[Editor’s Note: Earlier today, Financial Advisor received a letter from Cetera Financial Group CEO Ben Brigeman addressing issues arising from previous articles on February 20 and February 25. It reads as follows.]

Since October of 2018, when Genstar secured its ownership of Cetera, I have been honored to have had the opportunity to serve as Chairman of the Board and work closely with the Cetera management team. I, and the Genstar team, are very excited about the future of the organization, its growth trajectory and the type of impact we believe Cetera will continue to have on the profession.

In only five months of ownership, I will unequivocally report that we are extremely pleased with the performance results we’ve seen: Cetera has exceeded its financial projections for 2018, and in the first 60 days of 2019 the organization has experienced record recruiting. These results, combined with the underlying macrotrends that support the business model, affirm Genstar’s full confidence in Cetera’s strategy and the strength of its management team.

One of the many things that attracted Genstar to Cetera is our vision to transcend the transactional nature of the profession and focus on advancing the business of financial advice—what we call the “Advice-Centric Experience.” The firm remains resolute in doing what’s best for our advisors and, in turn, their clients. This is reflected in how we work together to determine strategy and roll out technology, and in the culture of service and purpose demonstrated by employees each day. Genstar is steadfast in supporting Cetera’s world-class technology development, commitments to advisors and goals for growth and operational excellence.

As I now step into the role of interim CEO, I will be working more closely with the talented management team and employees at Cetera to realize these goals and to identify a growth-oriented, permanent replacement for CEO.

Ben Brigeman is Chairman of the Board and will be interim CEO for Cetera, one of the nation’s largest wealth management and financial advice organizations with 7,500 advisors, approximately $240 billion in client assets and over 2 million clients.