Edelman hires dealmaker to buy and recruit retirement practices

Edelman Financial Engines has hired Christian Mango to run its Retirement Plan Services business. His remit has three parts: strategic acquisitions, adviser recruitment and organic growth. PLANADVISER reported the appointment. Mango reports to Steven Gaven, the firm's chief financial officer.

Mango brings nearly 30 years in the retirement industry. He was senior vice president for mergers and acquisitions at OneDigital, and before that led Alera Group's Retirement Plan Services as executive vice president and national practice leader. Ralph Haberli, Edelman's chief executive and president, said the firm sees significant opportunity among retirement plan advisers and smaller plans, and that Mango's experience and relationships across the industry would help build one of the country's leading retirement advisory platforms. Edelman had more than $300 billion in assets under management as of March 31.

The mandate is three jobs in one: buy firms, recruit their advisers, and grow the existing book. The first two efforts are two ends of the same transaction — acquisition pays for a practice, recruitment pays for the people behind it. Edelman has put one person in charge of both, and that person reports to the finance office. For a firm with $300 billion under management, that is a statement of intent: retirement-plan practices are on the shopping list.

For an owner of an independent retirement-plan practice, the hire folds two possible conversations into one counterparty. Edelman can buy the firm, or it can buy the team. Mango will sit on the other side of either pitch. A founder who prices only the outright sale may be shortchanging the value of the recruiting offer; a founder who expects to stay on may discover the whole firm is wanted. It is worth knowing which side of the table you sit on before the first call.