Mark Schlafly, president and CEO of FSC Securities, has suddenly resigned from his position at the AIG Advisor Group broker-dealer because of a family medical emergency, an industry source familiar with the situation told Registered Rep.
“After much thought and consideration, Mark has chosen to return home to St. Louis for family reasons,” said Linda Malamut, spokeswoman for FSC.
Linda Malamut, spokeswoman for FSC, said the firm has not named a replacement. Effective immediately, Larry Roth, president and CEO of Advisor Group, the parent of FSC, will take over Schlafly’s duties until a successor can be named. Schlafly did not return a call seeking comment.
According to the source, he spent all day Tuesday on the phone with reps to tell them why he was leaving and reassure them that there wasn’t anything going on at FSC. Schlafly’s brother-in-law is in the late stages of cancer, and he and his wife elected to go be with him.
“His departure was very much of a suprise,” said Jonathan Henschen, president of recruiting firm Henschen & Associates. “He was well liked by the reps and management above him and he made some positive changes during his time at FSC, implementing internal advisory platforms while he brought stability to the rep force during a difficult time.”
Schlafly visited Registered Rep.’s offices earlier this month, and there was no indication of an impending departure. In fact, he was very enthusiastic about the direction of the company, bragging about Advisor Group’s capital base and margin improvements.
He moved to FSC during the summer of 2008, joining from LPL Financial, where he served as senior vice president of Brokerage Products and Services. Since joining the firm, it seems like he’s endured the hard part, carrying FSC through the crisis and the slow recovery. At our offices, Schlafly was very upbeat and frank, noting that things at FSC have improved significantly since the crisis.
FSC has been around for over 50 years and now has 1,100 advisors, Schlafly noted during his visit. Average production at the firm is $170,000, and typically advisors have about $60 million in assets under management. In 2010, the firm’s advisor retention level was back up its historic level of 95 percent.
“Over the last few years, Mark worked with senior management, employees, and advisors to ensure that FSC continued to be one of the best independent broker-dealers in the country,” Malamut said. “In that time, advisor retention stabilized and returned to historic norms and recruiting accelerated.”
Schlafly has also been integral to developing FSC’s advisory platforms and its open architecture, which allows for advisors to run their own RIA.