A Syracuse-based firm with $550 million AUM will join Commonwealth’s independent advisor network, the broker/dealer announced today.

Advisors William Kriesel, Kevin Visconti and George Nardone lead Diversified Capital Management. They were with Cadaret Grant (which was bought by Atria Wealth Solutions) before LPL Financial acquired Atria earlier this year.

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Kriesel founded DCM in 1998. According to Kriesel’s biography on DCM’s site, he worked for a CPA firm in the late 1990s and was dismayed when a client was placed in an investment program that didn’t meet their needs. Kriesel was inspired to form DCM in 1998 and prioritize collaborating with professionals working with their clients (including accountants and attorneys). 

According to Kriesel, Commonwealth matched what “the industry used to be 15 years ago.”

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“We want to make sure our clients are taken care of beyond the career of any one advisor,” he said. “In contemplating a partner change, our decision-making was always around how changes to our business would impact our clients.”

According to Becca Hajjar, Commonwealth’s managing principal and chief business development officer, by joining Commonwealth, DCM will drop its own RIA registration and integrate Commonwealth’s technology into its daily operations, freeing up more time for client needs.

Kriesel was affiliated with the Syracuse-based Cadaret, Grant & Co., beginning in 1999, according to FINRA records. In 2018, Atria Wealth Solutions acquired the then-$23 billion RIA, along with about 900 advisors. 

Earlier this year, Krisel’s firm switched owners again when LPL Financial acquired Atria Wealth’s business in an $805 million deal structured as an equity purchase. LPL expected to finance the deal through a mix of cash and debt. The total purchase included $100 billion in assets, 2,400 advisors and 150 banks and credit unions. 

As part of the deal, Atria would move its brokerage and advisory assets custodied under several broker-dealers onto the LPLC platform; Cadaret Grant was one of five supporting advisors, which also included NEXT Financial Group, SCF Securities, Western International Securities and Grove Point Financial. 

At the time of the agreement, the transaction was expected to be completed in the second half of 2024, with the total conversion of Atria advisors slated for mid-2025.

Commonwealth currently partners with approximately 2,200 independent advisors with over $296 billion in assets managed nationwide. In September, the b/d announced it would partner with Vestwell to launch a new pooled employer plan. The deal expanded the firm’s partnership with Vestwell to make the Gateway 401(k) Plan available to the IBD’s advisors. In August, the firm attracted a $630 million Temple, Ariz.-based team from Osaic.