Ed Swenson, who left Osaic this summer after leading the firm’s RIA solutions division for about two years, has joined RFG Advisory, the Birmingham, Ala.-based hybrid RIA platform with more than $7 billion in assets, as president. He will also become a managing partner of the firm, alongside CEO Shannon Spotswood and Chief Investment Officer Rick Wedell.
Spotswood served as president of the firm until July 2024, when she succeeded founder and CEO Bobby White, who moved into an executive chairman role. At that time, Wedell took on the role of president, in addition to his role as CIO. Swenson’s appointment frees up Wedell to focus on the investment platform. In June, the firm launched a suite of active ETFs, The Bluemonte Funds.
In his role, Swenson will be responsible for execution, scaling the business, personnel, revenues and costs, strategic relationships and RFG’s tech strategy. He’ll also help with its continued growth. The firm is quickly approaching $10 billion in assets, he said.
“There’s no reason, in my mind, why we couldn’t be managing or servicing upwards of $20, $30, $50 billion in assets over the next several years. So that’s the goal,” Swenson said.
When asked about his departure from Osaic, Swenson said it was amicable and that he still has good relationships with the Osaic leadership team.
“One of the things that I’ve really focused on in the next leg of my career is, where do I see the most growth in the wealth industry across all channels? The most growth is coming out of the independent RIA market,” he said. “That’s my background, and that’s what I’m most excited about and where I see the future of growth in the industry. I have a lot of respect for [Osaic CEO] Jamie Price and have a lot of respect for that management team.”
Swenson said he was attracted to RFG for its advisor-centric culture and the organic growth rates of its advisors. Broadly, the firm’s advisors have an average annualized organic growth rate of 12.3%.
He’ll also help RFG build out its capital strategies group, in which the firm will take minority positions in its partner firms or help with financing for advisors to engage in M&A. That also includes RFG’s Growth Alignment program, an equity swap program that allows partner firms to have ownership in RFG.
Swenson first entered the industry in 1999 at Citigroup Asset Management, and worked as a portfolio manager and analyst at Legg Mason Asset Management before co-founding Dynasty in 2010, along with current CEO Shirl Penney and Todd Thomson, a member of the firm’s board of directors. Swenson led the firm’s operations, technology, investments, TAMP and human resources departments.
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