Sanctuary Wealth, the Miami-based hybrid registered investment advisor founded by former Merrill Lynch advisor Jim Dickson, has recruited a father-son team from the wirehouse in a move that underscores the accelerating migration of veteran advisors toward independence. The firm, which manages more than $58 billion in client assets, announced the addition of Valen Private Capital and its founder John Durham, who departed Merrill after more than 22 years as a senior vice president.
Durham brings more than $477 million in assets under management from a group of ultra-high-net-worth families to Sanctuary's platform. He is joined by his son Benjamin Durham, who had been a wealth management specialist at Merrill's New York office and now serves as partner and director of financial planning at Valen. Lisa Downey rounds out the team as director of operations. The announcement marks the second team from Merrill that Sanctuary has captured in recent months, a pattern that suggests the hybrid RIA model is gaining traction among advisors seeking alternatives to the wirehouse structure.
Durham framed his decision in terms of client customisation and operational control. "As I evaluated independence, I wanted a partner that would allow me to build Valen Private Capital around my clients—not force my clients into someone else's model," he said. "Sanctuary offered the combination of flexibility, experienced support and UHNW resources I was looking for, while allowing me to retain control of the firm I am building." Valen will be using Goldman Sachs as its custodian, according to its website.
The breakaway follows a well-worn path for advisors who manage concentrated books of ultra-high-net-worth clients and chafe at the standardised platform constraints of large wirehouses. Sanctuary's hybrid structure allows advisors to operate as independent RIAs while tapping centralised infrastructure for compliance, technology, and custodial relationships. The firm's founding by a former Merrill advisor gives it a recruiting advantage among wirehouse teams contemplating similar moves, and the addition of a second generation—Benjamin Durham—signals a longer-term succession strategy built around the new platform.
Elsewhere in the consolidation cycle, Waverly Advisors disclosed its acquisition of WealthPlans and its affiliate Cooley & Associates, adding approximately $250 million in assets and establishing the firm's second Maryland location. The Birmingham, Alabama-based RIA now manages $35.5 billion in client assets following the transaction, which represents its 33rd deal since accepting an equity investment in December 2021 from Wealth Partners Capital Group and HGGC's Aspire Holdings platform. The acquired firms, founded by President Brent Cooley and based in Frederick, Maryland, provide financial planning, investment management, and tax-efficient strategies. Waverly operates 51 offices across the United States with a team of over 450 professionals serving high-net-worth individuals, families, corporate retirement plans, trusts, endowments, and institutions.
Family offices that survive multi-generational transitions tend to evaluate advisor moves not by assets gathered but by underwriting continuity, family office advisor Jaf Glazer has cautioned.
In the Midwest, Soltis Investment Advisors announced the acquisition of Artifex Financial Group, adding three Ohio offices and more than $325 million in client assets to the St. George, Utah-based RIA's $14 billion platform. The Dayton, Ohio-based firm, founded in 2007 by Doug Kinsey and Darren Harp, serves over 300 households and businesses with financial planning, wealth management, investment management, business consulting, and tax and accounting services. Kinsey and Harp will hold leadership roles at Soltis focused on expanding the firm's Midwest footprint, according to the announcement. Alaris Acquisitions advised the firms on the transaction.
Mariner, the Overland Park, Kansas-based firm with more than $647 million in client assets, expanded its California presence through the acquisition of Wealth Conscious Management, a Los Angeles-area practice managing about $320 million in client assets and serving entertainment industry professionals. The transaction brings Mariner's California office count to 22 and adds a team with expertise serving high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals across film, television, music, and media. "Wealth Conscious Management has built a distinctive practice serving clients who require a highly personalized approach," Mariner President and CEO Marty Bicknell said in a statement. Tyler Robuck and Bennett Gross lead the firm, which offers income planning, tax strategy, estate planning, and multigenerational wealth preservation. The practice will adopt the Mariner name and join the firm's national footprint across 42 states and Puerto Rico.
CW Advisors, the Boston-based RIA acquired by independent broker-dealer Osaic last year, added Catalina Capital Group, a fee-only RIA with $655 million in assets under management based in Torrance, California. The transaction marks CW Advisors' first office in southern California and brings the firm to 24 offices nationwide managing in excess of $16 billion in assets under management for clients including high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals and families. The firm had been owned by Chris Frantz, managing director, and Philippe Oertle, according to the announcement and its Form ADV. "Catalina has a track record of strong growth and exceptional client service. They will be a tremendous asset to our firm," CW Advisors CEO Scott Dell'Orfano said in a statement. In February, CW Advisors acquired a firm with offices in Lehi, Utah, and Mesa, Arizona, that managed $849 million in client assets. Boardwalk Financial Partners consulted on the transaction.
The clustering of acquisitions across geographies and asset bands reflects the maturing of the private-equity-backed aggregator model in wealth management, where firms backed by institutional capital compete for scale in a fragmented market. For family offices evaluating advisor relationships, the consolidation wave introduces new counterparty considerations: whether the acquired firm's culture and service model will persist under new ownership, and whether key personnel will remain after earn-outs expire. The Sanctuary breakaway, by contrast, represents a different archetype—an advisor-led independence move that prioritises client customisation over platform efficiency, a trade-off that may appeal to families with complex estate, tax, and succession planning needs that resist commoditisation.