We acquired a business from BlackRock last year and we were missing a piece we needed in order to make it work. We’d acquired the clients and assets of their B2C robo-advice business and we spent a lot of time, capital and energy building out the web platform that would enable us to take it over. There were thousands of households coming to us and we needed to stand up a technology solution that would be both client-facing and internally functional for trading and CRM.

Fortunately, we were able to get this done, but there was one thing we didn’t have - an employee to manage it operationally day to day. We needed a specialist who could handle all of the tasks associated with servicing the accounts while simultaneously being able to help the clients and advise them. This type of advisor - which we refer to as an “operations advisor” - doesn’t really exist. We had to find someone who could effectively invent this role and then do the job. We envisioned this person as being in a blocking-and-tackling defensive role. What ended up happening was something entirely different.

“I think I got the guy for this,” Michael Batnick said as the deadline to close the transaction drew near. “He wants to work with us and in his current role he helps investors who call in all day. He’s a big fan and he’s the guy. Let me call him and see if he can do it.”

Michael called back a young man in Kentucky named Patrick Schwendeman. We call him Schwendy and he has been an absolute game-changer. Patrick had been talking with Michael for a few months and we didn’t really have a role for him. And then, suddenly, we did.

Schwendy came in and dove into the project headfirst. He was immediately talking to all of the new clients who’d come in with the acquisition, finding out their situations and building profiles for them one by one. We’re talking about dozens of conversations, five days a week, for months. Most of these clients were unfamiliar with us, which is very different than the typical client who comes in fully aware of the Ritholtz brand and many of the people who work here. This was a completely different situation.

As he made his rounds and reached out to these households, he was identifying a hundred different needs people had and answering thousands of questions about what we do, how we do it and why. No other advisor in the history of this firm has ever had to do that at the pace and scale that Schwendy did.

And boy did he do it.

Within days, Patrick was reconnecting bank accounts for automatic deposits to these investment accounts, upgrading the service levels larger households were entitled to, helping people transfer other external accounts under our wing, updating personal information and just generally being our in-house octopus on behalf of our newest clients. For most of these folks, an interaction with him was their first impression of the entire firm so these interactions were absolutely critical.

And then the most unexpected thing happened we could never have foreseen. The platform and service tier we’d built to serve investors with between $250,000 and $1 million became the fastest growing organic part of our business by headcount. All of these people we had previously turned down because we didn’t have a workable solution for them were now becoming new clients. They’re pouring in over the transom. For ten years we’d been telling people “I’m sorry, the minimum is $1 million to work with us.” Now we could start saying “Yes, let’s hear your situation, we can probably help,” and, in most cases, we can.

And the reason why we are now in a position to give people this answer is the extraordinary ability and capacity of Patrick Schwendeman. Patrick leads a team of CFPs who are now working with clients in this Good Advice tier, but he set up the mechanics of onboarding and he’s at the forefront of how it all operates. Not only did we get an operations advisor to run this thing, we got a superstar.

From, of all places, Lexington, Kentucky. Just an absolute gem we never knew we needed.

Schwendy got his due on Ritholtz Slack the other day with a milestone that blew his coworkers minds…

Sometimes, when you don’t even know what you’re missing, it just appears. And then you realize it was meant to be. Here’s how Patrick’s bio on the Ritholtz Wealth Management website reads:

Finding gems all over the country who fit into the scheme of what we’re doing has been a critically important part of our story. We don’t always know who we’re going to need - or when - but having a pipeline of people who want to be here has been a huge advantage. And then, one day, they get the call. If I’m doing my job growing the firm, this call could end up becoming life-changing.

If you’re working in wealth management - as an advisor or otherwise - and you think there’s something bigger, better, faster, more exciting out there in your future - tell us about it. We’re all ears.

Careers @ Ritholtz

Rick Rieder on The Compound and Friends

…and speaking of BlackRock, this week we had one of the biggest guests we’ve ever welcomed to the podcast - Rick Rieder is the CIO of Global Fixed Income and the head of their global asset allocation team, overseeing $2.4 trillion. Rick’s been a bucket list guest of ours since the beginning and I was so excited when the day finally arrived.

We got to talk to him about his career, trading, research, inflation, bond yields, portfolio management, launching his active ETF and so much more. Not only is he a star manager and a major player on Wall Street, he’s also one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet in this business.

Listen above! That’s it from me this week, talk soon! - Josh