Todd Mackay, president of Avantax, a tax-focused wealth management firm acquired by Cetera Holdings late last yearwill move to a new role at Cetera. He has been named president of Cetera Solutions, with responsibility for growth in various business lines within the firm.
Andy Watts, vice president of planning and growth solutions, will take over Mackay's duties as head of the tax channel. This role includes overseeing more than 4,000 advisors within Avantax Financial Specialists and Cetera. Ron Krueger, president of Cetera Financial Specialists, will continue in that role.
WealthManagement.com was the first to report in January that Cetera had hired Heidrick & Struggles, the executive search and management consulting firm, to conduct a search for a president of Cetera Solutions.
In the new role, Mackay will oversee all digital and investment products and services for Cetera's advisors and clients and will join Cetera's executive leadership team.
Mackay took over as president of Avantax in 2020 when Enrique Vasquez left the company. Vasquez was the former president and CEO of Cetera Financial Specialists. Prior to that, Mackay served as chief business operations and development officer at Blucora, the former parent company of Avantax. Prior to that, he was president of TaxAct, Blucora's tax software company.
“I will continue to work with Avantax in my new role at Cetera, which is important to me because I greatly value the relationships built over the years,” Mackay said in a statement.
In a statement, Cetera said it does not expect “significant changes” to the operations of Avantax's home office in Dallas nor Cetera Financial Specialists' home office in Schaumburg, Ill.
Mackay's appointment follows a number of changes in Cetera's C-suite in recent months. Last month, Tom Taylor, who has been in the industry since the early 1990s, announced his retirement from his role as head of sales and growth at Cetera Financial Group later this year. The firm is currently conducting a search for his replacement.
In June, Cetera brought in the former President of Life Insurance Company Fidelity Investments Jerry Patterson as head of advanced wealth solutionsa newly created position. Patterson will build Cetera's retirement, life insurance and annuity products.
Cetera also brought Fidelity alum Scott Baker as head of corporate strategy to replace George Karris, who is retiring. Baker was president and chairman of the board for Fidelity Personal Trust Company, responsible for the firm's bank regulated business unit (he previously held leadership roles at Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs).
Cetera Holdings CEO Mike Durbin also came from Fidelity, where he was head of Fidelity Institutional until December 2022. He joined Cetera in May of last year.
In June, Cetera also hired Gwen Weithausa former vice president at Northwestern Mutual, as chief compliance officer for Cetera Investment Services, one of its firms.
Firm too named Michael Molnar as its new head of corporate development from Avantax, the tax-focused wealth firm it acquired in 2023. Molnar previously led succession planning for Avantax's independent broker/dealer platform and M&A for its employee model RIA.
In May, the firm added five new executives in its advisory solutions team, including graduates from Ally Financial, Commonwealth, LPL and Osaic.