Independence from private equity positions the fee-only RIA to offer advisors the resources they need with the autonomy they want
After expanding into five new locations over the past five years, Moneta continues to take steps to grow its national footprint with the hiring of Peter Brown as Senior Managing Director of Mergers and Acquisitions. Brown will partner with Shawn Paulk, who Moneta hired to the same position in 2023 when scaling up its M&A efforts.
The addition of Brown, formerly a Senior VP at Wells Fargo Advisors, builds on the national growth plan and M&A process for Moneta, a 100% partner-owned fee-only firm offering advisory services through its registered investment adviser (RIA), Moneta Group Investment Advisors, LLC.
“I’m here because Moneta is committed to M&A efforts and we see tremendous opportunity,” Brown said. “So much M&A activity in our industry has been driven by private equity and outside money. That’s created an opportunity for a firm like Moneta that can offer advisors and practices those kinds of resources but also make them part of the decision-making process. Moneta’s story of empowering advisors with both resources and autonomy resonates today more than ever.”
To stay ahead of the RIA industry’s consolidation curve and protect its independence, Moneta began building its platform infrastructure in 2017 to support teams of Partners and Advisors growing into new markets beyond the firm’s St. Louis headquarters. In 2019, Moneta marked its 30th anniversary as a single-office RIA by announcing its first merger in conjunction with a new office in Denver.
The firm continued the momentum by opening new offices in Kansas City (2020), the Greater Boston Area (2021), and Chicago (2022) before circling back to Colorado with another Denver merger (2023) and a new location in Boulder (2024). While supporting expansion, Moneta has more than doubled its assets under management (AUM) from $16.1 billion at the end of 2016 to $37.4 billion at the end of 2023.
“We are seeing more and more practices and advisors that want to join Moneta,” CEO and Chairman Eric Kittner said. “Peter is here to help drive that growth. He reinforces our commitment to building a firm in which advisors have both the resources and the freedom to serve clients’ best interests as fiduciaries.”
After making one major M&A deal a year for the past five years, Moneta hopes to increase that volume in the years ahead while remaining selective and measured with who they bring on as Partners.
“We’re not a serial acquirer. We would lose our identity and culture if we did 10-15 deals a year,” added Moneta President and COO Keith Bowles. “Our firm is owned and operated by advisors for advisors. We feel that we have a unique offering in this competitive landscape unlike any other firm and therefore we need to take advantage of our uniqueness.”
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