Elevation Point, a minority investor in independent and breakaway advisors launched last year by former Sanctuary Wealth CEO Jim Dickson, has brought on Katie Johnson, former president, partner and head of people and operations at FiComm Partners, as head of wealth solutions, a new position. She will continue with FiComm as a board member and equity partner.
The company has also promoted Brad Smithy, founding partner and head of wealth management, to the position of president, wealth management.
Johnson will report to Smithy in her new role. She’s been tasked with building strategic partnerships and advancing the wealth solutions division.
“She has the expertise and experience necessary for defining, packaging and positioning our non-investment wealth solutions—which span wealth planning to platform capabilities—to deepen engagement across our ecosystem, and empower advisors to truly elevate what they can do for their clients,” said Dickson, CEO of Elevation Point, in a statement.
Prior to joining FiComm, she served as vice president of corporate communications for Goldman Sachs Personal Financial Management, which was acquired by Creative Planning in 2023. Before that, she spent 15 years at United Capital, the RIA firm founded by Joe Duran, which Goldman Sachs acquired in 2019.
In his new role, Smithy will help scale the firm into the next phase of growth.
“Brad has always championed advisor trust as the foundation for growth and durability,” Dickson said in a statement. “As Elevation Point continues to mature, his expertise and leadership will be critical in strengthening the paths to partnership that we offer.”
Before joining the firm in July 2024, Smithy spent over 15 years at UBS, holding leadership roles, including divisional director. In this capacity, he oversaw more than 1,900 financial advisors, who were responsible for managing nearly $500 billion in assets under management. Previously, Smithy spent more than 15 years at Merrill Lynch in various roles, including financial advisor, complex sales manager, district sales manager and complex director.
Since its inception, Elevation Point has closed nine deals with independent RIAs with a combined $9.6 billion in client assets.
Last May, Elevation Point sold a minority stake to Emigrant Partners. While Emigrant Partners and Elevation Point have similar business models, the investment gave Emigrant exposure to the breakaway advisor market.
Elevation Point was launched in June 2024 with the goal of taking minority stakes in RIAs with $200 million to $3 billion in client assets and helping those firms grow. Elevation Point is neither an aggregator nor a turnaround shop but rather an “accelerator,” partnering with advisors to help them recognize and enhance their unique value propositions and grow by removing operational constraints, Dickson said.