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Investment Banker·RIA Rollups

David DeVoe

Founder and CEO at DeVoe & Company

San Francisco, CA

DD
LinkedIn
Why they matter

As founder of the industry's leading RIA M&A bank and data source, DeVoe sees nearly every major wealth-management deal before it's public.

Background

David DeVoe founded DeVoe & Company in 2011 after eight years as Managing Director of Strategic Business Development at Charles Schwab Advisor Services, where he built Schwab's RIA M&A and transition-planning platform. He holds a BA from UC Berkeley and an MBA from Cornell's Johnson School, and Barron's has dubbed him the industry's 'RIA M&A Guru.' Today his San Francisco-based firm is one of the most active investment banks and research houses tracking and executing RIA consolidation deals.

Notable deals

  • 2011
    Founded DeVoe & Company, now a leading RIA-focused investment bank and consulting firm with 950+ engagements and 88 RIA transactions completed
  • 2026
    DeVoe & Company advised the Kaminsky-Silverman Group of Shufro Rose ($554M AUM) on its sale to Wealth Enhancement Group
  • 2025
    Published InvestmentNews op-ed 'The silent risk in wealth management' warning RIAs about eroding career-path clarity and talent retention risk
  • 2026
    DeVoe & Company's Annual RIA M&A Outlook and quarterly Deal Books are cited industry-wide as the benchmark data source for RIA consolidation trends

Call-prep brief

Background

  • Founder & CEO of DeVoe & Company (est. 2011), a San Francisco investment bank and consultancy focused exclusively on RIAs — 950+ engagements, 88 completed RIA transactions.
  • Prior 8 years at Charles Schwab Advisor Services as Managing Director, Strategic Business Development, where he built Schwab's RIA transition-planning platform.
  • Named the 'RIA M&A Guru' by Barron's; 20+ years as a thought leader on RIA practice management and succession.

Current Focus

  • Publishes DeVoe & Company's quarterly RIA M&A Deal Book and Annual M&A Outlook — the industry's most-cited RIA deal-volume dataset.
  • Actively advising sell-side RIA teams on transactions with consolidators (e.g., Wealth Enhancement, Mercer Advisors, Beacon Pointe, Sequoia Financial).
  • Writing/speaking on talent and succession risk inside RIAs as a driver of future deal flow.

What He Cares About

  • Data-driven credibility of the RIA M&A market narrative (record deal counts, consolidator share of buyers).
  • Succession planning and next-gen talent retention as an M&A driver.
  • Positioning DeVoe & Company as the trusted advisor/broker for independent RIA sellers, not just a research shop.

Recent Moves

  • Advised on multiple 2025-2026 sell-side deals (Kaminsky-Silverman/Shufro Rose to Wealth Enhancement; Marshall Financial Group to Creative Planning; Sterling Financial Group to Sequoia).
  • Firm's H1 2026 Deal Book flagged a record first half of RIA M&A activity.

Sensitivities

  • Balances a research/media role (data seen as neutral) with an active advisory business — may be cautious about anything that reads as favoring one PE-backed consolidator over another.
  • Deep Schwab ties could color views on custodial-platform-driven consolidation.

Questions to Ask

  1. Which categories of RIA sellers (multi-generational founders vs. breakaway teams) are you seeing shift toward PE-backed consolidators fastest right now?
  2. What's driving the record H1 2026 deal count — is it valuation/rate tailwinds, succession pressure, or buyer capital availability?
  3. Among the consolidators you've worked opposite (Mercer, Beacon Pointe, Wealth Enhancement, Creative Planning), how do they differ in post-close integration and culture fit?

Outreach draft

Subject
Quick question on RIA consolidation trends
Hi David, I've been following DeVoe & Company's Deal Book data and your recent InvestmentNews piece on career-path risk at RIAs — both are required reading on our team. We're a private equity group evaluating opportunities in the RIA/wealth-management consolidation space and would value 20-30 minutes to get your read on where deal flow and buyer competition are heading over the next 12-18 months, particularly among PE-backed consolidators. Would you have time for a call in the next couple of weeks? Happy to work around your schedule. Best, [Placeholder Name]

Linked companies

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