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RIA Edge

RIA Edge

By: David Armstrong
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RIA Edge is the only podcast that focuses on how the wealth management industry’s top RIAs are growing their businesses through M&A and strategic organic growth plans. Hosted by David Armstrong, RIA Edge provides leaders of advisory firms with research, best practices and recommendations that are designed to drive intentional growth. Guests of RIA Edge will share how they have grown through acquisition, strategic partnerships, improved marketing or client acquisition strategies – and ultimately, how they became one of the industry’s most influential players.Copyright © 2024 RIA Edge All Rights Reserved. Economics
Episodes
  • RIA Edge Podcast: Scaling a High-Touch Wealth Firm with Stephen Rigali

    RIA Edge Podcast: Scaling a High-Touch Wealth Firm with Stephen Rigali
    Mar 24 2026

    In this episode of the RIA Edge Podcast, host David Armstrong speaks with Stephen Rigali, executive managing director at Kayne Anderson Rudnick, about the firm’s evolution from a family office into a $55 billion platform and how it has approached growth with intention over four decades.

    He shares how the firm prioritizes organic expansion, structured advisor development and long-term client relationships, along with how it balances high-touch service with scalability, uses specialized partners to extend capabilities, and evaluates the role of AI in improving efficiency without replacing human decision-making.

    Key takeaways:

    • How the firm grew from founder capital into a $55 billion platform through steady, organic expansion
    • Why advisor capacity is managed through defined lifecycle stages and proactive resource planning
    • How long-term client relationships are built on trust, alignment and consistent human interaction
    • Why combining in-house expertise with outside specialists strengthens the client experience
    • How AI is being tested to improve research, workflows and operational efficiency across the firm

    Resources:

    • Listen to the RIA Edge Podcast on Wealth Management
    • Listen and Subscribe to the RIA Edge Podcast on Apple Podcasts
    • Listen and Subscribe to the RIA Edge Podcast on Spotify

    Connect With David Armstrong:

    • Wealth Management
    • LinkedIn: Wealth Management
    • LinkedIn: David Armstrong
    • Twitter: David Armstrong
    • LinkedIn: Informa

    Connect With Stephen Rigali:

    • LinkedIn: Stephen Rigali
    • LinkedIn: Kayne Anderson Rudnick
    • Website: Kayne Anderson Rudnick

    About Our Guest:

    Stephen Rigali is the Executive Managing Director and a member of the Executive Management Committee at Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management, a Los Angeles–based investment and wealth management firm founded in 1984. He oversees business development across the firm’s institutional, retail, and wealth management platforms and works closely with the firm’s Chief Investment Officer and Chief Operating Officer to help shape the firm’s long-term investment and business strategy. He also serves on the firm’s Risk and Compliance Committee, ESG Steering Committee, and the Investment Committee for the Wealth Advisory division.

    Stephen has more than four decades of experience in the investment management industry and has been with Kayne Anderson Rudnick since 1991, playing a key role in the firm’s growth and evolution. Earlier in his career, he was a Vice President at Shearson Lehman Brothers. Stephen holds a B.S. in Business and Economics from Loyola Marymount University and is a CFA charterholder.
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    39 mins
  • RIA Edge Podcast: Building a $700B RIA with Peter Mallouk

