&Partners, the St. Louis-based hybrid broker-dealer launched by David Kowach, former president and CEO of Wells Fargo Advisors, has recruited an eight-person team managing $864 million in pre-hire assets under management. The addition of Foothills Legacy Wealth Management marks the 13th advisor practice to join the firm this year, underscoring &Partners' momentum in attracting talent from its founder's former employer.
Foothills Legacy Wealth Management, based in Saratoga Springs, New York, is led by co-founders Andrew Cook and Gerard Mehan, who spent the last seven years at Wells Fargo Advisors. Before their tenure at Wells Fargo, both advisors worked at Merrill Lynch. The team's departure represents the latest in a series of high-profile moves from Wells Fargo to &Partners in recent months.
The Foothills team includes Christopher Cassidy, partner and director; Joanne Windas, partner and director; Brandie Mulligan, director of planning; Courtney Fagan, financial consultant; Susan Mallery, senior client relationship manager; and Gregory St. Denis, senior client relationship manager. The breadth of the team's structure suggests a comprehensive wealth management practice serving clients with complex needs.
The recruitment follows a major wave of advisor defections from Wells Fargo Advisors in June, when &Partners secured three advisor teams with a combined $1.6 billion in pre-hire assets under management. All three practices came from Wells Fargo Advisors, highlighting a pattern of targeted recruiting from the wirehouse.
Those June additions included Wavewood Private Wealth, a Basking Ridge, New Jersey practice with over $574 million in pre-hire assets under management; Brookside Wealth Advisors, with approximately $550 million in pre-hire assets under management; and Three Points Wealth Planners, a Dana Point, California-based team managing about $450 million in pre-hire assets under management. The clustering of these moves suggests coordinated outreach or shared dissatisfaction among Wells Fargo advisors.
&Partners has demonstrated particular success recruiting advisors from Wells Fargo, Kowach's former employer. Kowach co-founded &Partners in 2023 alongside Kristi Mitchem, recognized as one of Wealth Management's Ten to Watch in 2026, and John Alexander. The leadership team's pedigree and Wells Fargo connections have evidently created a compelling value proposition for advisors considering a move.
The firm now oversees 117 advisor practices, representing approximately $58 billion in assets as of the end of June. That asset base reflects rapid growth for a firm founded just two years ago, driven primarily by advisor teams bringing substantial books of business from established wirehouses.
The recurring defections from Wells Fargo Advisors to a competitor led by its former president raise questions about the wirehouse's ability to retain top talent amid industry consolidation and evolving advisor economics. For family offices and high-net-worth clients working with Wells Fargo advisors, the migration pattern may signal potential service disruptions or the need to evaluate whether their advisors are considering similar moves.