Andy Watts to lead Cetera’s Tax Channel and the Avantax Community
SAN DIEGO, Aug. 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Cetera Financial Group (Cetera), the premier financial advisor Wealth Hub, announced today that Avantax, Inc. (Avantax) President Todd Mackay has been appointed President of Cetera Solutions. In this role, Mackay will drive end-to-end platform strategy and lead advice delivery across the organization. He will steer the company’s growth across various business lines with oversight for all digital products and investment products and services for Cetera advisors and end-clients. Mackay will serve as a member of Cetera’s executive leadership team.
“Todd is an established and talented leader whose vision will help propel Cetera through its next growth phase in service to our financial professionals and their clients,” said Mike Durbin, CEO of Cetera Holdings. “In his years at Avantax, he has proven his unique ability to connect with the Avantax community and strategically lead the organization through instrumental change. This appointment is yet another example of the ongoing and successful assimilation with Avantax and represents an important win for the entire Cetera organization that positions us extremely well for the future.”
During Mackay’s over 20-year tenure, he led Avantax to record levels of recruited advisors and assets, drove advisory asset flows to the highest levels in the company’s history, created an organic growth engine through various sales enablement programs and platforms, and developed highly successful new-affiliation and succession models through Avantax Planning Partners℠.
Andy Watts, CFP®, will assume Mackay’s former role as Cetera’s Tax Channel Leader, overseeing Avantax and Cetera Financial Specialists with a combined community of more than 4,000 independent Financial Professionals. Ron Krueger will continue in his role as the leader of the Cetera Financial Specialists Community.
“It’s been a true honor leading Avantax, and I’m incredibly proud of the growth and accomplishments the Avantax Community achieved thanks to our amazing Financial Professionals and our devoted Home Office team,” Mackay said. “I will continue working with Avantax in my new Cetera role, which is important to me because I value the many relationships created over the years. Our Avantax and CFS Financial Professionals, accounting firms and Home Office staff are in excellent hands with Andy Watts as their leader.”
Cetera expects no significant changes to the operations of Avantax’s Home Office in Dallas, or Cetera Financial Specialists’ Home Office in Schaumburg, Illinois.
Visit www.cetera.com for more information.
About Cetera
Cetera Financial Group, which is owned by Cetera Holdings (collectively, Cetera), is the premier financial advisor Wealth Hub where financial advisors and institutions optimize their control and value creation. Breaking away from a commoditized and homogenous IBD model, Cetera offers financial professionals and institutions the latest solutions, support, and services to grow, scale, or transition with a merger, sale, investment, or succession plan. Cetera proudly serves independent financial advisors, tax professionals, licensed administrators, large enterprises, as well as institutions, such as banks and credit unions, providing an established and repeatable blueprint for scalable growth.
Home to approximately 12,000 financial professionals and their teams, Cetera oversees more than $521 billion in assets under administration and $224 billion in assets under management, as of June 30, 2024. In a recent advisor satisfaction survey of nearly 35,000 reviews, Cetera’s Voice of Customer (VoC) program vigorously measures advisor experience and satisfaction 24/7. Currently, it’s ranked 4.8 out of 5 stars.
Visit www.cetera.com, and follow Cetera on LinkedIn, YouTube, X, and Facebook.
“Cetera Financial Group” refers to the network of independent retail firms encompassing, among others, Cetera Investment Advisers LLC, a registered investment adviser, and the following FINRA/SIPC members: Cetera Advisors LLC, Cetera Advisor Networks LLC, Cetera Investment Services LLC (marketed as Cetera Financial Institutions or Cetera Investors), and Cetera Financial Specialists LLC. Located at: 655 W. Broadway, 11th Floor, San Diego, CA 92101.
About Avantax®Avantax, a unique community within Cetera Holdings, delivers tax-intelligent wealth management solutions for financial professionals, tax professionals and CPA firms, supporting its goal of minimizing clients’ tax burdens through comprehensive tax-intelligent financial planning. Avantax has two distinct, but related, models within its business: the independent Financial Professional model and the employee-based model. Avantax refers to its independent Financial Professional model as Avantax Wealth Management®. Avantax Wealth Management (AWM) works with a nationwide network of Financial Professionals operating as independent contractors and offers its services through its registered broker-dealer, Avantax Investment Services, Inc., Member FINRA, SIPC, registered investment advisor (RIA), Avantax Advisory Services, Inc., and insurance agency subsidiaries. We refer to our employee-based model as Avantax Planning Partners℠. Avantax Planning Partners offers services through its RIA, insurance agency, and affiliated broker-dealer, Avantax Investment Services, Inc., and partners with CPA firms to provide their consumer and small-business clients with holistic financial planning and advisory services. Collectively, Avantax had $92.8 billion in assets under administration as of Dec. 31, 2023. For additional information, please visit www.avantax.com.
SOURCE Cetera Financial Group
