Sponsored by LPL Financial
Mergers and acquisitions can be a rewarding path to growth for an RIA firm, but also complicated for the companies involved. Often, the most overlooked, but most important, component to making the transaction a success is the firm’s “culture.” But what is culture, how is it formed and reinforced throughout an organization, and how can culture be maintained through a merger?
In this episode, David Armstrong sits down with Greg Friedman, chief executive officer and founder of Private Ocean Wealth Management, and Cynthia Greenfield, chief experience officer at Private Ocean, to talk about their most recent book, Integrating Culture in Successful RIA Mergers and Acquisitions, and their own experiences—both good and bad—maintaining their company’s culture during a merger or acquisition.
This podcast is an opportunity to hear Greg and Cynthia’s expert advice, and some tips and tricks to make the transition easier for everyone involved, as well as increase your chances of a successful merger.
Greg and Cynthia discuss:
- What “culture” in the RIA industry means to them;
- Greg and Cynthia’s own personal experience with mergers and acquisitions;
- A view into why most RIA firms get culture wrong when they are approaching M&A;
- How to read unspoken signals coming from potential partners;
- Where the most common conflicts happen during a merger or acquisition and what firm leaders can do to mitigate them;
- How the size of the acquiring firm may change the culture equation; and
- Maintaining the culture in the pandemic and what they see happening in a post-pandemic world.