    RIA Edge Podcast: Building a $700B RIA with Peter Mallouk
    Mar 12 2026
    In this episode of the RIA Edge Podcast, host David Armstrong interviews Peter Mallouk, president and CEO of Creative Planning, about his journey from leading a small company with 30 clients to becoming one of the largest independent wealth management firms in the United States. He talks about how that growth was fueled by a focus on consistent, repeatable workplace processes, turning clients into vocal advocates for the firm, and how his acquisition strategy is largely guided by where he sees unmet demand for fiduciary advice growing quickly. Peter, who will be a keynote speaker at Wealth Management EDGE in June, also explores his unique leadership decisions, what he has learned from hosting his own podcast interviewing financial service executives, and how developments in artificial intelligence will “rattle our space in a way that I don’t think anybody’s ready for, including us.” Key takeaways: How he grew Creative Planning to $40 billion in AUM within 15 years—entirely organically—and how those years established the foundation for future success in the M&A market.Why he still spends 75% of his time working directly with clients and prospects.The single most critical metric he uses to assess the quality of an RIA.The rationale behind last year’s acquisition of SageView Advisory Group and his perspective on the convergence of workplace retirement plans and wealth management.How Creative Planning’s international expansion strategy mirrors its domestic one: target regions where there is unmet demand for fiduciary advice.How AI may soon manage over half of the operational tasks within an RIA. Resources: Listen to the RIA Edge Podcast on Wealth ManagementListen and Subscribe to the RIA Edge Podcast on Apple PodcastsListen and Subscribe to the RIA Edge Podcast on Spotify Connect With David Armstrong: Wealth ManagementLinkedIn: Wealth ManagementLinkedIn: David ArmstrongTwitter: David ArmstrongLinkedIn: Informa Connect With Peter Mallouk: LinkedIn: Peter MalloukLinkedIn: Creative PlanningWebsite: Creative Planning About Our Guest: Peter Mallouk is the President of Creative Planning and its affiliated companies. Peter’s companies provide comprehensive wealth management services to their clients, including investment management, financial planning, charitable planning, retirement plan consulting, tax planning and estate planning services. Peter graduated from the University of Kansas in 1993 with four majors, including degrees in business administration and economics. He went on to earn a law degree and a Master of Business Administration degree in 1996, also at the University of Kansas. Peter is a recipient of the University of Kansas School of Business Distinguished Alumni Award, becoming the second-youngest recipient to receive the award. Peter is the founder, a current executive board member and a former five-year Chairman of KC CAN!, an organization of volunteers dedicated to improving the quality of life for children in Kansas City. He’s also the founder and a current executive board member of Pathway Financial Education, an organization dedicated to providing teenagers, adults and business owners in under-resourced communities with actionable financial education. Peter and his wife Veronica, are recipients of the Giving the Basics Human Dignity Award for their contributions toward helping those less fortunate meet basic needs. They’re also recipients of the Variety Presidential Citation Award for their work supporting those with special needs. The Mallouks funded the Kansas chapter of Give Back, a program that identifies high-achieving high school students who have faced challenges and provides them with not only college tuition but also coaching, counseling and volunteer mentors. To date, 300 Kansas students have been awarded scholarships. Peter and Veronica have three children — Michael, JP, and Gabby.
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    35 mins
  • RIA Edge Podcast: How a Focus on Process, Service and Scale Built a $4.2B AUM RIA

    RIA Edge Podcast: How a Focus on Process, Service and Scale Built a $4.2B AUM RIA
    Feb 24 2026

    What does it really take to grow an advisory firm without losing control of culture or client experience?

    Growth can look attractive from the outside, but building something sustainable requires discipline, structure and long-term thinking.

    In this episode of the RIA Edge Podcast, host David Armstrong interviews JC Abusaid, president and CEO of Halbert Hargrove, about building a $4.2 billion RIA through disciplined organic growth. He shares how centralized operations, a well-structured internship pipeline and flexible minimums fuel sustainable expansion. JC also explains his employee-ownership model, his perspective on private equity pressure and how AI and technology investments are shaping the firm’s next phase.

    Key takeaways:

    • Why centralized operations create scale, consistency and firm-wide efficiency
    • How lowering minimums for younger advisors drives long-term client growth
    • Building a structured internship program that becomes a hiring pipeline
    • Managing teams without advisor-led management to protect culture
    • Using AI and technology as productivity accelerators, not cost controls

    Resources:

    • Listen to the RIA Edge Podcast on Wealth Management
    • Listen and Subscribe to the RIA Edge Podcast on Apple Podcasts
    • Listen and Subscribe to the RIA Edge Podcast on Spotify

    Connect With David Armstrong:

    • Wealth Management
    • LinkedIn: Wealth Management
    • LinkedIn: David Armstrong
    • Twitter: David Armstrong
    • LinkedIn: Informa

    Connect With JC Abusaid:

    • LinkedIn: JC Abusaid
    • LinkedIn: Halbert Hargrove
    • Website: Halbert Hargrove

    About Our Guest:

    JC Abusaid is the CEO and President of Halbert Hargrove, a wealth advisory firm founded in 1989. JC earned his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a Finance emphasis from the Colegio de Estudios Superiores de Administracion in Bogota, Colombia, and his MBA from the University of Redlands School of Business. He was awarded the ACCREDITED INVESTMENT FIDUCIARY designation by the University of Pittsburgh-affiliated Center for Fiduciary Studies. In 2016, JC earned a LEAD Certificate in Corporate Innovation from Stanford Graduate School of Business, and in 2021, he took part in BlackRock’s first Emerging Leader Lab.
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    35 mins
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