Gladstone Group Names Leader of Strategic Growth Consulting Unit
January 13, 2022 – Gladstone Group, a Conshohocken, PA-based executive search firm and M&A advisory for RIAs, asset managers, broker/dealers, fintech companies and institutions, has appointed Derek Bruton as senior managing director. He will lead Gladstone’s strategic growth consulting division and support the executive search and M&A advisory businesses as well. Mr. Bruton will work with RIAs, broker/dealers and other wealth management firms on their mergers and acquisitions strategies, talent acquisition and organic growth goals.
“We’ll be working with financial advisors, business leaders across the entire wealth management industry as they contemplate the different stages of their business life,” Mr. Bruton told WealthManagement.com. “There’s a stark realization out there that they must be thinking about the future of their company, their clients, their staff, their legacy. These are tough decisions that need to be made, especially while running a business. I’m joining Gladstone and leading up this division at the right time to help advisors conquer this complexity and achieve their goals.”
Mr. Bruton most recently served as CEO of Kingswood U.S., which he joined in late 2019 when it acquired a broker/dealer and registered investment advisor from Keith Gregg, owner of Chalice Financial Network, the software as a service business for independent small and mid-size firms.
Mr. Bruton has been in the industry for over 30 years. He started his career at Japanese trading company Mitsui & Co. in the early 1990s as an equity analyst. He eventually moved on to Charles Schwab, spending seven years as a regional sales director. Mr. Bruton then went on to work at Merrill Lynch, TD Ameritrade, LPL Financial, Oppenheimer & Co. and Chalice Wealth Management before leading Kingswood U.S.’s wealth management unit.
According to a Gladstone statement, Mr. Bruton is responsible for the recruitment of over 10,000 advisors in his career, and he’s counseled more than 20,000 advisory firms and institutions on strategy and growth.
The Placement of Key Talent
“Whether the goal is to grow organically, inorganically, or through the placement of key talent, I am poised to bring the passion I have for scaling businesses to Gladstone clients,” Mr. Bruton said. “Our industry is seeing explosive growth and incredible convergence, and I look forward to working with Dan Kreuter (founder of Gladstone Group) and his team to help our clients navigate this exciting time in the space.”
Gladstone Group is a holding company that has a model unique serving the global financial services space. It is comprised of a specialized retainer-based search firm, D.A. Kreuter Associates, and boutique investment bank Gladstone Associates, which provides comprehensive M&A advisory to lower mid-market financial advisors, RIAs, money managers and broker dealers. Each business has a scalable technology subsidiary: www.DAKdirect.com, and www.GladstoneAnalytics.com.
Mr. Kreuter is the founding partner of Gladstone Group. He is also the founder of D.A. Kreuter Associates, an executive search firm created in 1979 exclusively focused on the financial services sector.
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
