Financial industry leader Ron Carson is reportedly leaving LPL Financial to partner with rapidly changing and growing Cetera Financial Group.
A source close to Carson Institutional Alliance, a turnkey integrated partnership for independent advisors, confirmed there are active plans for Carson to transition to Cetera in the coming weeks or months. It wasn't clear how many members of the Carson Alliance, which functions as a variant of super OSJ (Office of Supervisory Jurisdiction) would follow him to Cetera.
Carson has been with LPL since 1989, making his relationship with LPL one of the oldest for the firm. LPL lost another long-standing advisor when WealthPlan Partners went to Securities America earlier in November. Earlier this year LPL announcing it was exploring possible strategic options, including a potential sale or merger.
Carson has built his firm, Carson Wealth Management Group, which is headquartered in Omaha, Neb., into one of the largest in the industry with $6.6 billion in client assets under advisement, which includes $3.1 billion in assets under management, at December 31, according to his ADV form. At the same time, he became a thought leader in the financial industry. Carson's firm has focused on high-net-worth clients in Nebraska, including individuals who were early investors in Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway.
A third-party industry recruiter who has worked with both Cetera and LPL notes that Carson has no pre-existing affiliation with Cetera. Cetera CEO Robert Moore, who was president of LPL Financial, left the firm in March 2015 to become president of the U.S. arm of a U.K. asset manager. In September, he became president of Cetera.
Cetera spokesman Joseph Kuo said Cetera would not comment. Carson and LPL did not return telephone calls.
In August, Carson Wealth Management was named 13th on the Forbes list of Amerca's Top Wealth Advisors. At that time, Andy Kalbaugh, an LPL managing director, congratulated each of the LPL advisors on the list for doing "an exceptional job of building relationships with their clients to be able to deliver independent financial advice that addresses theiir clients unique needs."