A team of four advisers in Middleton, Wis., have left Northwestern Mutual to join Commonwealth Financial Network. Sentinel Advisory Group, led by co-founders Brent Cashore, Peter Shulla, Nathan Keeling and Cary Grunder, manages approximately $300 million in client assets.
Grunder was with Northwestern for 29 years, while Shulla was with the firm for 17 years, Cashore for 14 years and Keeling for nine years. Five additional staff members join the four counselors.
The team vetted seven partner firms before choosing Commonwealth. Shula cited the firm's unified technology systems as one thing that was attractive. Cashore said he liked the firm's support in the transition.
“We needed unified technology systems that could facilitate the way we do business now and enable us to expand our range of services over time while leveling our customer experience,” Shulla said in a statement.
“On-site training support during our transition and the ability to choose our scheduling software enabled a smooth transition process where we felt heard and supported,” Cashore said in a statement. “Now, we can evolve faster with the breadth of tools available to us. We can also develop our next generation of advisors and pursue an aggressive growth path for our practice.”
This follows news last month that Commonwealth acquired Terramar Wealth, a Carlsbad, Calif.-based team with more than $300 million in client assets. Terramar was previously a supervisory jurisdiction office of SagePoint Financial, which is now Osaic, for 22 years. It will serve as a Commonwealth CSO.
Privately held Commonwealth currently has about 2,200 advisers overseeing more than $296 billion in assets.