A Texas-based adviser with about $820 million in assets under management is joining LPL's stand-alone model from Merrill Lynch, according to the independent broker/dealer.
Clayton Ortloff to join LPL Strategic Wealth Services to launch Heritage Private Wealth. He joined the industry in 2006 with Merrill Lynch, spending his entire financial services career with the wirehouse before moving to LPL. according to BrokerCheck. He is a third-generation resident of Midland, Texas, and joined Merrill after college.
“I wanted to own my practice and provide more service to my clients without corporate influence,” Ortloff said in a statement.
Ortloff specializes in customized wealth management, focusing on the region's multigenerational high net worth families in the oil and gas industry. Joining him in the move to LPL will be Gloria Folsom, director of client relations, and assistant wealth managers Allison Gordon and Rachel Sawyer.
He said he was drawn to LPL because of the freedom it offered affiliates to run their practices as they saw fit, creating a family-focused office feel that was all the more essential because of the “conservative nature” of his customers.
LPL is detected Strategic Wealth Services in 2020, designed for advisors like Ortloff looking to break out of their electric house or regional firm. LPL built SWS for advisors with $200 million or more in AUM who want back-office support and the autonomy to run their practice as they see fit.
SWS takes on some of the more entrepreneurial tasks of starting a new firm. Before an advisor moves, SWS provides free transition services, including onboarding clients to LPL's platform, helping to secure office real estate, install technology and compliance solutions, and develop a firm's brand. After the transition, LPL assigns support to the firm, including a marketing strategist, technical support and service teams as needed.
Since the beginning of the year, LPL has attracted two significant teams from Merrill Lynch to its SWS platform in addition to Ortloff. Last month, a Florida-based sibling advisory team with $580 million in assets joined SWS from Merrill; like Ortloff, Sarah, William and Dexter Grafton said they wanted more autonomy than they found in a wired environment.
In February, SWS welcomed its 40th team to the model, with James Debuque and Timothy Baltz joining from Merrill. The Doylestown, Penn.-based team, which managed $1 billion in wire assets, created Continuity Private Wealth by moving to LPL.