&Partners Nabs $84M Commonwealth Advisor in South Carolina

&Partners, a St. Louis-based hybrid broker/dealer launched by David Kowach, the former president and CEO of Wells Fargo Advisors, is on a recruiting tear this summer. This time, the firm has recruited an advisor in Estill, S.C., after three years at Commonwealth Financial Network.

Wealth advisor Kevin Braddock has moved his practice, Heartwood Financial Group, to Kowach’s firm, according to a LinkedIn post. He had nearly $84 million in pre-transition AUM. He’s joined by Jeff Violette, client relationship manager.

Braddock founded Heartwood in 2022 on the Commonwealth platform. Prior to that, he was with Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network and started his career with Edward Jones. He works with pre-retirees, multi-generational families and business owners.

This follows news last week that LPL Financial closed on its planned acquisition of Commonwealth, the Waltham, Mass.-based independent broker/dealer, which has 3,000 advisors and $305 billion in assets. LPL said it met its retention target of 90% of Commonwealth advisors and that it was pushing out its final integration timing to the fourth quarter of 2026.

In the wake of the acquisition, Commonwealth has lost many advisors to rival broker/dealers. LPL CEO Rich Steinmeier said that despite noise in many of the trade publications about Commonwealth advisors looking to change firms rather than join the much larger LPL, he felt good about advisor retention.

Related:LPL Hires Chief People Officer from McKinsey on Heels of Commonwealth Close

In the last couple weeks, &Partners has recruited several teams, including Four Corners Wealth, a Russellville, Ark. team that was with Wells Fargo Advisors. The team had a pre-transition AUM of $769 million. The firm also recently added Tuckaway Capital, a Richmond, Va. team, also with Wells Fargo.

As of July 31, &Partners had 87 teams overseeing $35.7 billion in AUM. However, Kowach and co-founders Kristi Mitchem and John Alexander have aggressive growth plans for the next three years, with a target of 150 teams, $120 billion in assets, and $800 million in revenue.