For this team, the pandemic served as an opportunity to reflect on the past and how they could better serve their clients in the future.
The COVID-19 pandemic gave us the chance to step back and think about our experience over the past 20 years and how we will serve clients over the next 20. We feel closer than ever with our clients after successfully navigating a very volatile market and having deep conversations with them about what is most important to them and their families. We have amazing clients and feel that we can now serve them even better.
Jerry Davidse, CEO
Presilium Private Wealth
Managing $326mm in primarily fee-based assets, Merrill advisors Jerry Davidse and Brook Hart, along with team members Jackie Ellison and Kelley Casper, came to some realizations after successfully navigating the early stages of the pandemic.
The team took a step back and reflected on what was an extraordinary period of time—and how they could not only manage client relationships but also deepen them.
As a result, they also recognized that through it all, the team leveraged the firm’s services far less than they thought. And that there had to be a better way to serve clients as they moved into the future—to not only have greater access by way of platform and technology, but also in the ability to communicate with clients and market to prospects.
With plenty of runway ahead of them, they decided that now was the time to build an “enterprise” based on their vision—a vision that included having 100% control over their business and client experience. The latter motivated them to launch a de-novo Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) firm and drop their FINRA brokerage licenses in the process.
From the start of the due diligence process, Jerry and Brook maintained an extremely positive and “future-focused” attitude that was all about what they could achieve on the other side for clients and the overall growth potential of the business. And they weren’t afraid of the hard work that comes with business ownership and operating their own RIA, because they knew it would all be worth it in the end. At the same time, outsourcing non-core functions and tapping experts in the transition process were non-negotiables for this team.
So, on April 6, 2022, Presilium Private Wealth of Philadelphia, PA was launched in partnership with Dynasty Financial Partners and Fidelity Institutional.
Jerry and Brook shared that as an independent firm, they can serve their clients with greater freedom and control—and the open architecture nature of an RIA offers them the opportunity to evaluate and recommend the most appropriate solutions from an unlimited array of resources and partners. Plus, they can now self-brand and leverage social media to communicate and engage with clients and prospects.
Diamond Consultants is pleased to have guided Jerry, Brook, and the Presilium team toward their best business lives—and looks forward to hearing about their success in the future.
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