“It’s important for us to keep attracting top firms,” Joe DeNoyior, National President of HUB Retirement and Private Wealth (HUB RPW), said when asked about the type of advisor and advisory firms it looks to acquire. “This industry is small as far as the players in the advisory space. We all know each other in one way or the other.”
It’s why he wants Hub to be known as the premier advisory shop, which he calls “a big lift.”
“When we keep bringing on thought leaders, it pushes us all further,” he said.
DeNoyior, who took over as president in February of 2021 after his own firm, Washington Financial Group, was acquired in 2019, has overseen a period of significant growth, something he claimed shows little sign of slowing.
“We feel like the power of one plus one equals three.”
“We’re still seeing quality deals,” he explained. “The opportunities have been expanded beyond the conference circle [of firms] that we know, so we are seeing some other advisors that we knew of a little bit more loosely. You get out of your small bubble, if you will, and the bubble gets larger and larger.”
He added that what’s unique about Hub is that its other offices in different regions, like employee benefits firms, know of retirement firms the executive team may not.
“There have been many introductions internally that have drastically helped bring in some really quality firms,” he said. “They’re totally solid; we just didn’t know that they weren’t in our circle.”
He mentioned people first when asked what else he and the team look for in a firm and that they’re thought leaders. Next, it’s high-growth firms with a desire to continue growing.
“Most importantly, we’re looking for firms that we feel can thrive in our environment. We feel like the power of one plus one equals three. Every question we go through before even getting too far down the path is, ‘Does it make sense strategically for Hub as well as strategically for the firm we’re looking at?’ That’s the major conversation.”
Autonomous and entrepreneurial
While acquiring firms are allowed to remain somewhat autonomous and entrepreneurial in how they operate, those firms that have “jumped in and ripped the Band-Aid off from their old identity and embraced all at his Hub are accelerating and growing beyond belief. And it seems to be that they are the happiest among the group.”
As one would expect, it’s a formalized onboarding process with a dedicated team, amusingly yet effectively called operations integration liaisons (OIL), “because it pretty much greases the gears.”
It’s a dynamic and flexible process, depending on the technology of the existing firm and its broker-dealer.
There’s also a formalized process for referrals and cross-marketing among the various Hub International divisions.
“We actually have people at Hub in each region and nationally that their primary focus is looking for opportunities and how we can expand our relationships and provide better service to our clients,” DeNoyior continued.
War for talent
As for how long the current M&A market will continue, he said it’s something Hub watches very closely across all lines.
“We think, in our space in retirement and private wealth, we are still pretty early. Again, there are so many external factors. You know what happens if the whole equity market changes—it also changes PE. Our appetite is to continue to grow fairly aggressively across all our lines.”
He concluded by noting the current war for talent among firms and the value Hub brings in helping with human capital management and employee retention.
“I feel like it’s our responsibility to help these employers retain employees. We have this thing called the Great Resignation. I think there are some stats around it. Is it marketing? I don’t know what the heck it is, but with that, I think it’s our responsibility to expand our commitment to the organizations we serve and help them look at a total rewards picture and become more of an attractive employer.”
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots.