Skip Schweiss.
While Skip Schweiss doesn't have a "landing spot" yet after his departure in early August from TD Ameritrade, he tells ThinkAdvisor that Charles Schwab's acquisition played a part in his decision to leave.
"There's going to be a long process of integrating those two firms," Schweiss said in a recent interview. "Schwab acquired 12 million customer accounts."
Along with those new accounts, Schwab also is bringing on board some of TD Ameritrade's technology applications, so "there's going to be a long period, a couple years, of integration work."
Schweiss — who was managing director, Retirement Plan Solutions and Advisor Advocacy at TD Ameritrade — said he spent two years helping the firm transition some of its institutional retirement plan business, which included a "legacy product line," to Broadridge last year. The final stages of that transition ended in June.
"With the Schwab [acquisition] pending as well," he said, "I just felt that it was time for me to move on."
At 58, Schweiss says he's "ready for a little break" but is "looking forward to next steps."
He has "multiple" conversations daily with firms about possible roles, including what he's most interested in — advocacy.
"I really enjoy the advocacy work," Schweiss said. "There aren't very many people that are deeply engaged in that work. … I would like to stay involved in that, and I'm talking to a couple firms with work in that area."
