Transition Announcement: A 43-Year Merrill Veteran Establishes The Jones Group at Rockefeller for the Next Generation

After more than four decades at Merrill, one of Ohio’s most accomplished wealth management teams has embarked on its next chapter.

Led by Sid Jones, alongside Quinn Jones, Liam Jones, and Natalie Lariccia, the team has joined Rockefeller Global Family Office, bringing more than $2B in client assets and establishing The Jones Group in Canfield and Columbus, Ohio.

For Sid, one of Merrill’s longest-tenured advisors and a perennial Barron’s and Forbes Top Advisor, the decision wasn’t about leaving a firm where he had built an extraordinary career. It was about creating the right environment for the business – and the people – he hoped would carry it forward for decades to come. 

Building a Business Designed to Outlast Its Founder

Sid Jones spent 43 years building one of Ohio’s premier wealth management practices.

Throughout that time, he developed long-standing client relationships, earned consistent recognition among the industry’s top advisors, and built a reputation as one of Merrill’s most accomplished private wealth advisors. 

But over the past decade, the business itself began to evolve.

His son Quinn joined the practice and quickly became an integral advisor and future leader. Younger son Liam followed, growing into an advisory role that will help guide the business for years to come. Natalie Lariccia, a longtime teammate, had become equally important to the practice, someone the Jones family viewed as an extension of the family. Together, they led a 14-person team serving sophisticated families throughout Ohio and beyond. 

As that evolution took shape, Sid’s perspective changed.

The question was no longer where he wanted to spend the remainder of his own career.

It became where his sons, his team, and his clients would be best positioned for the next generation.

That vision ultimately became The Jones Group.

Looking Beyond Today

By virtually every measure, the team was thriving.

Yet success also created an opportunity – and a responsibility – to ask whether their existing platform remained the best place for the business they envisioned becoming.

Over time, the team found themselves spending more energy navigating bureaucracy and compliance than they believed a business of their caliber should require. They also felt the culture had evolved from the one that attracted Sid decades earlier and that a team of their size deserved greater resources and support. 

More importantly, they wanted to continue growing among ultra-high-net-worth families, recruit exceptional talent, and build an enterprise that could endure well beyond Sid’s eventual retirement.

They sought greater freedom to shape the business on their own terms—without taking on the responsibilities of building an independent firm entirely from scratch. 

A Decision More Than 15 Years in the Making

This wasn’t a recruiting process. It was a long-term business conversation.

For more than 15 years, Diamond Consultants served as an objective sounding board as Sid and later Quinn periodically evaluated the evolving wealth management landscape. Rather than encouraging change, our role was to help the team understand new firms, emerging business models, and broader industry trends through the lens of their long-term objectives. 

In fact, more than once, we advised the team that remaining at Merrill was the right decision.

While frustrations existed, they weren’t yet significant enough to justify disrupting an exceptional business. Those conversations continued because understanding the marketplace would allow the team to recognize the right opportunity if and when it emerged. 

Over the years, the team thoughtfully explored independent models, competing employee firms, and partnership opportunities with RIAs. Nearly eight years ago, they even evaluated Rockefeller. At the time, however, the firm had no plans to establish a presence in Ohio. 

Why Rockefeller

When Rockefeller ultimately expanded into Ohio, the pieces came together.

The firm offered an advisor-first culture built exclusively around elite wealth management teams. Its family office capabilities, specialized investment resources, and sophisticated platform aligned with the increasingly complex needs of the team’s ultra-high-net-worth clientele. At the same time, Rockefeller provided the infrastructure and operational support of an employee model while giving the team significantly greater flexibility to build the business they envisioned. 

The leadership also mattered. The team appreciated working with executives who understood the Merrill culture firsthand and shared their long-term vision for building one of Ohio’s premier private wealth businesses. 

For Sid, Quinn, Liam, Natalie, and the broader team, Rockefeller represented something they had been seeking for years—a platform that felt independent enough to support the future they envisioned while allowing them to focus on clients, growth, and building The Jones Group.