$8.2 billion Perigon Wealth Management announced Friday that it has added three new executives, including a new chief financial officer, as Chief Executive Arthur Ambarik executes a planned growth strategy that includes pursuing deals in the M&A market.
David Scarpello is joining as CFO from Pathstone, a private equity-backed wealth management firm focused on ultra-high net worth clients, where he led M&A and strategic financial planning efforts.
Prior to Pathstone, Scarpello served in executive positions at ZeroNorth and Sentinel Benefits and Financial Group, according to his LinkedIn profile. In a statement about the deal, he said he had been “incredibly impressed” watching Perigon's “rise from afar”.
“I look forward to working to build on the outstanding foundation as we continue to execute into the future,” he said.
Scarpello is replacing current CFO Chuck Pinson-Rose, who has been with the firm since 2015. He will remain as the firm's managing director of finance and investments while devoting more time to being an investment advisor.
Perigon also hired Brian McGunnle as its new director of operations. McGunnle has 25 years of industry experience, with expertise in leading operations teams, technology assessments and implementations, and M&A integrations. McGunnle comes to Perigon from the Mather Group.
In addition, Debra Dunham is joining as director of transitions and integrations. She previously led integration for Boston-based wealth management firm The Colony Group.
San Francisco-based Perigon Wealth was founded in 2004, with CEO Ambarik joining in 2013; since then, the firm's assets under management have grown from $150 million to more than $8 billion.
In January, Perigon announced that Constellation Wealth Capital, a new venture capital investment firm from former Emigrant Partners CEO Karl Heckenberg, would take a minority stake in the company. Commercial Investment Management chose to divest its minority investment in Perigon. According to Perigon, Constellation's capital would support organic and inorganic growth strategies in an effort to build a national firm.
Perigon is relatively new to the M&A space, having completed its first acquisition in 2020. But shortly after the Constellation deal, Perigon took The firm Prudeo Partners $425 milliona team of eight with offices in Pennsylvania and South Carolina.
In an interview with WealthManagement.comAmbarik expected the firm to complete five to seven acquisitions this year and a total growth rate for the firm similar to the past four years. He also said the Constellation deal had not changed Perigon's M&A strategy, but had only been “additional”.
“The goal here is for Perigon to continue and be a viable firm,” he said. “And to do that, the emphasis is on bringing in partners — not just buying firms.”