In September 2014, Roth left the AIG-owned independent broker-dealer, The Advisor Group, to take a new position running RCS Capital's alternative investment platform. However, he quickly became involved with Cetera, which RCS had acquired in January 2014 in a string of rapid-fire purchases of independent B-D's orchestrated by Schorsch.
In January 2016, Roth stepped down as chairman of RCS Capital to take over as CEO of Cetera and its then 9,500 advisors. By then, Cetera was RCS Capital's most significant asset as a sale of the investment platform collapsed in late 2015. Roth is generally credited with ably steering Cetera through the bankruptcy process while retaining the vast majority of the B-D's reps at a time when rivals were seeking to poach their best people.
The addition of three new board members, including Dineen, was done with a calculated eye to future governance and growth of the firm, Moore says.
Moore was president and chief operating officer at LPL Financial, the nation's largest independent broker-dealer, when it went public in 2012. Moore was also CEO of LaSalle National Bank when it was sold to ABN Amro in 2008.
Moore left LPL in March 2015 to become president of Legal & General Investment Management. His experience with an array of exit strategies, ranging from the sale of a bank to an IPO of a broker-dealer, is said to have impressed Cetera's new owners, including Fortress Capital and Eaton-Vance.
Although Cetera has lost some representatives during the changes, it has also taken on several new firms under its broker-dealer platform and is poised for more growth, Moore says.
Dineen most recently served at Lincoln Financial Network as vice chairman and a member of Lincoln Financial Group’s Senior Management Committee. Previously, he served as CEO of Lincoln Financial Securities Corp. and Lincoln Financial Advisors Corp. Dineen serves on the board of Aegon NV, a Dutch life insurance, pensions and asset management company.
Adam Antoniades, who was brought in as president of Cetera by Roth when he was still running RCS Capital, will continue to serve in his current role, reporting directly to Moore.
Jeff Nash, president of Nash Consulting Group, said in a statement, “There’s no question that Larry Roth’s departure will be viewed by many in the industry as an enormous loss for Cetera. Larry was the quintessential wartime CEO for Cetera, who led the company back from the very brink of potential extinction.
"He probably would have been an exceptional peacetime CEO as well, if he had been given the chance, but the reality is that most boards and companies want to mark a clear departure from the past when crisis has been averted by bringing in fresh leadership to take the reins," he said.
"I doubt anybody but Larry Roth could have struck the right balance in dealing with a very complex parent company situation while giving advisors and institutions the confidence to stick with Cetera despite massive uncertainties," he added. "But now the company obviously wants to turn the page and mark a fresh chapter with Robert Moore, who is obviously a great choice in many ways.
"Robert Moore is widely respected as a senior industry leader who takes strong companies and makes them even stronger, all while building very close and personal relationships with advisors,” said Nash. Nash Consulting is a third-party practice management and advisor transitions consulting firm. Nash was formerly a senior in-house recruiter at LPL Financial, who has worked with Cetera firms and with both Moore and Roth in the past.