Eric Clarke, founding CEO of Orion Advisor Options, has joined the board of administrators at Elevation Level, the funding agency launched final yr by former Sanctuary Wealth CEO Jim Dickson. The agency has additionally added Mike Mikan, president and CEO of NeueHealth and former CFO of UnitedHealth Group, to its board.
Clarke will deliver his experience in wealthtech and knowledge technique to the position, as Elevation Level continues to construct out its expertise.
Clarke launched Orion Advisor Tech in 1999 to offer portfolio accounting software program to impartial advisors. He retired from his position as CEO of Orion on the finish of 2023, however remained on the board of administrators. He not too long ago transitioned from Orion’s board to serve on an advisory council, together with Brian McLaughlin, former CEO of Redtail Know-how, and Noreen Beaman, former CEO of Brinker Capital, in keeping with revealed experiences.
Dickson introduced the launch of Elevation Level final June. The agency takes minority stakes in RIAs with $200 million to $3 billion in shopper property and contributes assets to assist these companies develop. He partnered with Mark Penske, founder and chairman of United Atlantic Capital, a privately-owned monetary companies holding firm, on the brand new enterprise.
For the reason that launch, Elevation Level been finalizing its platform, constructing out the administration workforce and growing a pipeline of companies. They’ve achieved 5 offers to this point, and the agency is approaching $6 billion in whole property.
“I believe it is confirmed that that thesis in minority investing is in excessive demand,” Dickson stated. “The 2 issues we need to do is actually assist companies develop and ship the final word shopper expertise. I do not suppose anybody can argue each now and, extra importantly, sooner or later, the crux of that’s expertise and AI. And we consider that on the finish of the day, the advisor will all the time be the middle of that supply, however behind it, there’s numerous work to do to actually benefit from how briskly expertise’s altering.”
Dickson’s workforce is accountable for the execution and integration of that expertise, Clarke stated. However it’s the service expertise the agency has constructed across the expertise that’s going to create essentially the most scale for these advisors.
Elevation Level makes use of Orion and Addepar as its core expertise suppliers on the reporting aspect. Salesforce through Pracifi powers its CRM. Then, advisors have the optionality to plug into different suppliers through APIs. The agency can also be working with Tifin to construct out AI brokers to tackle a few of the extra redundant duties, Dickson stated.
Mikan brings his M&A experience to the Elevation Level board, having achieved some 139 acquisitions whereas at UnitedHealth.
Elevation Level additionally introduced that John Sabre, who served as CEO and managing accomplice of Mount Yale previous to its acquisition final yr, has retired from position as govt chairman of the board. Penske is now serving as chairman.
Along with Penske, Dickson, Clarke and Mikan, the board additionally consists of Greg Anderson, co-founder of Mount Yale and chief funding officer at Elevation Level; and Liz Nesvold, chair of Emigrant Companions, who joined as an observer in Could when Emigrant acquired a minority stake within the agency.
Each Emigrant Companions and Elevation Level have related enterprise fashions; each take minority stakes in RIAs. However they’re going after totally different market segments. The partnership provides Emigrant publicity to the breakaway advisor area and permits Elevation Level to increase its suite of companies for high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth purchasers.
