Entrustody, a self-described “digital-first custodian and technology company empowering experiences for advisors and their clients,” has added years of fintech experience to its executive team with the hiring of both Anthony Stich and Kumar Velugula.
Entrustody CEO and founder Patrick Moeller said Monday that he has been “very selective” in choosing the platform’s leadership team during the two years since its founding. “After networking and discussing various approaches to who we need to take this business to the next level, it became abundantly clear that Tony and Kumar were the right fit,” he said.
Stich brings more than 15 years of experience in financial services, most recently as chief operating officer at NaviPlan by Advicent, where he focused on sales, marketing and customer experiences across North America. Stich left that role after Advicent was bought by InvestCloud in 2021. In his role as chief revenue officer for Entrustody, he will lead the sales, marketing and product efforts for the entire custody/tech platform.
“I was blessed with many opportunities after taking time off from successfully merging NaviPlan into InvestCloud,” said Stich. “During that time, it allowed me to recalibrate and clarify what motivates me: the desire for disrupting our industry technologically, while always putting the needs of the advisor and their investor first. After that, it became abundantly clear that Entrustody’s mission and culture was the perfect fit.”
Velugula, with more than 20 years in full-stack, end-to-end product development and business intelligence, has served in key technology roles at UBS, Point72 and AQR Capital Management. He also has experience advising startups on technology and product development strategy. Velugula joins the team as chief technology officer, overseeing the engineering, research and development, and key implementation teams for Entrustody.
Entrustody calls itself a "digital first" custodial platform for registered investment advisors, using machine learning to improve advisor workflows and deep integrations with other technology vendors. The firm claims it will provide more transparency around fees and revenue it collects off of client assets; many custodians provide services to RIAs for free, and collect yields on client cash accounts or sell order flow for equities, practices that have come under greater scrutiny in recent years.