Bison Wealth Acquires $500M Advisory Team Focused on First Responders

Financial advisory firm Bison Wealth Capital has acquired Capital Defender Advisors, a new advisory team overseeing $500 million in assets, with some of its focus on first responders as clients.

Atlanta-based Bison Wealth said the new team will include Brian McGinnis, founder of Serve & Protect Financial, an advisory firm that provides financial planning and portfolio offerings for the first-responder community. Before founding Serve & Protect, McGinnis served as a deputy sheriff in Florida.

The new team also includes Elio Chiarelli and Ray Hansen, formerly of Kidder Advisers, where Hansen was president and Chiarelli was vice president. The advisors will operate Capital Defender Advisors under Bison Wealth.

“We’re proud to partner with a team who works so closely with first responders, who historically have been underserved in the wealth planning industry,” Brad Ball, said founder of Bison Holdings LLC.

Bison Wealth, a subsidiary of Bison Holdings, is a boutique of investment advisors that provides resources to grow through acquisition or monetize their business, while transitioning clients to the next generation of advisors, according to the firm.

Capital Defender represents the first major deal since the partnership with QTR Wealth last May.