for them and their clients, she said.

Kimmell said she plans to have conversations with advisors about what is best for them and their clients. “I am really passionate about just listening to advisors and helping them to identify what’s helping them identify the best fit for them and where is the best benefit for their clients,” she said.
 
She also noted that she is passionate about increasing diversity in the financial services industry. “It has incredible tremendous opportunity, and it’s something I have worked on in the past and will continue to focus on going forward,” she said, adding that she is impressed with Advisor Group’s efforts and is looking to build on that success.

Phoenix-based Advisor Group, Inc. is the nation's largest network of independent wealth management firms, serving approximately 10,100 financial professionals and overseeing over $475 billion in client assets. Its network of firms includes FSC Securities, Royal Alliance Associates, SagePoint Financial, Securities America, Triad Advisors and Woodbury Financial Services.