FMG Suite Buys Advisor Marketer Twenty Over Ten: Tech Roundup

FMG Suite has acquired Twenty Over Ten, the maker of a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)-based digital marketing platform for advisors that launched four years ago.

It is the sixth acquisition in four years for FMG Suite, a SaaS company specializing in marketing software and services for financial advisors, that continues its expansion strategy. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

“We’re impressed with what Twenty Over Ten has built in a relatively short time and we look forward to integrating our solutions to deliver the products and services we know are most sought after today by financial professionals, RIAs, and independent broker-dealers,” Scott White, FMG Suite CEO, said in a statement.

He called the acquisition a “strategic investment in the future of our platform — websites that generate leads, personalized automations, and fully customizable content.”

Twenty Over Ten’s team of designers, developers and marketers will be retained by FMG Suite, and the combined companies “will pool their resources to offer financial advisors the most modern lead-generation and marketing solutions with award-winning client service,” they said Tuesday in a joint announcement.

However, “Twenty Over Ten will continue to operate its business as usual until plans are announced to integrate the companies’ best-of-breed solutions to better serve the industry,” the firms said. “Every effort will be made to minimize business disruptions, and clients of both entities will benefit from combined capabilities, content, and campaigns to improve interactions with their investor clients at every stage.”

Over the last five years, “we have seen a dramatic shift in advisors from a referral-first approach, to a digital marketing-first approach,” according to Samantha Russell, Twenty Over Ten chief marketing and business development officer.

“2020 has just put that shift on a rocket ship, with advisors everywhere recognizing the need to not only embrace digital marketing but to really prioritize understanding how to use it to grow their firms over the next decade,” she said Wednesday.

The acquisition of Twenty Over Ten “allows us to help so many more advisors embrace this digital-first approach, and continue to build incredibly innovative, best-in-class tools that make it easy for them to reach the right audience, at the right time, with highly personalized messaging,” she added.

Orion Hires Former Ascensus College Savings Exec

Orion Advisor Solutions has recruited Rob Percival, a former Ascensus College Savings executive, to be its new senior vice president of strategic relationships as Orion expands its presence in the 529 plan sector.

“With Percival’s guidance, Orion will deepen its existing 529 relationships with the states of Texas, Mississippi, and Vermont and plans to extend the use of its innovative technology to administer and support state 529 programs,” the firm said.

“College savings plans have become a top three core initiative for Orion’s investment management business since it began serving state plans in 2014,” it said.

The company’s experience in building and managing portfolios has “made it a natural fit for the target-date portfolios comprising 529 plans,” Orion said.

Percival spent more than 17 years at Ascensus. At Orion, he will work with state-level agencies and end clients, “applying Orion’s technology services and deep understanding of the advisor-client journey to broaden financial access to education through savings plans,” Orion said.

“Today, Orion is even larger and more capable of serving education savings plans,” according to Bill Wostoupal, its chief of strategic relationships. “We have the tools to dramatically grow our footprint in the 529 industry, and Rob gives us the institutional connections and expertise to make it happen.”