Mercer World Advisors, one of many largest and fastest-growing registered funding advisors within the nation with over $60 billion in consumer property, has promoted Martine Lellis, the agency’s chief expertise officer since 2020, to principal of M&A accomplice improvement. The brand new place was created out of a have to deal with the agency’s rising pipeline of RIA acquisition targets.
The information doesn’t impression Dave Barton, who stepped down from his function as CEO in 2017 to function vice chairman of M&A. Barton will proceed in that function, and Lellis’s promotion will permit him to deal with sure M&A offers.
The agency will conduct an govt seek for a brand new chief expertise officer, and Lellis will act in that function till somebody is called.
Lellis stated the brand new function was a pure shift for her, on condition that she had seen over 55 offers shut since becoming a member of the acquisitive RIA.
“Over these previous 4 1/2 years, I’ve been capable of work to construct out what meaning for the folks coming by means of the mergers and acquisitions course of,” she stated. “Having 4 1/2 years of institutional information of how mergers and acquisitions work contained in the group and likewise how expertise technique works contained in the group, it’s a pure pivot for my subsequent part.”
The transfer follows Mercer’s announcement in February that it employed 5 new executives to fill out its M&A accomplice improvement and integration groups. These executives are all tasked with bolstering the agency’s inorganic development methods.
That included Andy Burgess, former regional director of enterprise improvement at NewEdge Advisors, who joined Mercer’s M&A accomplice improvement staff as a vp; Greg Mayes, former vp of strategic enterprise improvement at LPL Monetary, who was added to that very same staff in an analogous function; and Jay Robinson, former managing director at Schwab, who additionally got here on board with the accomplice improvement staff as a vp.
Mercer additionally added Stacy Orff, former managing director and head of promoting at DeVoe & Firm, as a vp of platform advertising and marketing and Jeff Dadamo, a former govt at Dimensional Fund Advisors, as senior director of M&A funding integration.
Lellis will act because the face of Mercer at business occasions and different locations the place potential accomplice corporations could be and assist articulate what it seems to be wish to be at Mercer. She’ll supply offers, but in addition assist the accomplice improvement staff with due diligence and evaluation of corporations they’ve already sourced. She’ll assist with negotiation and deal construction throughout the deal course of, from signing buy agreements to closing the acquisitions.
“Fairly frankly, the pipeline is rising,” Lellis stated. “There’s simply a lot alternative, and there’s a lot rightness for us so as to add somebody that may actually convey that govt presence to maneuver these alternatives throughout the end line.”
Previous to becoming a member of Mercer, Lellis served as chief working officer at wealth administration agency Sullivan, Bruyette, Speros & Blayney.
