A 26-person team managing nearly $2 billion at Ameriprise Financial’s independent contractor channel broke away on Wednesday to launch an RIA affiliated with tru Independence.
The StackStone Wealth team, which managed approximately $1.9 billion in client assets, is led by Chief Executive Scott G. Leibfried, according to Los Angeles-based recruiter Roger Gershman. The Dubuque, Iowa-based team generated around $12.7 million in annual revenue, said Gershman, who represented them.
The group includes 15 additional advisors and 10 support staff, according to its website. It also operates out of offices in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin; Rockford, Illinois; and Marquette, Michigan. The RIA custodies client assets with Charles Schwab & Co.
Leibfried, who did not respond to a request for comment sent through social media, first registered with Ameriprise in 1997, according to BrokerCheck. He owns the new RIA along with Joseph G. Leibfried, Ricky J. Winslow and Gary L. Rowan, according to its Form ADV.
StackStone’s website noted the founders financed the launch. In response to the question, “Did StackStone Wealth get paid to make this change?” the firm stated:
“No. In fact, the opposite is true. We chose to personally invest our own capital to become fully independent. While it is common in our industry for other firms to accept signing bonuses or payouts, we intentionally avoided that path.”
However, their Form ADV noted that Sanctuary, tru Independent’s parent company, “provided transition support aimed at helping the Firm launch its new advisory firm.”
“The receipt of economic and other benefits as described above from Sanctuary creates an incentive for the Firm to choose Sanctuary over other service providers that do not furnish similar benefits,” the Form ADV stated.
The filing did not specify the nature or amount of the economic benefits. A spokesperson for Sanctuary Wealth, which acquired tru Independence in 2024, declined to comment on the move and did not immediately return a request for additional comment on what transition support it provides.
Firms affiliated with tru manage $9 billion in combined assets, according to its website. Sanctuary has more than $58 billion in assets on its platform, its website says.
An Ameriprise spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Gershman characterized the team’s departure as reflective of “accumulating frustrations” over platform costs, technology and compliance burdens at the franchisee channel.
Teams have been departing Ameriprise in recent months. In May, a pair of brokers managing $550 million in assets returned to Wells Fargo in Texas. In February, two teams managing nearly $1.4 billion in assets moved to LPL Financial and Raymond James. A $2.3-billion team left to launch an RIA in July last year.
Ameriprise executives in April noted that flows at its wealth unit dipped as nearly 90 Comerica advisors left following an acquisition and other departures weighed on assets.
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