Carina Diamond, who left Dakota Wealth Management last year to start her own consulting business, has joined Gries Financial Partners, a Cleveland-based registered investment adviser, as chief growth officer in a newly created role. Diamond will also serve in the same role for Gries' parent company, 4100 Group Financial Services, the financial services vertical of The 4100 Group, which is backed by Delta Dental of Michigan, an insurance provider.
Gries has approximately $1.7 billion in assets under management and advice.
4100FS owns several wealth and asset management firms, including Bull Harbor Capital, an RIA based in Bethesda, Md.; Family Office Resource Group, a multifamily office consulting firm; and Red Cedar Investment Management, an institutional asset manager.
In her role within 4100FS, she will work with these other portfolio companies to strategize how they can grow together. For example, other RIAs may have clients that would benefit from FORG's family office services.
“They all come together in this mix of services that we're going to be able to offer to customers,” Diamond said.
Gries decided to create the chief growth role to have someone dedicated to organic growth, succession planning and talent development, all of which Diamond said match her skills.
“They were at a turning point where some good things had happened. There was momentum behind it,” she said. “And I think they realized, “Even though we have maybe a handful of people who are really focusing on the growth side, we really need to focus that on somebody who will lead that effort and bring everyone else with him.”
“There were all those things that maybe different people were doing, but they wanted to really invest in that more as part of the growth strategy itself,” she added.
Gries has already added several new advisors in other Midwest markets, such as Kansas City and Nashville, Tenn. However, the firm is looking to add more in Northeast Ohio. The firm also wants to implement a formal internship program to develop younger talent, an area of focus for Diamond.
“I've built and sold three firms, and I've done it using a lot of great interns over the years — developing them,” she said. “But I've learned that a lot of firms aren't great at that.”
Diamond has also been charged with developing Gries' existing advisor talent; she will come up with individual talent development plans for each client advisor.
“What I'm going to work on is getting stronger and really working on the umbrella marketing strategy: Who is Gries Financial Partners?” she said. “And then really working with each advisor, 'OK, you're a sub-brand. People come to you because of who you are and what you offer. And how do we make sure we're capturing your special essence, the special thing that can do for customers?'”
Diamond previously ran Springside Partners, a wealth management firm founded and operated by women who she sold it to Dakota Wealth ManagementPeter Raimondi's RIA, in 2019. She was serving as Dakota's chief growth officer when she left just over a year ago to start her own consulting firm, Stella Secunda. She says she will close her remaining engagements with the consulting firm by the end of the year.
Gries was founded in 1978 by Sally Gries, becoming the first woman-owned RIA in Ohio. The firm began as a single family office, and has since grown to serve high net worth families and institutional investors.