HighTower CEO to Step Down, Become Chairman

As chairman, Weissbluth says he will focus on M&A efforts, but also handle brand development and communication with RIAs about HighTower's value propositions — which he defines as its size, scale and sophistication.

With today's regulatory and technology challenges, as well as the aging of the RIA community and need for succession planning, "There is a tremendous chance for growth and  [adding a new CEO] can help us take advantage of these large opportunities," he explained.

The new CEO, Weissbluth says, will focus on "accelerating operations-servicing excellence … and take [HighTower] to the next level and further scale the business. We are looking and hope to announce [the appointment] in the near future, though we will give it as much time as needed."  

Also after the transition, current Chairman Gurinder S. Ahluwalia will be made a lead director of HighTower. Ahluwalia is the CEO of 280 CapMarkets  and serves as an executive advisor to Thomas H. Lee.

Last month, HighTower hired Marc Cabezas to serve as head of its M&A team. Cabezas joined from Edelman Financial Services, which works with about $21 billion in client assets; prior to his role at Edleman, Cabezas was with Focus Financial Partners for nearly six years.