Schorn Wealth Management, a Pennsylvania-based firm with six advisors and approximately $1 billion in assets under administration (AUA), will join Sorrento Pacific Financial, a wealth management firm based in San Diego, Calif. and a subsidiary of the prominent wealth management holding company Atria Wealth Solutions.

Tom Schorn, the head advisor at Schorn Wealth Management with more than 25 years of experience in the industry, said the firm had “carefully reviewed options” before deciding on Sorrento and Atria, asserting Atria understood what was necessary in maintaining client relationships over the long term. Doug Ketterer, the CEO of Atria Wealth Solutions (and a “10 to Watch in 2018” finalist at WealthManagement.com) celebrated the partnership.

“It is an incredibly exciting time to be in our industry," said Doug Ketterer, CEO of Atria Wealth Solutions and one of WealthManagement.com's 10 to Watch in 2018. "There is a tremendous amount of change underway and that change creates opportunities. We are thrilled to be working with Tom and his team in delivering unique solutions for their existing and prospective clients.”

Ketterer launched Atria in 2017 (with backing from private equity shop Lee Equity Partners) after being the head of field management at Morgan Stanley. Ketterer partnered with Eugene Elias, the former head of client advisor platforms at Morgan Stanley, and Kevin Beard, who’d previously been the head of acquisition and recruiting strategy at AIG Advisor Group.

Atria’s first deal was for Sorrento Pacific and its sister broker/dealer CUSO Financial Services (at the time of the deal, the dual firms had a combined $30 billion in AUA and 500 advisors at banks and credit unions).

The next deal unfolded in April 2018, when it acquired Syracuse, N.Y.-based independent broker/dealer Cadaret, Grant, & Co., which had more than $23 billion in AUA and approximately 900 advisors. In January of this year, Atria acquired NEXT Financial Group, an independent broker/dealer based out of Houston with approximately 500 advisors and $13 billion in AUA.

Currently, Atria four subsidiaries serve almost 2,000 advisors with about $65 million AUM. Shortly after Atria launched in 2017, Ketterer detailed how he hoped the company would act as a new model for the independent broker/dealer space in an interview with WealthManagement.com.

“I think the approach is different; I think the management team is different; I think that notion of holistic wealth management – both sides of the balance sheet – that is different,” he said. “I think the way we think about technology being utilized with representatives and their clients in a collaborative fashion is different.”

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