SageView Advisory Group, one of the nation’s leading independent RIA firms, announced the buildout of its senior leadership team as part of the next stage of its growth strategy. The leadership team enhancements include the appointment of Christina Walsh as Chief Financial Officer and Steve Gaven to the newly created role of Chief Growth Officer. The two new C-suite leaders will each report directly to SageView CEO John Longley.
SageView has become one of the nation’s top institutional retirement plan advisory firms, serving nearly 2,000 plan sponsors as the fiduciary partner of choice. It also has a growing wealth management business and has acquired 10 firms since its partnership with Aquiline Capital Partners LP (“Aquiline”). Forbes recently ranked SageView as one of America’s Top RIA Firms.
New C-Suite Leaders to Help Drive Accelerated Growth
“We are thrilled with this expansion of our executive team, which adds two industry leaders who each bring an outstanding level of expertise, experience and knowledge,” Longley said. “As a former member of SageView’s Board of Directors, Christina already has a thorough understanding of our business and forward vision, combined with a proven ability to align thoughtful corporate finance strategies with growth plans to fuel our firm’s ongoing expansion.”
Longley continued, “By welcoming Steve as our Chief Growth Officer, we are bringing aboard an incredibly seasoned RIA corporate strategist and business development expert at driving organic and inorganic, M&A-based growth. Looking ahead, we are excited about all we can accomplish with Steve and Christina on our C-suite team as we continue to drive success for our retirement plan business while significantly accelerating the expansion of our wealth management business, including through a robust pace of thoughtful acquisitions.”
Unparalleled Expertise and Skills Round Out Strong Management Team
The two new C-suite leaders are expected to round out an already robust senior management team. Previously, Walsh served as a Principal at Aquiline, SageView’s equity partner, and a member of SageView’s Board of Directors. While at Aquiline, a private investment specialist in financial services and related technologies, Walsh focused on growth transactions and expansion strategies for wealth management enterprises.
Before joining Aquiline, Walsh worked with Focus Financial Partners, pursuing M&A and partner relationships with independent wealth managers. Before that, Walsh was an M&A banker at Evercore, advising financial services clients on transactions, and began her career in wealth management, advising high-net-worth individuals.
Walsh added, “SageView is incredibly well-positioned to take full advantage of the opportunities we see in the market. I look forward to working alongside John and our executive leadership team to achieve our vision for SageView as we continue to expand and deliver meaningful value to all our stakeholders.”
Gaven most recently served as Chief Financial Officer of RWA Wealth (formerly Adviser Investments), a private equity-backed RIA aggregator. Gaven oversaw a high-performing team of eight professionals, with a particular emphasis on helping identify and execute growth transactions for the firm.
While at RWA Wealth, Gaven led the organization through two acquisitions, which doubled the firm’s AUM to $15 billion in less than two years. In addition, he helped RWA Wealth design a new operating model for its wealth management platform and expanded service offerings to include Trust & Estate Services for ultra-high net worth and family office client segments.
Gaven said, “I’m thrilled to take on this new role at a pivotal moment for SageView and the industry. I look forward to working closely with John and the entire executive team as we build upon SageView’s considerable success and growth to date.”
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