The Wealth Consulting Group, a Las Vegas-based hybrid registered investment advisor and wealth management platform with more than $8.8 billion in assets under administration, has hired Andy Kalbaugh as president, a newly created role.
Kalbaugh retired about four years ago after 13 years with LPL Financial, where he served as managing director and divisional president of national sales and consulting. In 2022, he launched Cassique Strategies, a management consultancy focused on the wealth management space, which he’s in the process of winding down.
He’ll serve full-time on WCG CEO Jimmy Lee’s management team. He said it was worth it to come out of retirement for an opportunity to work with Lee and make an impact with the firm’s advisors.
“I’ve known Jimmy really going back to my LPL days, where he was one of my largest clients,” Kalbaugh said. “We think similarly around the industry in how you help advisors. So for me it was a natural combination of a wonderful opportunity to join a really good team, with a great culture, with a leader I know, like and respect. And then it fits into my opportunity, which is an ability to have an impact, an ability to work with people I enjoy and have a little fun along the way.”
During his retirement, Kalbaugh also realized he enjoyed being an “operator.” At WCG, he’ll have responsibility for the sales organization, advisor support and operations.
Lee launched WCG a little over a decade ago. It now has nearly 50 branch offices across the country and 123 advisors.
“I knew that this next five to 10 years would take a different level of skillset in order to execute on our vision, mission and our plans,” he said.
He also wanted Kalbaugh to help him build out a new channel—a pathway for advisors to become partners in the firm.
“I’m the sole shareholder of the company today,” Lee said. “By the end of the year, I won’t be the sole shareholder anymore. We’re going to invite select advisors into the equity stack of our firm.”
That channel will allow advisors to transition from WCG’s other affiliation models, including OSJ, hybrid and RIA-only models, to retirement. Lee wants to help advisors transition with the least amount of friction and “monetize the economic value of their businesses that they’ve built that we support.”
And while WCG doesn’t currently have an employee model, this partners channel will eventually turn into a W-2 channel, as those advisors sell their businesses, Lee said.
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