A team of advisors have left Stratos Wealth Advisors after four years to join Avantax Planning Partners, Avantax's in-house registered investment advisor. GA's Investment Management team, with more than $450 million in assets under advisement, is based in Seven Fields, Pa., a suburb of Pittsburgh.
GA is led by directors Stephen W. Gierl, Gary E. Augustine and Tim Augustine. Gierl began his career as a life insurance agent with Prudential in the late 1970s. Tim Augustine entered the industry in 1995 after working in the engineering field for 12 years. Gary Augustine began his financial services career in 1989 after working in the accounting business.
The team was associated with Raymond James and Cambridge Investment Research for many years. In 2007, they started their RIA, Gierl Augustine Investment Management, which they closed when they joined Stratos in 2020.
They are joined by advisors Robert Barnes, Dave King, Cassidy Schmidt and Zachary Sell. The team also includes Chief Technology Officer Susanne H. Gierl, Operations/Client Relations Manager Kelli L. McAninch, Director of First Impressions Kim Belfield and Client Care Coordinator Jena Reinheimer.
“We are delighted to welcome Steve Gierl and the entire GA Investment Management team to Avantax Planning Partners because, first and foremost, they are a great group of people whose culture matches ours, plus like Avantax, they are committed to partnering with CPA firms to drive growth,” said Avantax President Todd Mackay. closely related and will always have direct access to Avantax leadership.”
last november Cetera Holdings acquired Avantax, which includes RIA, for $1.2 billion. The deal took Avantax private, and it has operated as a separate division within Cetera. Avantax added more than 3,100 financial advisors and $92 billion in assets to its broker/dealer network.