By Andrew Welsch
For wealth management professionals, 2025 saw record M&A deal volume for registered investment advisor firms, further consolidation among broker-dealers, and shifts in regulation. Next year augurs more of that and much else besides. To help advisors keep abreast of industry trends, Barron's Advisor has put together a shortlist of top newsmakers who are poised to make waves in 2026.
This list below is in alphabetical order and is by no means definitive. Readers are encouraged to add their suggestions in the comments section. To see last year's picks, please click here.
Robb Baldwin, general manager of TradePMR at Robinhood Markets: Brokerage firm Robinhood in early 2025 closed its acquisition of TradePMR, which Robb Baldwin founded more than two decades ago. The acquisition gave Robinhood a foothold in the RIA custody space, and executives have talked up the opportunity to expand the business. An early test of Robinhood's ability to do so will be a planned referral program through which the brokerage firm will connect self-directed investors with RIAs that use TradePMR's custody and technology offering. Charles Schwab and Fidelity Investments have similar referral programs that are popular with RIAs. Baldwin has said Robinhood executives expect to launch their own program next year.
Adam Birenbaum, the next CEO of Focus Financial Partners: Birenbaum, who plans to take over as chief executive on Feb. 1, has his work cut out for him atop Focus Financial as it continues to execute on its revamped strategy, which followed its purchase by a private-equity firm in 2023. Under current CEO Michael Nathanson, Focus has been encouraging its many partner firms to join so-called hubs. In December, the company announced that Nathanson -- who has served as CEO since April 2024 -- would step down and Birenbaum would succeed him. Birenbaum is a familiar face at Focus, having served as CEO of Focus Partners Wealth, one of the firm's units. He was previously CEO of Buckingham Strategic Wealth, which was one of the largest firms within Focus' network of partner firms.
David Fortunato, CEO of Wealthfront: Wealthfront became the first publicly traded robo-advisor this month, 15 years after helping to pioneer digital advice. Fortunato has helped expand the company, which had $90 billion in platform assets as of Oct. 31 (just over half of Wealthfront's assets were in its cash management offering). In recent years, Wealthfront has had a steady stream of new products and features, such as automated bond portfolios and lending products. Wealthfront's new shareholders will be looking to Fortunato and his team to further Wealthfront's innovation streak and expand the business next year.
Aneri Jambusaria, chief wealth officer, LPL Financial: LPL Financial works with more than 32,000 financial advisors, making it one of the most important wealth management companies in the U.S. It is making a push to have more of its advisors embrace financial planning as a cornerstone of their practices, and Aneri Jambusaria, the company's chief wealth officer, is helping to lead that initiative. A Certified Financial Planner and former Fidelity Investments executive, she is also responsible for ensuring that LPL advisors have access to all the resources they need to serve today's clients, from special services for wealthy and ultrawealthy clients to alternative assets to investment research and banking services.
Robert Karofsky, co-president of global wealth management at UBS and president of its Americas unit: UBS is striving to grow and improve the profitability of its U.S. business. The company's recent application for a national bank charter is one pillar of that strategy; it would enable UBS to offer more banking services to its U.S. wealth management clients. As head of UBS Americas, Robert Karofsky is overseeing that effort. UBS may begin piloting new banking services in 2026, with a broader launch to come at a later date. At the same time, it is also working to stem advisor attrition that increased following compensation changes introduced at the start of 2025. The company recently revamped its compensation plan for 2026.
Kay Lynn Mayhue, president of Merit Financial Advisors, and Rick Kent, Merit's CEO: Merit Financial Advisors is going into the new year with an expanded war chest, having sold a minority stake to Constellation Wealth Capital, the private-equity firm founded by Karl Heckenberg, in July. Under Kay Lynn Mayhue and Rick Kent, the fast-growing wealth management firm has been acquiring other RIAs and recruiting advisors. In particular, the firm is targeting what Merit executives call "accidental business owners," meaning advisors who need help growing and managing their practices. Look to see how it expands its reach further in 2026.
Larry Restieri, CEO of Hightower: What will Hightower 3.0 look like? That is the overarching question for Larry Restieri as he embarks on his first full year as chief executive of the Chicago-based RIA. Hightower began as a haven for breakaway brokers, then emerged as a prolific acquirer of other RIAs, and now, under Restieri's leadership, will make efforts to "institutionalize" and "professionalize" the business, including streamlining advisor services and bringing more practices over to a new and more centralized channel called Hightower Signature Wealth. Restieri, a former longtime Goldman Sachs executive, says he doesn't intend to slow the pace of acquisitions at Hightower, but he sees the new channel as the firm's first effort to get its brand directly in front of consumers. He has said he expects 10% to 20% of all Hightower assets to sit in the Signature Wealth channel by the end of 2026.
Margaret Ryan, director of the division of enforcement, SEC: When Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins tapped Margaret Ryan in August to head the agency's enforcement division, it was a bit of a wild card. Ryan, a former marine and military judge, was most recently a lecturer at Harvard Law School. She had previously clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and had stints at prominent law firms, but it isn't clear what her priorities will be as a securities regulator. She began her new position in September, shortly before the government shutdown, which upended activity at the commission. So it remains to be seen where she will focus the SEC's enforcement activity in the coming year, though it seems likely that she will concentrate the commission's resources on active frauds with demonstrable consumer harm, rather than pursuing the high-dollar settlements with major firms for compliance violations that were a hallmark of the agency during the Biden administration.
Paul Shoukry, Raymond James Financial CEO: When Shoukry took the reins in February 2025, Raymond James was performing well, having recently reported robust revenue and profit growth for its final quarter of 2024. The St. Petersburg, Fla.-based company has continued to thrive under Shoukry's watch, reporting record annual revenue and profit for fiscal 2025, which concluded at the end of October. Raymond James works with some 19,000 financial professionals and advisors across the U.S. and Canada, making it an important player in wealth management. It has also been an opportunistic recruiter of advisors from rivals. Under Shoukry's leadership in 2025, for instance, it lured multiple Commonwealth advisors. Keep an eye on Shoukry, who previously served as Raymond James' chief financial officer, to see whether he can continue to drive growth and advisor recruiting.
Write to Andrew Welsch at andrew.welsch@barrons.com
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December 31, 2025 16:13 ET (21:13 GMT)
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