Six-Million-Dollar Merrill Team in Dallas Joins Rockefeller
Rockefeller Capital Management has hired an eight-person team in Dallas from Merrill Lynch that was generating around $6 million in fees and commissions.
The new Dallas team was overseeing almost $1 billion of customer assets at Merrill, according to three sources. Dahlander had worked at the Thundering Herd for 26 years, and Preston and Swedlund for 11 years, according to their unsullied BrokerCheck histories.
In an e-mailed statement confirming the move, Preston confirmed the size of the team’s books and took an indirect swipe at the pressure that Bank of America-owned Merrill and other wirehouses have put on advisors to cross-sell banking products.
“Many big financial organizations today are very interested in financial products like credit cards, mortgages, bank accounts and commercial lending,” he wrote. “Our focus will be to continue to provide consistent planning and perspective to our client families to make the best use of their investments.”
A spokeswoman for Merrill did not immediately return a request for comment.
The Dallas team, which also includes advisor Lauren Turbitt and three support staff, were wooed by Michael Armondo, who joined Rockefeller a year ago to oversee its expansion in Texas and who had been the team’s complex manager.
They will be the third group of advisors, each of which came from Merrill, in the Crescent Court location. Rockefeller opened the office last June with a $4.5 million team led by Neil D. Rubinstein and James D. Sandfort, and supplemented it in November with another $4-million trio of advisors headed by 45-year Merrill vet Arthur Alexander.
New York-based Rockefeller has added 31 teams nationally since it was recapitalized in 2017 under private equity firm Viking Global Management with plans to expand from a multi-family office to a broader wealth firm for the very wealthy, according to a firm official. The company, which sources said has been offering equity participations to top teams, is led by CEO Greg Fleming, the former head of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management who rose to prominence as a Merrill investment banker and briefly served as the firm’s president.
Rockefeller executives have outlined ambitions to grow by the end of 2022 to about 200 wealth management teams from 31 today. It has been offering million-dollar-plus producers “competitive” signing offers that equal 175% to 200% of their trailing-12-month revenue, with the fillip of the equity award, according to several recruiters.
Preston wrote that his team was impressed by the cachet of the Rockefeller name, calling the firm one of the “oldest and most successful family offices in the country.”
“My family has been in the wealth management business for over 50 years,” he adds on the team’s new website. “Our clients now have access to the established Rockefeller platform while experiencing family office management.”
Preston’s father-in-law and Dahlander’s father started in the industry in the late 60s and retired about 15 years ago, Preston wrote in the e-mail.
A wirehouse veteran, Preston had been with Merrill since December 2008. He spent the previous 17 years of his career with UBS Financial Services and predecessor firm PaineWebber.
Dahlander worked for all but six months of his 26-year career at Merrill, according to BrokerCheck.
Swedlund started his career in 2002 at UBS in 2002, moving to Merrill the same month as Preston in late 2008, the database said. Turbitt has been a registered rep since she joined Merrill in November 2015, according to BrokerCheck.
—Jed Horowitz contributed to this story.
Good for them. By the way, Andy Sieg on a previous call with FAs had a PMD sing the national anthem. She was horrible btw.
Most people are now (or should be) past wondering whether Greg Fleming and co are going to reach the point of viability. That group has done a very, very good job of recruiting people to their platform. The combination of large transition packages and some equity in the firm has shown to be sufficient to lure even some die-hard loyalists out of their previous environments. I do think, however, that there is excessive enthusiasm over the firm’s name, as most people below the age of 55 probably have barely even heard of the Rockefeller family, let alone it’s legacy. That said, most of the ultra-high net worth people in the United States are 55+ years old anyway and this is, after all, a boutique firm. At some point, the equity shares are no longer going to be available and growth beyond what has been seen to this point may become more difficult to achieve. I wish the firm, and the advisors who’ve moved there, much success.
Methinks the unhappiness of advisors at Merrill Lynch where they are being pressured to cross sell every hair-brained product imaginable has more to do with this group’s move than whether they got some stock in a start up outfit.
As one who knows Merrill from an FAs perspective inside and out. I’d posit that many long term big producers having a boatload of FCCAAP, WB, WC etc and other deferred are terrified that they could lose that at a moments notice. There could be a complaint that you told a coworker she looked nice that day, or the firm can find a business expense report with a couple hundred dollar error and Poof 2 Million is gone. And not just the deferred is gone but also the ability to get an upfront check to move. Lastly remember all these deferred accounts aren’t real money. You’re just a general creditor if the bank fails.
If you are older than 25 and don’t know the Rockefeller Family either don’t read, have no wealth, have no realistic path to ever having money, or if you have wealth you will be broke really soon or All the above
because you don’t read and pretty uneducated to not know the name, and history of the Family which pretty intertwined with the history of the US and World…pretty sure those are not the types of clients or wealth managers RCM is looking to attract
When you are forced to recognize that over 40% of the U.S. population over the age of 18 are not even able to name the current Vice President of the United States, your point diminishes in strength.
99% sure that the 40% of the population that you are referring to is not included in the less than 1% of the total population that RCM is targeting, so my point remains the same….RCM isn’t actively targeting uneducated morons….
You tell ’em, Blake!
Right. An I totally agree with your name. We see more of them every day.
Ronnie–astute observations as usual. Ground breaking stuff. Thank you for taking the time to pause your smiling and dialing to give us all the lay of the land.
Bob East, you’re on my list to call today! LOL
Well said! I have been gone 9 months and can’t imagine walking back into a major wirehouse.
“Many big financial organizations today are very interested in financial products like credit cards, mortgages, bank accounts and commercial lending,” he wrote. “Our focus will be to continue to provide consistent planning and perspective to our client families to make the best use of their investments.”
So lets see if I got this straight:
Rockefeller >>>>> ML – BAC
ML – BAC >>>>> Raymond James
Raymond James >>>>> Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley >>>>> ML – BAC
All B&D’s >>>>> UBS
All B&D’s and RIA’s >>>>> Wells Fargo
And on, and on, and on….
Of course, we all know the best is the one who writes the biggest check to get advisors to move.
“ Dead on Balls Accurate “ “ it’s an industry term” Hat Tip MonoLisa Vito
It’s Mon(a) Lisa Vito.
Should’ve had more Italians running MER.
Would still be MER.
not true. many advisors leave the larger firms and actually leave more money behind than they receive especially if they leave the retirement transition money behind. they leave because they want a different culture. why is that hard to believe? people move firms all the time in all different industries because they want something better for themselves…not just for money. rarely do you see an independent boutique high end advisor move back to the big firms. sure…big firm advisors go independent for obvious reasons. but the flow the other way is more rare.