$1.9B Merrill Lynch Team Departs for Summit Financial

Summit Financial Holdings has added SRM Private Wealth, a breakaway advisory team from Merrill Lynch where they oversaw more than $1.9 billion in client assets.

Pasadena, CA-based SRM specializes in serving high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals, including executives in the sports and entertainment industry. The team is led by Richard McWhorter, who joins Summit after spending more than a decade at Merrill. The group also includes partner and Director of Client Services Sandra Parracino and Client Associate Kyle Szesnat.

McWhorter has been with Merrill Lynch for 16 years, according to BrokerCheck. He began his career with Painewebber in 1992, moved to Citigroup Global Markets in 1994 and spent 13 years there before joining Merrill Lynch.

SRM is the 11th firm to join Summit Growth Partners (SGP), Summit’s partnership model that combines cash monetization with equity participation and exclusive partnership privileges.

By adding SRM, the Parsippany, N.J.-based RIA platform has strengthened its West Coast presence and boosted its assets to over $5 billion so far in 2024, making it one of the fastest-growing firms in the independent space in the country.

“Throughout the due diligence process, it became evident that Summit’s open-architecture approach to investment opportunities, combined with Goldman Sachs’ custody solution, was precisely what my team needed to succeed,” said McWhorter.

SRM Private Wealth has chosen Goldman Sachs Custody Solutions as its custodian.

Summit Financial oversees about $13 billion in assets and has been backed by serial RIA minority investor Merchant Investment Management since 2018.