Dave Barton, vice president of M&A at Mercer Global Advisors, one of the nation's largest and most profitable registered investment advisors, has retired.
Barton, 58, left the company to focus his energy on an ongoing health issue, the company confirmed. Martine Lellis, the firm's former head of talent until promoted to M&A partner development principle in Maywill take on the role of Barton.
“I am deeply proud to have played a role in the evolution and significant growth of Mercer Advisors over the past 25 years,” Barton said in a statement. “I remain a committed shareholder with strong faith in the company's mission and future. I have complete confidence in the company and my colleagues as they partner with advisors to help them achieve the success they envision for their firm.”
Under Barton's M&A leadership, Mercer has completed 89 deals—over 10 per year, on average—representing $41 billion in assets under management since 2016.
This includes the 2022 purchase of Regis Management Companya $4.4 billion RIA with offices in San Francisco and Menlo Park, Calif., the firm's largest deal to date.
Before devoting himself full-time to acquisitions, Barton spent nine years as CEO of Mercer. it stepped down from that role in 2017wanting to spend more time dealing than managing. Dave Welling, who previously ran performance reporting giant Black Diamond, succeeded him as chief executive. Since that transition, the firm has grown from just under $10 billion in AUM to about $64 billion. Barton was twice named RIA M&A Leader of the Year by judges for WealthManagement.com Industry awards, first in 2018 and most recently in 2024.
“This is a moment where there is respect and reverence for all the things Dave contributed to the business, but also tremendous confidence in the team we have and where we are as a business,” Welling said. “I think Mercer has become bigger than any single person. We've built a platform that people are drawn to and we've attracted a huge amount of talent over the last few years to reinforce what the business was when I joined.”
Barton joined Mercer in 2000 as general counsel, with subsequent roles as president and chief operating officer. Prior to Mercer, he worked as a trial attorney in California. He earned his undergraduate degree at the University of California, Irvine, and a JD from the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law.
He became chief executive in 2008 and was the architect of Mercer's integrated wealth management model, which brought together multiple client services under one roof. This includes financial planning, investment management, estate planning, tax and insurance, often acquiring smaller practices with established business lines and necessary Mercer executives.
“When we call ourselves an integrator, not an aggregator, people are joining the team and joining that vision,” Welling said. “It is much more than operational integration; is a belief that the consumer deserves a better wealth management experience and deserves more value, and that the consumer doesn't want to be the one in the middle of trying to coordinate conversations between their tax advisor, their estate planning attorney , their financial planners, and their investment manager and others.”
Under Barton, Mercer was among the earliest independent RIAs to elevate M&A activity from pursuing one-off deals to institutionalizing the process with a full-time team to source and screen target firms, deal structuring and advisors. earned on board. In February, the RIA hired five new leaders for its M&A partner development and integration teams.
This includes Andy Burgess, former regional director of business development at NewEdge Advisors; Greg Mayes, former vice president of strategic business development at LPL Financial; and Jay Robinson, former managing director at Schwab. Lellis, now overseeing M&A partner development, said Mercer has over 40 deals in the pipeline — though not all will be finalized.
Mercer also added Stacy Orff, former managing director and head of marketing at DeVoe & Company, as vice president of platform marketing, and Jeff Dadamo, a former executive at Dimensional Fund Advisors, as senior director of M&A investment integration.
Mercer Global Advisors was founded in 1985 as a fee-only financial planning firm by estate planning attorney Kendrick Mercer.
“Dave ran this himself in the early years, and he was an extremely capable one-man band,” Welling said. “But now we've built an orchestra of people who help make sure we're not only having the right conversations with potential partners, but we're positioned to help those partners realize their dreams when they become part of Mercer.”