Hightower Advisors Adds 3 Firms with $5B in AUM to W-2 Advisory Platform

Hightower Advisors has added three wealth management firms with over $5 billion in combined total client assets to its W-2 advisory platform, Hightower Signature Wealth. 

The three practices, Chicago-based Private Vista, Valparaiso, IN-based Hightower Great Lakes, and Half Moon Bay, CA-based The McGuirk & De Nevi Group, boost Signature Wealth’s headcount to more than 40 team members across six locations. 

In 2020, Hightower made an undisclosed strategic investment in Private Vista. The practice provides financial planning, investment management, retirement solutions, and estate and tax planning. Private Vista also has an office in Oak Brook, Illinois.  

Private Vista was formed in 2016 through the merger of three firms: Chicago-based Financial Strategy Network, Hinsdale, IL-based WNA Wealth Advisors, and Chicago-based The Advisors Group. 

Hightower Great Lakes, which is led by wealth advisor and managing director Timothy Scannell, joined Hightower in 2008 and initially launched Scannell Wealth Management in 1996, according to Hightower’s website. 

The McGuirk & De Nevi Group, which is led by wealth advisor and managing partners Michael De Nevi and Thomas McGuirk.   

The duo joined Hightower in 2010 after the firm acquired their RIA Martin Thomas Wealth Management. McGuirk launched the RIA in 2008 after breaking away from Morgan Stanley’s Smith Barney predecessor brokerage firm. Meanwhile, De Nevi served as a former Merrill Lynch advisor and director of research and portfolio management. 

Hightower’s W-2 channel, launched in October, is designed to enhance efficiency, streamline operations, and leverage the firm’s growing scale. The unit manages roughly $35 billion in assets under management and has more than 140 advisors, Hightower said. 

The firm plans to make additional acquisitions to its Signature Wealth division in the coming months, Hightower said. 

“The continued growth of Hightower Signature Wealth reflects the demand for a wealth management model that combines local relationships with institutional-quality capabilities,” said Larry Restieri, CEO of Hightower. 

In April, Hightower also added Lexington, MA-based Lexington Wealth Management, which manages roughly $3.2 billion in assets under management, to Signature Wealth. 

Hightower Advisors and its affiliates oversee about $353 billion in total assets, with over 652 advisors across 33 states and the District of Columbia, as of December 31, the firm said.