The Cleveland RIA platform brought on a new CFO, CCO, and advisor advocate as it targets $20 billion in managed assets by 2027, following rapid expansion. – WealthManagement.com

OneSeven, a Cleveland-area registered investment advisor platform backed by Merchant Investment Management, has built out its senior leadership team, with a new chief financial officer, chief compliance officer and advisor advocate. 

Brian Bunker, former head of practice management and consulting at Stratos, has joined the platform as advisor advocate, a newly created role designed to serve as a liaison with the firm’s advisor teams. He’ll work with OneSeven partner firms on organic and inorganic growth, as well as to better understand the firm’s resources. He’ll help firms with business development, client acquisition, team expansion, succession planning, and strategic partnerships or acquisitions. 

“The advisor advocate is going to be really critical when it comes to building relationships with our advisory teams, especially our larger advisory teams, and then really being a resource to them to help them grow, scale, build efficiencies and be successful within OneSeven,” said Todd Resnick, co-founder and CEO of OneSeven.

OneSeven also hired John Carey as chief compliance officer, responsible for the firm’s compliance program. He joins from OneDigital, where he was director of compliance. Rick Gross, OneSeven’s president, previously served in that role. 

The firm also added Betsey Saffar, who was vice president and CFO at Cornerstone Fund for the last two years, as chief financial officer. She replaces Marc Borstein, who is retiring and was only meant to remain in the role temporarily. In her role, she’ll lead financial strategy, reporting and capital planning. 

Resnick said it was time for the firm to bring on people in these full-time roles, given its growth. OneSeven has grown from approximately $3.5 billion in assets under management to more than $8.6 billion over the last year. 

And already this year, the firm has commitments from advisors representing $4 billion in assets to join the platform, and he expects the firm to reach $13 to $14 billion by the end of 2026. It aims to reach $20 billion by the end of 2027.

This year, the firm is also working on building an enterprise-level technology that it will roll out to its advisors. They also plan to bring some AI tools to their advisors. 

When an advisor joins OneSeven, they can either keep their own brand or take on the firm’s branding. They can also manage their investments as they see fit. But they have access to the OneSeven community of advisors, which is on the smaller side, Resnick said. 

“Instead of having thousands of advisors, by having a hundred to 150 advisors, we can facilitate relationships, build partnerships, bring people together more easily,” he said. “A lot of people, they’re alone, whether they’re sole practitioners or a team, they feel alone, and people want to be part of something. It’s just human nature, and we think that’s one of the things we do really well.” 

This follows news last year that OneSeven had added $2.11 billion in new inflows, along with 25 new advisors and seven advisory teams during the third quarter of 2025. 

OneSeven, as it’s known today, was created in 2022 when MGO Investment Advisors, an RIA with a long history specializing in 401(k) and wealth management services, merged with OneSeven, an RIA focused primarily on providing a platform and professional development resources to other advisors. As part of the merger, Merchant took a minority, noncontrolling stake in the combined entity.  

Previously Published on WealthManagement.com