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John Longley and Randy Long of SageView

Practice Management > Building Your Business > Leadership

RIA Taps Ex-BlackRock Private Wealth Head for CEO Slot

By Jeff Berman

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What You Need to Know

  • RIA SageView’s CEO and chairman appointments mark the start of the next phase of its growth plan, the firm says.
  • SageView expects the new CEO and chairman will help drive its ongoing expansion in wealth management.
  • The appointments become effective Sept. 1.

Newport Beach, California-based SageView Advisory Group appointed John Longley, one-time BlackRock head of Private Wealth, to serve as its CEO, while naming SageView founder Randy Long its chairman in appointments to become effective Sept. 1, the firm said Monday.

Longley most recently served as president of SVB Private, a division of First Citizens Bank & Trust Co., after being promoted from head of SVB’s Private Bank, Wealth and Trust division.

His prior roles include serving as head of Boston Private’s western operations and as co-founder and CEO of Dobot, a digital financial advisory platform acquired by Fifth Third Bank.  Earlier in his career, Longley was head of Private Wealth for BlackRock and was CEO of Citi Private Bank N.A.

Long founded SageView in 1989 and has led the RIA’s expansion since then, with a particular emphasis on the retirement plan management space, the firm said.

SageView now advises on over 2,100 defined contribution, defined benefit and deferred compensation retirement plans, representing about 1.7 million participants with $170 billion in assets, it said. The firm has over 30 U.S. offices.

Long also oversaw the development of SageView’s wealth management business that now oversees $4 billion in client assets, the company noted.

SageView’s appointments mark the start of the “next phase of its growth vision” and are “expected to further fuel SageView’s ongoing expansion in wealth management, while reinforcing the firm’s leadership position in the retirement plan advisory space,” the firm said.

As chairman, Long plans to “deepen [the] focus” on the firm’s strategy setting and growth planning, SageView said.

The appointments follow three years of growth for SageView that it said was driven by Long’s decision to invite private investment firm Aquiline Capital Partners to invest in SageView in 2020. With the help of Aquiline, Long and his team “exceeded the firm’s growth goals under its current three-year plan, successfully expanding via organic growth efforts and acquisition,” the firm said.

“Building on our success to date, we believe this is the perfect moment for us to enhance our leadership team with the addition of John Longley, a widely respected private wealth leader, as our new CEO,” according to Long.

“I’ve had the pleasure and privilege of getting to know John over the past few months as part of our selection process, establishing our shared commitment to our firm’s vision, value proposition and forward growth plans,” Long said in a statement.

“By bringing John aboard while transitioning to the role of Chairman of the Board, I will be able to fully focus on strategy setting and growth planning for SageView over the long term, while partnering closely with John to ensure that our future success honors all that we have accomplished until now,” Long added.

Longley, meanwhile, was “confident” in the firm’s “ability to accelerate growth as we launch the next phase of our long-term vision,” he said.

“In the course of exploring future opportunities, SageView stood out in three areas that provide the firm with unique advantages,” Longley noted.

Those three areas were: SageView’s partnership with Aquiline, the firm’s leadership in the retirement plan advisory business, and the company’s “ability to scale in wealth management by building the bridges to connect the platform, tools, and people across our retirement plan advisory and wealth management businesses,” Long added.

SageView acquired nine firms since its partnership with Aquiline started in 2020. They included: MJM401k of Arizona and Southern California; Bloomfield Hills Financial of Michigan, California, Colorado, Massachusetts and Texas; Channel Financial of Minnesota; kPlans Investment Services of California; Lakeview Wealth Management of Illinois; the advisors and assets of Capital One Investing in New York, Florida, Tennessee, Maryland, Oklahoma, Virginia and Texas; Summit Financial Consultants of California; and the founding team from RBG in California.

The firm “continues to identify new advisors and opportunities who are a strong cultural growth fit for SageView through acquisitions and recruiting,” it said.

Pictured: John Longley (left) and Randy Long

Jeff Berman

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