Captrust Financial Advisors has named Eddie Welch as the new head of its wealth management business. As managing principal of the firm’s WM group, Welch will supervise financial planning, tax, client services and operations, according to the company.
Welch joined Captrust last year after it acquired his Alabama-based RIA, Welch Hornsby. In a statement about his promotion, Welch said he’d been impressed by Captrust’s wealth management resources ever since joining them.
“Since then, Captrust’s wealth management offering has only grown, including the addition of new services like tax consulting and compliance,” he said. “I am excited to lead the next phase of tremendous growth the firm is embarking on.”
Welch Hornsby, founded more than 30 years ago, employed 14 financial advisors and research professionals and 12 operational staff who also made the jump to Captrust. The firm had offices in Montgomery and Birmingham, Ala., and Charlotte, N.C., and had $1.75 billion in assets under management and $5.5 billion in assets under advisement.
Captrust continued to make significant acquisitions this year; just last month, the company acquired Cammack Retirement Group, which had $154 billion in assets under administration (AUA). That acquisition alone boosted Captrust’s total retirement plan AUA above $600 billion.
Also in February, Captrust acquired California-based Genovese Burford & Brothers Wealth & Retirement Plan Management, which had $3.13 billion in assets under advisement, in a move to help the company enter the Sacramento retirement plan market. Captrust had also acquired a $3.29 billion AUM Phoenix-based firm in January.
Captrust completed five deals in 2020, according to DeVoe & Company, and the company boasted that its total revenues for last year jumped by 27%, compared with a 25% increase in the prior year (since the firm was founded, the company has had an annual compound growth rate of 22% each year). Total client assets stand at more than $450 billion after bringing in $87.6 billion in 2020. Co-founder and CEO J. Fielding Miller said he was proud of the firm’s performance in what he called “an extremely difficult year personally and professionally.”
“We didn’t lay off employees as a result of the market downturn. We didn’t take any PPP loans,” he said. “We relied on the strong foundation that we built over the last three decades to not only face this adversity but to continue to work toward our long-term strategic goals."