The Transition Roundtable: Merrill, UBS, Wells, and Morgan Advisors Reflect on Their Paths

In this replay of an engaging live webinar, four advisors who left Merrill, UBS, Wells, and Morgan Stanley share what tipped the scale, what surprised them, and what they wish they’d known before making a move.

After 18 years at Merrill, Neil Rubinstein and his team joined Rockefeller Global Family Office, finding a platform purpose-built for ultra-high-net-worth clients and redefining what “exclusive access” and extraordinary growth can look like for elite advisors.

Alex Markowitz, a former Merrill advisor, shares how independence gave him freedom to build a firm defined by empathy, collaboration, and a “financial physician” approach to client care.

As TROs and lawsuits make headlines, two top attorneys who specialize in transitions share how advisors can minimize risk, protect client relationships, and make a clean move with confidence.

Having built and sold two world-class firms, the founder of Rise Growth Partners shares lessons on leadership, innovation, and how growth requires constant reinvention.

Former Edward Jones advisor Steve Davis shares how he built a lean, focused independent firm with LPL and what freedom really means.

The CEO of Sanctuary Wealth shares how the firm doubled in size, redefining supportive independence and advisor growth in wealth management.

A guide to advisor transitions: due diligence, culture, deals, client comms,and lessons from the $129B Merrill breakaway.

A $129B team left Merrill to launch OpenArc Corporate Advisory, the largest breakaway in industry history. In this special episode, Dynasty’s Shirl Penney joins Louis Diamond to share an inside perspective on why the deal is about more than scale, what drove the move, and how it signals a new era for independence and the industry at large.

Few advisors build a multi-billion-dollar RIA. John Krambeer has done it twice. In this candid conversation, the Validus Capital CEO reflects on his journey, how independence has evolved, and the hard-won lessons that guide him now.