Two teams with a total of $620 million in brokerage and retirement plan assets have joined LPL Financial's employee advisor model, Linsco by LPL Financial, the company announced.

Tesar Group Investment & Financial Planning by LPL Financial is led by Lisa Tesar, who previously was with Morgan Stanley and managed $260 million in assets. She is joined by Julie Regan, client services associate. The firm works primarily with older wealthy clients, with a focus on individual portfolio management for retirement income strength.

Based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Tesar is a second-generation advisor who followed her father’s footsteps into their family business, which dates to 1936, the a press release noted. She began her career at Securities Corporation of Iowa in 1999 and worked at Wells Fargo Investments and RBC Capital Markets before joining Morgan Stanley in 2012, according to BrokerCheck.

The team said it chose LPL because it needed a partner that offers the freedom to make its own decisions, along with the ability to provide personalized advice to each client. “We were especially drawn to the Linsco model, which allows us to do everything we could do at a large regional firm, but comes with individualized support and resources,” Tesar said in a statement.

Separately, financial advisor Gary Edmonds and business management associate Andy Chang joined Linsco from UBS Financial Services, where they managed $360 million in assets.

The team operates Beltway Wealth Management by LPL Financial in Washington, D.C., which serves a variety of clients, including wealthy individuals, corporations, nonprofits, corporate executives, small business owners and more, the release said.

Edmonds began his career with Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc., in 1998. He moved to UBS in 2001 and spent a couple of years there before moving to Wells Fargo, according to BrokerCheck. He rejoined UBS in 2011. Chang began his career at AXA Advisors in 2002. He also earlier worked at Wells Fargo, UBS and other firms before rejoining UBS in 2020.

“We strategically made this move to gain more independence and ownership of our practice and, in turn, be more strongly positioned to offer additional services to our clients,” Edmonds said, noting that they spoke with several firms. “LPL’s innovative technology and robust digital platforms stood out, and we’re confident that these resources will allow us to provide a differentiated client experience.”

Added Chang, “We believe the Linsco model is a perfect fit for our team, as it allows us to make decisions on how to best run our practice without worrying about the operations side of things.” He noted that many of their clients have been with them for many years. “Joining LPL and tapping into its established platforms, services and offerings gives us the freedom to do what we do best: focus on our clients.”

Linsco provides financial advisors with transition services, marketing and administrative support, and other services, the release said.