Six $1 billion-plus independent RIA firms recently formed a group called aRIA (The Alliance for RIAs) to discuss and disseminate best-practice growth strategies for advisors. The group, which collectively advises on $18 billion of client assets, hopes its periodic, free-wheeling bull sessions will not only benefit their own companies, but more importantly, provide strategic insights to advisory firms seeking to grow their firms.

Group members comprise Brent Brodeski, CEO of Savant Capital; John Burns, Principal at Exencial Wealth Advisors; Ron Carson, CEO of Carson Wealth Management Group; Jeff Concepcion, CEO of Stratos Wealth Partners; Matt Cooper, President of Beacon Pointe Advisors; and Neal Simon, CEO of Highline Wealth Management.

John Furey, principal at Advisor Growth Strategies, a Phoenix-based consulting firm, conceived aRIA and is the group's facilitator. He says he organized this amalgamation as a way to share best practices among advisory firms and to broadcast those ideas across the industry. He contacted these particular firms because he says they're all very successful and they all bring something different to the table.

"When we decided to form this group we wanted to have diversity in terms of both geography and business models," Furey says. "All of these firms have a unique proposition for clients and financial advisors."

The group's first meeting took place last month in Phoenix. Going forward, aRIA plans to conduct periodic conference calls and to meet twice a year in a study group format. Between confabs, aRIA plans to publish a series of white papers on industry-related topics.

Furey notes the group's first white paper, slated to come out in the third quarter, will discuss value creation options for financial advisors. "The white papers will be a big deliverable, and my company will take the lead on that," Furey says. "I think content will come from all places, and we'll doing other things like blog posts and articles."

He adds that a website for aRIA will be created "sooner than later."

A big thrust for the group is to provide advisors with options to boost their firm's enterprise value beyond going it alone or joining a roll-up/consolidator operation. They have nothing against consolidators per se, insists Cooper, president of Beacon Pointe Advisors. Rather, he and other group members say they want to share ideas that can help an industry where individual independent firms often operate with blinders on.

"It's kind of lonely out there on our own because there really isn't a model any of us are following," says Brodeski, CEO of Savant Capital.

The notion of idea sharing among peers was appealing to aRIA members. "Since we launched our own firm  36 months ago I've learned you operate in a vacuum," says Concepcion, CEO of Stratos Wealth Partners. "You know your model, but you might have less familiarity with how others approach the business. To sit in a room without ego and constraints and to share ideas and nuances about other business models--with the sole intent of just trying to help others be more successful at what we're doing--was very intriguing to me.

"I'm of the mindset that the glass is half full, so let's let other firms launch and be successful," he continues. "There's plenty of business to out there with the ability to acquire practices with the breakaway brokers. There are enough bodies in play, and by sharing our stories more RIAs can gain scale and success."

And, of course, the very public nature of aRIA stands to boost the profiles of participating members. But they say the goal isn't to use the group as a marketing platform for their firms. "If that's a byproduct, then that's okay," Concepcion says. "But it seems life goes full circle, so to the extent that you give, good things happen. To the extent that our firms can benefit from sharing our information, then great. But I don't think that's necessarily the aim of this group."

For now, aRIA's roster list will be limited to its current membership. "We might add more members in the future but I don't expect it to get much bigger," Furey says. "Maybe one or two new advisors, but that could change over time."

Furey sees aRIA as a logical step in the maturation of the RIA channel. "When you look at the future and all of the unique models coming out--whether its a roll-up, consolidator or some sort of outsourcing company--what this group is trying to do is provide a point of view and talk about the future of value creation," he says. "For the industry in general, as groups like this continue to evolve I think it'll be of great benefit to advisors."

Other participants in aRIA's first meeting in March were Brian Hamburger, managing director at the compliance consulting firm MarketCounsel, and Sean Mihal, western regional director at Weitz Funds. The latter company, Furey says, is helping to sponsor the group's activities at industry gatherings.

aRIA itself, he adds, is a self-funded group.

--Jeff Schlegel