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Investment Banker·RIA Rollups

Bomy Hagopian

Partner & Head of Wealth Management Advisory at Berkshire Global Advisors

San Francisco, CA

BH
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Why they matter

Hagopian leads Berkshire Global Advisors' wealth management M&A practice and has personally advised on more than 20 RIA and OCIO deals since 2021.

Background

Bomy Hagopian, CFA, is a Partner and co-head of Wealth Management Advisory at Berkshire Global Advisors, a specialist M&A and strategic advisory firm serving the financial services industry. She joined Berkshire in 2003 straight out of Harvard, ran the firm's London office for several years, then opened and has led Berkshire's San Francisco office since 2014, covering the Western U.S. Over more than two decades she has advised on dozens of wealth management, OCIO/institutional consulting, and alternative-asset-management transactions and was recognized as a WSR Pathfinder Award Top Woman Dealmaker in wealth management.

Notable deals

  • 2021
    Advised on CI Financial's acquisition of Columbia Pacific Wealth Management ($6.4B AUM) and a minority stake in Columbia Pacific Advisors
  • 2021
    Advised on Cerity Partners' strategic merger with Bingham, Osborn & Scarborough ($5.3B AUM)
  • 2024
    Advised Hightower Holding on its majority-stake investment in investment consultant/OCIO NEPC
  • 2021
    Named a WSR Pathfinder Award-winning Top Woman Dealmaker after leading execution of 13 of Berkshire's 42 announced transactions that year

Call-prep brief

Bomy Hagopian, CFA — Partner & Head of Wealth Management Advisory, Berkshire Global Advisors

Background: Harvard grad who joined Berkshire in 2003; ran the London office before founding and leading Berkshire's San Francisco office since 2014. Over 20 years advising exclusively on financial-services M&A.

Current focus: Sell-side and buy-side advisory for RIAs, OCIOs/institutional consultants, and alternative-asset managers. Her deal sheet spans nearly every major RIA aggregator (CI Financial, Mariner, Hightower, Wealth Enhancement Group, Cerity Partners) as a buyer-side counterparty, giving her a real-time view of who is paying up and who is disciplined on price.

What she cares about: Deal structure quality (earnout design, minority vs. majority stake trade-offs), succession/continuity for founder-led RIAs, and PE's growing role as a capital source behind serial acquirers — a recurring theme in her public commentary.

Recent moves: Advised Hightower on its 2024 majority stake in NEPC (a $1.66T OCIO), extending her practice beyond traditional wealth management into institutional consulting — directly relevant to RIA aggregation thesis work.

Sensitivities: She represents both buy-side and sell-side clients across the RIA aggregator landscape — assume active NDAs and be careful not to ask her to characterize a specific live process or named competitor's pricing.

Questions to ask:

  1. Where is multiple compression showing up first in the RIA aggregator market right now?
  2. How are serial acquirers differentiating on deal structure (equity rollover, earnouts) to win competitive processes?
  3. What's changed in OCIO/institutional-consultant M&A demand since the Hightower/NEPC deal?

Outreach draft

Subject
Quick Intro: RIA Aggregation Deal Flow
Hi Bomy, I lead deal sourcing on a private equity team focused on RIA aggregation. Your work advising on transactions across CI Financial, Mariner, Hightower, and Cerity Partners caught our attention — you clearly have one of the best vantage points on where consolidation is heading in wealth management and OCIO consulting. We're actively evaluating platforms in this space and would value 20 minutes to hear your read on current valuations, structure trends, and which acquirers are being most disciplined right now. Happy to work around your schedule. Would a short call next week work? Best, [Your Name]

Linked companies

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