{"id":273786,"date":"2025-11-05T21:21:17","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T21:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/273786\/"},"modified":"2025-11-05T21:21:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T21:21:17","slug":"nearing-1b-an-ria-ceo-steps-aside-in-succession-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/273786\/","title":{"rendered":"Nearing $1B, An RIA CEO Steps Aside in Succession Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eric Brotman, CEO and founder of BFG Financial Advisors, is stepping down from that position to focus on the firm\u2019s growth. But unlike many such transitions for financial advisors<\/a>, his handover is not part of an acquisition, but a long-planned internal succession.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been working toward this moment,\u201d said Brotman. \u201cIn 2003, when I was 35 years old, I monetized and started selling shares to junior shareholders, and people thought I was nuts. They were saying, \u2018why sell the watermelon before it\u2019s ripe?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

But Brotman had a different mentality for his firm, whose employees operate as investment advisor representatives of Kestra Advisory Services and registered representatives of Kestra Investment Services.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought, if I want to have the right people on the bus, and I want to put them in a position where they can ultimately afford to buy me out without seeking corporate pockets, I need to start early,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve been selling gradually, almost on an annual basis, to folks.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, the firm\u2019s former president and chief operating officer, Lena Nebel, will take over as CEO just ahead of the Timonium, Md.-based firm reaching $1 billion in client assets at the start of 2026. That milestone will come, in part, from the firm\u2019s third acquisition, with Brotman stepping into the role of chief growth officer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Related:Elevation Point Hires Former FiComm President as Head of Wealth Solutions<\/a><\/p>\n

According to a plethora of surveys from consultancies and RIA service providers, many small to mid-tier firms lack a written succession plan<\/a>, let alone one that can be executed. There are, however, numerous RIA aggregators, platforms and consultancies offering succession tracks backed by external capital<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brotman views BFG Advisory as a firm that, despite its modest size, can sustain itself in the long term.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could sell to private equity next week at a multiple that I can\u2019t get internally,\u201d Brotman said. \u201cBut one reason that I\u2019m doing that is that I consider this my baby, my legacy, and I want it to live on … and the other is that I have 20-plus co-workers who have really made this happen; it wasn\u2019t my show, and I don\u2019t want to pull the rug out from under them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

BFG Advisory currently has 23 employees, including advisors and operations staff. Today, Brotman owns approximately 52% of the firm, and Nebel another 27%. It takes shareholder votes to make decisions, so neither Brotman nor the smaller shareholders can act unilaterally.\u00a0<\/p>\n

All employees are salaried, with profit sharing distributed to shareholders, and a profit-sharing bonus pool available to everyone.<\/p>\n

Nebel joined BFG Advisory in 2018 after what Brotman described as a years-long recruiting effort. She had joined with no clients and a deal that would bring her equity if she built a book of business.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Related:Wells Fargo Names New Head of First Clearing<\/a><\/p>\n

That didn\u2019t take long, according to Brotman, as she amassed $100 million in assets within her first six months at the firm and went on to become a leader in its evolution.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the last six years or so, where she and I have been working closely together, she has transformed our firm from a practice to a business,\u201d Brotman said, referring to her bringing on technology tools, an operations team and setting up employee reviews and feedback.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, Brotman will shift to recruiting and acquisition work, which he said is generally funded by a combination of equity sharing and bank loans. He will also mentor younger advisors at the firm, which has an apprenticeship program, and participate in speaking events and content creation, including his long-running podcast, \u201cDon\u2019t Retire … Graduate!,\u201d which focuses on living a fulfilling life after full-time work.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s advice, Brotman said that, despite stepping away from the CEO role, he\u2019s not ready for yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m 53 years old,\u201d he said. \u201cI have a lot of gas left in this tank, and I don\u2019t want to retire.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related:People Moves: Dynasty Hires Employer Compensation Expert<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eric Brotman, CEO and founder of BFG Financial Advisors, is stepping down from that position to focus on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273787,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[28,147,530],"class_list":{"0":"post-273786","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-personal-finance","10":"tag-personalfinance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}