Bleakley Financial Group, a hybrid registered investment advisor backed by Joe Duran’s Rise Growth Partners, has added Ray Sclafani, the founder and CEO of ClientWise, an executive coaching firm for advisors, to its board of directors.
Prior to founding ClientWise, Sclafani spent 20 years as a managing director at AllianceBernstein. He will bring his strategic insight and leadership development expertise to help Bleakley grow.
“Ray is a trailblazer whose contributions to the advisory profession are second to none,” Bleakley CEO Andy Schwartz said in a statement. “He’s spent his entire career helping advisors reach their full potential, and his voice will be instrumental as we scale our platform and deliver on our promise to advisors and clients alike.”
Sclafani will guide Bleakley’s initiatives around advisor development, succession planning and long-term enterprise value creation.
Last August, Rise Growth Partners, the RIA investing company created by Duran, the former United Capital CEO, took a minority stake in Bleakley. Rise Growth helped the RIA launch an equity program for its advisors, facilitated two acquisitions, aided in hiring a new chief growth officer and improved the firm’s EBITDA. Bleakley is also close to announcing a rebrand with a fresh name and logo.
Advisors who join Bleakley’s partnership program transition from 1099 to W-2 employees of the RIA, and they get to choose how much they want in equity versus cash. The amount they receive in equity and cash is based on the advisor’s individual assets, income and revenue. It also includes a retirement program, so they receive an additional payment for the remainder of their free cash flow at retirement.
Recently, Bleakley dropped its broker/dealer affiliation with LPL Financial as it shifts to Purshe Kaplan Sterling Investments and focuses more on advisory business. Bleakley made the move after being an office of supervisory jurisdiction of LPL for nearly a decade, though it will keep LPL as a primary custodian.
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