Mercer Global Advisors Inc. today announced it acquired AFI Wealth Strategies, a wealth management firm in Green Bay, Wisc., with roughly 220 clients and assets under management of about $240 million. AFI is a four-person practice founded and led by Andrew Farah, who entered the financial advisory industry in 1989 and had been an independent contractor with Raymond James Financial Services since 1995.

Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

In addition to his advisory practice, Farah has been on the board of directors of the Green Bay Packers football team since 2001.

The purchase of AFI Wealth Strategies is the latest in a steady stream of acquistions made by Mercer Global Advisors, a Denver-based registered investment advisor that has built a national presence since it began its buying spree of RIAs in 2016. It now operates 45-plus financial planning offices overseeing more than $31 billion in client assets.

Farah said linking up with Mercer Advisors enables him to bolster his business by tapping into the vast capabilities offered by Mercer Advisor’s platform. He also gains access to custodian relationships other than with Raymond James.

He noted that he heard about Mercer Advisors in one of his professional study groups, where a couple of advisors in that particular group had been acquired by Mercer. He intitiated talks with Mercer Advisors late last year, and the two sides eventually decided to tie the knot.

Farah said he has no plans to retire anytime soon, but that succession planning was one of the motivating factors for joining Mercer Advisors. His goal is that his association with Mercer Advisors’ national network will help attract talent to his office and expand his practice’s capabilities. 

As for the Packers, Farah’s family has had ties to the National Football League team for three generations. The Packers are the league’s only publicly owned franchise, and it has been community owned since 1923. Farah said his grandfather became a shareholder in 1957, and that share of stock was put into his father’s name, and his father later put it into his name.

“I started going to shareholder meetings in the mid-‘80s. And I said, ‘Hey, this is pretty cool,’” Farah said. “Being born and raised in Green Bay, I knew a lot of people who were on the board of directors. Eventually, my name came up [to be considered for the board].”

In 2001, he became one of the board’s 45 members. “Back then, the process [to be elected to the board] wasn’t as formal,” Farah explained. “The directors affairs committee brought forward names to add to the board, and then the board members, president and CEO voted on you. It used to be a more internal process of the current members to elect the board members. But now there are many more shareholders, so the process is more formalized.”

According to the Packers website, there are 5,009,518 shares of stock in the organization owned by 361,311 shareholders. A seven-member executive committee elected by the board of directors governs the corporation.

Farah serves on the Packer organization’s audit committee, and he said he has served on other committees during his time on the board. He stresses that being on the Packers board of directors offers no special perks, and that it’s strictly a business-only endeavor. But he does attend Packer games courtesy of the seaosn tickets he and his sister inherited from their father.

Farah said one of the questions people ask him is what’s goint to happen with quarterback Aaron Rodgers, the reigning NFL most valuable player who shocked the football world this spring when he said he wants to be traded from the Packers.

“I haven’t a clue,” he said, noting that board members aren’t involved in player personel matters. “My buddies text me with information [about Rodgers] before I know it.”