Eric Clarke, founding CEO of Orion Advisor Solutions, has joined the board of directors at Elevation Point, the investment firm launched last year by former Sanctuary Wealth CEO Jim Dickson. The firm has also added Mike Mikan, president and CEO of NeueHealth and former CFO of UnitedHealth Group, to its board.
Clarke will bring his expertise in wealthtech and data strategy to the role, as Elevation Point continues to build out its technology.
Clarke launched Orion Advisor Tech in 1999 to provide portfolio accounting software to independent advisors. He retired from his role as CEO of Orion at the end of 2023, but remained on the board of directors. He recently transitioned from Orion’s board to serve on an advisory council, along with Brian McLaughlin, former CEO of Redtail Technology, and Noreen Beaman, former CEO of Brinker Capital, according to published reports.
Dickson announced the launch of Elevation Point last June. The firm takes minority stakes in RIAs with $200 million to $3 billion in client assets and contributes resources to help those firms grow. He partnered with Mark Penske, founder and chairman of United Atlantic Capital, a privately-owned financial services holding company, on the new venture.
Since the launch, Elevation Point been finalizing its platform, building out the management team and developing a pipeline of firms. They’ve done five deals so far, and the firm is approaching $6 billion in total assets.
“I think it’s proven that that thesis in minority investing is in high demand,” Dickson said. “The two things we want to do is really help firms grow and deliver the ultimate client experience. I don’t think anyone can argue both now and, more importantly, in the future, the crux of that is technology and AI. And we believe that at the end of the day, the advisor will always be the center of that delivery, but behind it, there’s a lot of work to do to really take advantage of how fast technology’s changing.”
Dickson’s team is responsible for the execution and integration of that technology, Clarke said. But it’s the service experience the firm has built around the technology that is going to create the most scale for these advisors.
Elevation Point uses Orion and Addepar as its core technology providers on the reporting side. Salesforce via Pracifi powers its CRM. Then, advisors have the optionality to plug into other providers via APIs. The firm is also working with Tifin to build out AI agents to take on some of the more redundant tasks, Dickson said.
Mikan brings his M&A expertise to the Elevation Point board, having done some 139 acquisitions while at UnitedHealth.
Elevation Point also announced that John Sabre, who served as CEO and managing partner of Mount Yale prior to its acquisition last year, has retired from role as executive chairman of the board. Penske is now serving as chairman.
In addition to Penske, Dickson, Clarke and Mikan, the board also consists of Greg Anderson, co-founder of Mount Yale and chief investment officer at Elevation Point; and Liz Nesvold, chair of Emigrant Partners, who joined as an observer in May when Emigrant acquired a minority stake in the firm.
Both Emigrant Partners and Elevation Point have similar business models; both take minority stakes in RIAs. But they’re going after different market segments. The partnership gives Emigrant exposure to the breakaway advisor space and allows Elevation Point to expand its suite of services for high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients.
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