Homrich Berg (HB), an Atlanta-based registered investment advisory firm with 80 advisors overseeing around $16 billion for more than 3,600 households and 375 institutions, has brought in a former managing director with Bernstein Private Wealth Management to expand and lead HB’s stable of advisory talent.
In the newly created role of chief advisory officer, Michael Woocher is joining HB as a principal and will also work to develop the firm’s next generation of advisors.
“I’ll be helping [HB President and CEO Thomas Carroll] and his leadership to work with the advisors within the firm to help HB grow in the future,” Woocher told WealthManagement.com. “It’s a wonderful group of advisors that we have. I'll be really focused on helping them with their practices, but also working closely with Thomas to attract new advisors, both organically and inorganically.”
Woocher noted that he and Carroll have worked together in the past and said he was intrigued by the firm’s history and regional presence in the Southeast.
“The second part of my role will be working directly with a small group of families, which is very important to me,” he added. “A key part of my responsibilities at Bernstein was to have a practice that I was leading, as well as the leadership responsibilities within the firm. So, when Thomas approached me with the role that we both combined direct client responsibilities and leadership ones, that was very appealing.”
Carroll said the rapid growth Homrich Berg has achieved in recent years necessitated creating the role, noting assets have grown by close to $9 billion since he joined the firm in early 2020 as part of a planned transition. He succeeded founder Andy Berg as CEO in January.
“We have grown geographically,” he said. “We have offices now growing around the Southeast. We’re adding advisors. We’re leaning in, more than we’ve ever done, to inorganic growth. So, we really needed someone to come in and be the leader of our advisory function, not only developing and coaching existing advisors and integrating new ones, but really thinking about the client experience holistically, the services that we offer today. We want to make sure that we are continuing to get better in that regard, but also evaluating new services and new offerings in the future to make sure that we’re keeping up with market trends and dynamics.
“Michael will be able to help us do all of that, in addition to managing the clients that he mentioned," he said. “When he sits down with an advisor in the future, he will be able to say, ‘I’m walking in your shoes,’ which will provide a lot of credibility in his role as a leader.”
Carroll also noted the previous professional relationship and said pre-established trust was a key factor in Woocher’s successful recruitment.
All Homrich Berg employees are W-2, and about a fifth are equity partners, a percentage the firm is working to increase. Acquired practices are offered equity and are expected to adopt Homrich Berg branding, investment “philosophy,” technology stack and client approach but may maintain operations locally. After selling a minority stake to growth-oriented private equity firm New Mountain Capital two years ago, HB secured $75 million in debt financing in 2022. Carroll told WealthManagement.com he doesn’t anticipate the need for additional capital any time soon but stopped short of saying never.
HB is staying focused on growing its regional footprint, according to Carroll, with Florida a strategic priority.
“We have a wonderful team in Florida, but we don’t yet have a business,” he said. "So I think you can expect for HB to invest more in building out our business there over the next year or so."
After hiring a trusts and estates lawyer in 2023, Carroll said there are no plans to add any new services in the coming months. "But we will continue to evaluate as we move forward," he added.