Orion Closes HiddenLevers Deal: Tech Roundup

Now that the DTAMP and SMA solutions have been "commercially validated, the company is ready to expand the platform's capabilities and to grow its customer base through well-chosen industry alliances and partnerships," it said. Those are the main areas in which Iskowitz's expertise in fee-based advisory platforms and wealth management technology will be focused, it noted.

Foreside Launches Marketing Hub for RIAs

Foreside Financial Group, a provider of governance, risk management and compliance consulting and technology solutions for global asset and wealth managers, launched RevBuilder360, a marketing program it said was "designed to help RIAs elevate their firm's brand and value proposition."

The program is offered via a collaboration with the financial services marketing firm Harborside Group.

Many RIA firms have "experienced less than desired organic growth," according to market analysis from Foreside and Harborside Group. Amid the growing trend of advisors going independent and starting their own firms, many RIAs are looking to attract new assets, the companies said in a joint announcement.

RevBuilder360 supports asset growth and helps firms energize AUM and revenue growth, elevate their brand and value proposition, strengthen their business pipelines, increase client satisfaction and differentiate themselves from rivals, they said.

The new marketing platform enables RIAs to select the investment and financial topics most relevant to their clients. It then provides company-branded content including emails, articles, newsletters and firm profiles to proactively market to new and existing clients.

Skience Expands Leadership Team

Cloud consulting services provider Skience continued the ongoing expansion of its leadership team with the appointment of Chris Zuczek to the newly created role of chief product officer.

The addition of the 20-year-plus financial services veteran follows Skience's appointments of several key executives in sales, operations and product management over the past two years, it noted.

Zuczek previously was chief product officer of Discovery Data, a New Jersey-based provider of data and analytics solutions for financial services and insurance companies. Before that, he was vice president of product management at Albridge Solutions, the data aggregation and analytics subsidiary of Pershing and BNY Mellon.

At Skience, he will report to Marc Butler, its president and chief operating officer. "Zuczek will lead Skience's product management efforts, overseeing the continued development and enhancement of Skience's platform to address emerging industry needs," the company said. "He is also responsible for implementing strategies to ensure that firms and their users have delightful experiences with Skience's platform and solutions."

Focus Financial and Connectus Select Addepar

Focus Financial Partners and Connectus Wealth Advisers, a global consortium of wealth management advisors, selected Addepar as their strategic partner of choice for advisors' reporting solutions, Addepar announced.

The wealth management platform for RIAs also said assets on its platform grew to more than $2.5 trillion, after adding more than $15 billion in assets a week on average since mid-2020. The company had its strongest year to date in 2020 "across all key metrics including client and revenue growth, user and firm engagement," Addepar said.

Addepar now serves more than 600 RIAs, family offices and large financial institutions across more than 25 countries, it said.

Addepar also announced that David Obrand joined the company full time as president and will "oversee all aspects of Addepar's go-to-market strategy and execution, scaling its client-centric business by adding further value to existing clients and partners, and thoughtfully expanding that business into adjacent markets and geographies."

David started serving on Addepar's board in 2018 as an executive at Valor Equity Partners, where he will remain an advisor, Addepar said.

As part of its planned global expansion, Addepar will open its first office outside the U.S. in 2021, in Edinburgh, Scotland, and will add 15 new Scotland-based employees to its research and delvelopment team, it added.