Mercer World Advisors, one of many largest and fastest-growing registered funding advisors within the nation with over $60 billion in shopper belongings, has promoted Martine Lellis, the agency’s chief expertise officer since 2020, to principal of M&A associate improvement. The brand new place was created out of a must deal with the agency’s rising pipeline of RIA acquisition targets.
The information doesn’t impression Dave Barton, who stepped down from his position as CEO in 2017 to function vice chairman of M&A. Barton will proceed in that position, and Lellis’s promotion will enable him to concentrate on sure M&A offers.
The agency will conduct an government seek for a brand new chief expertise officer, and Lellis will act in that position till somebody is known as.
Lellis mentioned the brand new position was a pure shift for her, on condition that she had seen over 55 offers shut since becoming a member of the acquisitive RIA.
“Over these previous 4 1/2 years, I’ve been in a position to work to construct out what which means for the folks coming by means of the mergers and acquisitions course of,” she mentioned. “Having 4 1/2 years of institutional data of how mergers and acquisitions work contained in the group and likewise how expertise technique works contained in the group, it’s a pure pivot for my subsequent part.”
The transfer follows Mercer’s announcement in February that it employed 5 new executives to fill out its M&A associate improvement and integration groups. These executives are all tasked with bolstering the agency’s inorganic development methods.
That included Andy Burgess, former regional director of enterprise improvement at NewEdge Advisors, who joined Mercer’s M&A associate improvement crew as a vp; Greg Mayes, former vp of strategic enterprise improvement at LPL Monetary, who was added to that very same crew in an identical position; and Jay Robinson, former managing director at Schwab, who additionally got here on board with the associate improvement crew as a vp.
Mercer additionally added Stacy Orff, former managing director and head of selling at DeVoe & Firm, as a vp of platform advertising and Jeff Dadamo, a former government at Dimensional Fund Advisors, as senior director of M&A funding integration.
Lellis will act because the face of Mercer at business occasions and different locations the place potential associate companies could be and assist articulate what it seems prefer to be at Mercer. She’ll supply offers, but additionally assist the associate improvement crew with due diligence and evaluation of companies they’ve already sourced. She’ll assist with negotiation and deal construction throughout the deal course of, from signing buy agreements to closing the acquisitions.
“Fairly frankly, the pipeline is rising,” Lellis mentioned. “There’s simply a lot alternative, and there’s a lot rightness for us so as to add somebody that may actually carry that government presence to maneuver these alternatives throughout the end line.”
Previous to becoming a member of Mercer, Lellis served as chief working officer at wealth administration agency Sullivan, Bruyette, Speros & Blayney.