Bluespring Wealth Partners, the RIA buyout arm of Kestra Holdings, has confirmed that Pradeep Jayaraman, a former co-head of partnerships and business development at Focus Financial Partners, has joined as president.
He replaces David Canter, who left the role about a year ago. Stuart Silverman, Bluespring's current chairman, who served as president before Canter, was handling the day-to-day management of the company at this time. Silverman will now focus on “supporting the growth, culture and evolution of the organization,” according to a statement.
Citywire RIA was the first to report Jayaraman's move to Bluespring.
In an exclusive interview with WealthManagement.comJayaraman said he hopes to use his experience over the past decade at Focus to build on Bluespring's M&A strategy. The pipeline, he says, is strong.
“Given my previous experience and relationships within the wealth management industry, I would be looking to build on that M&A pipeline, and ultimately also, in addition to adding platform firms, focus on sub-acquisitions and 'make our existing partner firms grow inorganically. he said.
Bluespring currently has 27 partner firms and has completed four deals so far in 2024. This includes July acquisition of Rodgers & Associates Wealth Advisersa Lancaster, Pa.-based RIA. with over $1.35 billion in client assets and 25 employees. Even this summer, the firm acquired Shelton Financial Groupa Fort Wayne, Ind.-based firm. with almost $500 million in client assets. At the beginning of this year, she acquired Hughes Financial Servicesan RIA that oversees $500 million in Herndon, Va.
in March, Bluespring combined two of its partner firmsRetirement Wealth Specialists and Security Financial Management, to create RIA with $1.4 billion in assets and five locations throughout Florida.
“We had a great 2024 and the momentum is looking good,” Jayaraman said. “The goal is to eventually continue that great momentum and build on it.”
In addition to M&A, he will focus on helping partner firms grow organically. Bluespring has a dedicated practice management team that helps advisors build better sales organizations, develop a pipeline of prospects and close them. They also have a lead generation program.
“We take back-office tasks, such as finance, legal and HR, from each partner firm so that these entrepreneurs can focus on growing their client base and ultimately help drive organic growth,” said Jayaraman.
Bluespring partner firms also have access to shared services within the Kestra ecosystem, including technology, marketing and outsourced investment management.
“We are providing high-quality firms with institutionalized access to resources,” he added.