David Wood is the founder and Chief Visionary Officer of Gateway Financial Partners and a leading advocate for making M&A, succession and enterprise-building strategies accessible to independent financial advisors. Over the past 12-18 months, David has led approximately 30 in-person M&A workshops nationwide and five to six virtual programs, with a particular focus on solo advisors and practices managing less than $250 million. This segment is frequently overlooked by private equity firms and national consolidators despite facing growing pressure involving succession, scale and operational complexity. David’s work moves beyond education. He has helped support more than 40 advisor acquisitions through a model that combines capital, transaction strategy, integration, staffing, technology, operations and marketing.