Roll-up Kingswood U.S. And CEO Derek Bruton Part Ways

Kingswood U.S., a roll-up of registered investment advisors and independent broker-dealers that oversees more than $2.1 billion in client assets, and its Chief Executive Derek Bruton have parted ways, the company confirmed.

Bruton took the helm of the U.S. arm of Kingswood Holdings, a London, U.K.-based international wealth management group, in May last year, after it purchased majority stakes in RIA Chalice Wealth Advisors and IBD Chalice Capital Partners, of which he was president.

“Having achieved my top priorities of spearheading a successful sale and transition of Chalice’s RIA and broker-dealer to Kingswood, and then laying the foundations to drive future growth, the time is right for me to step back to pursue other professional endeavors,” Bruton said in a prepared statement provided by a Kingswood spokesperson.

Bruton will remain as a strategic advisor with the firm through June and will address next steps thereafter, he said in the statement.

The Kingswood spokesman declined to comment on its plans for replacing Bruton. Kingswood U.S. owns two RIAs and two broker-dealers and provides a brokerage platform, technology, and business support to more than 160 independent financial advisors.

Bruton in 2018 was hired from Oppenheimer & Co. to oversee the San Diego-based Chalice businesses by their founder Keith Gregg, former president and CEO at First Allied Securities and national sales manager at Wachovia Securities.

A 30-year industry vet, Bruton had held prominent positions at Charles Schwab & Co., Merrill Lynch and TD Ameritrade. He served as LPL Financial’s managing director for independent advisor services for roughly seven years but resigned in 2014 due to concerns about his interactions with other employees, the firm said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing at the time.

Between LPL and Chalice, Bruton did two-year stints as CEO of San Diego-based Lucia Capital Group and then as a managing director and consultant at Oppenheimer, according to his LinkedIn profile.

His exit from Kingswood comes as its U.K. parent has growing ambitions for the U.S. wealth market.

Kingswood Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) sponsored by the U.K.-based Kingswood, and a sister company to Kingswood U.S., in November raised $115 million in its initial public offering.

The SPAC, whose CEO is Mike Nessim and whose directors include former Cetera CEO Larry Roth (who is also on the board at Oppenheimer), said at the time that it planned to use proceeds to invest in U.S.-based RIAs and other wealth management firms.

Bruton did not have any defined role with the SPAC, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“We understand and respect Derek’s decision to transition onto new professional pursuits, given all that he has achieved for our firm over the past year, especially in helping me position Kingswood US for continued success,” Nessim, who is also president of Kingswood U.S., said in a statement.