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Industry Spotlight > Broker Dealers

Catching up with… Mark Mettelman

By John Sullivan

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For such a small firm, Norcross, Ga.-based Triad Advisors is surprisingly flexible. And it’s paying off; gross revenue is up 48% through the third quarter 2010 versus the same period the year before. President and CEO Mark Mettelman explains how they’re doing it.  

Q: How has your recruiting been, and do you plan to grow out of the boutique broker-dealer size?
A: We were acquired by Ladenburg Thalmann in August 2008. Because of the size of their platform, it gives our advisors access to more syndicate offerings and investment banking-type deals. It really expands our open architecture platform. We’re just under 490 advisors, and 2010 was a very good recruiting year in terms of quality for us. But it’s important to us to keep that boutique feel and family atmosphere that we’re known for, so we’re very careful about who and how many we take on.

Q: Are you going after wirehouse guys, and if so, how do you convince them to go independent?
A: Here in the Atlanta area, payout is not a determining factor for wirehouse guys going independent; neither is a particular custodian with which a firm has aligned. Culture is the determining factor; that feeling of a true partnership. If they’re fed up with the pressure in New York or the employer vs. employee business model, they can talk with us. But we won’t try to convince them to go independent. Once they’ve decided on the independent channel, then we’ll tell them what we have to offer.

Q: Have you jumped on the UMA/UMH bandwagon?
A: We continue to hear a lot about unified managed accounts. But we have more advisors who directly manage money, and the fee structure associated with unified managed accounts isn’t right for many of them. In addition, our Pinnacle program allows access to quality money managers. So they can effectively serve high-net-worth clients, but it isn’t necessarily done through a UMA type of product or platform.

Q: Are you concerned about Dodd-Frank?
A: Dodd-Frank is a legitimate concern. I don’t think most advisors are aware of its impact. About 70% of our advisors have a separate RIA structure. I think one result of Dodd-Frank is a migration back to the corporate RIA structure under their broker-dealer. The cost structure and risk exposure under the bill will just be too great. It will mainly affect those with assets under $100 million, and there is so much confusion about De minimis rules and how they’ll be regulated at the state level and different regulations in each state, it will just make sense for them to re-enter the corporate umbrella.

Q: What is it that Triad does better than its competition?
A: Triad has its niche in the hybrid space, starting with the first hybrid advisor back in 1998. We have a lot of assets under management in the dually registered space. If they want help and really want to associate with us, we can provide that. If they want to break away into their own RIA and have their name on the door, then fine, we can help with that, as well.

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