M&A Executive RIA Expansion

Former Triad Wealth President Sara Baker will be head of M&A for Allworth, while Focus Financial Partners has made former network RIA President Zinovy Iosovich chief growth officer.

Large registered investment advisors Allworth Financial and Focus Financial Partners have both hired leaders to help them keep scaling up.

Allworth Financial, a Folsom, Calif.

-based registered investment advisor with over $26 billion in client assets, has hired Sara Baker as executive vice president of mergers and acquisitions.

Baker joins after 15 years in wealth management leadership roles, most recently as president of Triad Wealth Partners , an RIA platform, and before that, Edelman Financial Engines and Mariner Wealth Advisors.

She will lead the RIA's business development and acquisition work in the newly created role.

“The firm’s strong culture, strategic clarity and disciplined growth approach make it a rare and exciting opportunity,” Baker said in a statement.

Separately, RIA aggregator Focus Financial Partners announced it had promoted Zinovy Iosovich to chief growth officer to drive organic growth.

Iosovich takes the role after being president and chief services officer of The Colony Group, an RIA that was part of the Focus network, which rebranded this year, along with other “hub” firms, into Focus Partners Wealth. At that time, he became co-president.

New York-based Focus Financial said Iosovich’s mandate will start with driving organic growth within Focus Partners Wealth, but will expand to working with other Focus partner firms. He will work with Chief Operating Officer Justin Ferri to make growth strategies scalable across Focus’ RIA network.

The promotion came shortly after Focus announced changes to its executive leadership team, with the internal promotions of Adam Birenbaum as president and Ferri as COO.

The appointments were a strategic move by CEO Michael Nathanson as he continues the firm’s transformation from a holding-company model to an integrated business platform, following the firm’s 2023 acquisition by private equity owners Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and Stone Point Capital.

Alex Ortolani is a New York-based senior reporter with  with a focus on deals, moves and trends in the registered investment advisor space. In addition to financial and business reporting, he has worked in media relations and corporate communications for tech firms and Fortune 500 companies.

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