How CEO Ryan Parker keeps EP Wealth from becoming a ‘big corporate machine’

EP Wealth has more than doubled its office locations and assets under management since Ryan Parker became CEO in July 2023, with private credit giant Ares Management joining the California-based RIA’s cap table in September of last year as a minority investor. 

Parker, who was previously CEO of Edelman Financial Services, oversaw more than 30 offices across 11 states and roughly $18 billion in assets upon his appointment as CEO of EP Wealth. Heading into the third year of his leadership, the firm now manages over $40 billion in assets with 63 offices across 23 states. A close-knit culture unfazed by EP Wealth’s growing scale remains the RIA’s edge in the “war for talent” across advisor recruiting, according to Parker. 

“I think that our intentionality around maintaining a culture that still has a boutique feel, that tries to maintain the notion that each individual is important and we're not growing into some big corporate machine where either clients or employees become nameless, faceless numbers, is really attractive,” Parker told InvestmentNews.

EP’s investment from Ares Management joined Berkshire Partners, which has been a minority backer of EP Wealth since 2020. Last year saw EP Wealth acquire nine firms, and it began its 2026 M&A campaign by adding a Scottsdale-based RIA with over $730 million AUM.

“I think advisors see us as a place where they have access to all the resources that they need to grow, but they can continue to be entrepreneurs. They can continue to really think about serving clients,” said Parker. “Not only advisors, but frankly it's becoming as important to have the best client service people and the best financial planners, the best finance people and the best compliance people. We need A-players in every chair.”

Parker also stressed a “growth mindset” for advisors to be a cultural fit within EP Wealth. The firm’s organic growth strategy includes marketing lead generation for clients, amplifying local marketing campaigns for EP advisors, and participating in client referral programs from Schwab and Fidelity, who both custody assets for EP. Several RIA referral programs are launching this year as challengers to Schwab and Fidelity’s longtime standing atop the client referral market.

“We compete with other RIAs, but we like to see the health of the fee only fiduciary model, and, continuing to bring qualified referrals, whether it's from Goldman or Pershing or from TradePMR and Robinhood, we think that's a good thing on a macro trend for our industry,” said Parker. “We have great and long term relationships with Fidelity and Schwab, both as our custodians and we've been very successful in their [referral] programs. So sitting here today, we're mostly focused on continuing to optimize our relationships with them.”

BNY Pershing revealed in an SEC filing in December 2025 that it will launch BNY Advisor Match, in which advisors will pay an annual $50,000 participation fee on top of an annual asset-based fee of up to 0.3% of the referred client’s asset value. Goldman Sachs has also launched Ayco with mega-RIAs Creative Planning, Mercer, and Wealth Enhancement as early members, while Robinhood has teased its own referral program to debut as part of the existing TradePMR custodian services platform.

“We've got to continue to evaluate how the industry is evolving, and so we have no imminent plans to expand any of our custodian relationships but we're always talking to industry participants about what they're doing and why,” said Parker. “If we felt like there was an intersection of being able to serve our clients in a different and better way, and that had an opportunity to think about other ways that we could grow, we certainly would evaluate that.”