Cetera nabs two Commonwealth veterans overseeing $420M. Hightower Signature adds $275M practice; IFP lands two more former Commonwealth firms. LPL and UBS also recruit advisor teams."
Cetera Financial Group landed financial advisors Jim Tucker and Patrick Bria, along with their Tucker Bria Wealth Strategies team, which oversees about $420 million in assets under administration, the San Diego-based firm said.
The Durham, N.C.-based team joined Cetera's Summit Financial Networks after more than a decade at Commonwealth Financial Network, which LPL Financial now owns.
"We were deliberate about choosing Commonwealth, and we were just as deliberate about where we went next," Tucker said in a statement. "We wanted a partner strong enough to provide the compliance, technology and back-office support we didn't want to build ourselves, flexible enough to let us keep running our business exactly the way we always have."
Tucker and Bria, friends since their teenage years in Pittsburgh and former Duke University varsity swimmers, co-founded the practice in 2013. The firm provides financial planning and wealth management to individuals and families.
The move let the team keep its custodian, Fidelity's National Financial Services, and hold onto third-party technology already part of its client service model, per the announcement.
Cetera's Commonwealth Capture
The win is part of a concerted effort started by Cetera after LPL's acquisition of Commonwealth last year to lure advisors to one of its broker/dealer affiliations.
LPL executives said during its most recent earnings call that the firm has retained Commonwealth assets in the mid-80% range and expects to hit its 90% client-asset-retention target. CEO Rich Steinmeier said as LPL nears the final conversion of Commonwealth advisors to its platform, it has greater capacity for recruiting.
Cetera, owned by Genstar Capital, manages about $630 billion in AUA and $296 billion in AUM.
Hightower Signature's Second External Deal
Chicago-based RIA aggregator Hightower Advisors said Valley Financial Group, an Ambler, Pa., wealth management practice with roughly $275 million in AUM, will join Hightower Signature Wealth. The transaction marks the second external acquisition by Hightower Signature Wealth this year and advances the hybrid RIA's strategy of expanding through advisory practices looking for scale and centralized operations.
Valley delivers financial planning and investment management to individuals, families and businesses across Greater Philadelphia, including business owners, corporate employees and first responders.
"As we considered Valley's next chapter, we wanted a partner that shared our client-first philosophy and could provide the resources to continue elevating the service we provide our clients," Managing Partner Kevin McGarry said in a statement.
Upon closing later this summer, Valley's employees will join Hightower Signature Wealth and continue to support clients from the Ambler office. McGarry and Managing Partner Ed Woehlcke owned the firm, according to its most recent Form ADV.
After the addition, Hightower Signature Wealth will have roughly $40 billion in AUM, more than 160 advisors and more than 35 locations nationwide, the firm said.
IFP's Post-LPL Commonwealth Haul
Independent Financial Partners added two former Commonwealth firms – Van Horn Financial Services and Severn Financial Advisors – representing more than $400 million in client assets, the Tampa, Fla.-based hybrid broker/dealer and RIA platform said.
The additions mark four former Commonwealth advisor teams to join IFP following LPL's acquisition, bringing the total to 10 advisors representing about $1.2 billion in client assets.
"Advisors want flexibility, transparency and a partner that supports their long-term success while allowing them to continue serving clients their way," IFP CEO Chris Hamm said in a statement.
Van Horn Financial Services, based in Sioux Falls, S.D., is led by advisor Graham Van Horn. Severn Financial Advisors, from Annapolis, Md., is led by advisors Stephen James and Carly James.
IFP has grown from about $5 billion to more than $21 billion in assets under advisement over the past seven years and now counts 288 advisors across 37 states.
LPL Frontline Team, UBS Duo
LPL announced that financial advisors Matt Roberts and Kent Voges joined Frontline Investment Advisors, which works through 15 Wealth and affiliates on LPL's broker/dealer and RIA platforms.
Roberts and Voges oversaw about $350 million in advisory, brokerage and retirement plan assets. They left Valic Financial Advisors, now Corebridge Financial, where they had spent 24 and 27 years, respectively, per BrokerCheck. They will remain based in their Tampa, Fla., office.
"The support offered through 15 Wealth and Frontline Investment Advisors allows us to streamline our business and dedicate more of our time to serving clients," Voges said in a statement.
UBS said advisors Mitch Edwards and Jeff Stanley joined its Kenwood, Ohio, office from Morgan Stanley, having overseen $300 million in assets. Their team, The Stanley Edwards Group, will sit inside the UBS Ohio-Indiana-Kentucky Market, led by market executive Andrew Dempsey.
"They bring substantial industry experience, a strong commitment to their clients and deep relationships in the Ohio market," Dempsey said in a statement. "Their decision to join UBS reflects our continued ability to attract experienced advisors who value the firm's global resources, wealth management capabilities and client-first culture." Edwards works with pre-retirees, retirees and business owners on wealth planning and investment management. At Morgan Stanley, he served as a senior vice president, wealth management, portfolio management director and senior portfolio manager. Stanley focuses on helping clients preserve and manage wealth through financial planning.
UBS manages $7.3 trillion of invested assets as of the second quarter of 2026. The bank has been wrestling with advisor attrition in North America following changes to its compensation structure, said on its last earnings call that it anticipates a steadying out as it works with existing advisors and recruits new ones.
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