Equitable Advisors has changed its head of recruiting in a transfer that provides to a rising listing of management adjustments throughout the impartial broker-dealer trade.
As a part of the shift, Sean George, who had joined Equitable in February 2025 within the newly created function of head of enterprise improvement, has left the agency in a “mutual determination,” in keeping with a supply accustomed to the departure. An Equitable spokesperson confirmed the exit.
Firm veteran David Goettelmann has taken over the advisor recruiting function along with his present duties as head of operations on the wealth unit, a division of insurer Equitable Holdings. Like George, Goettelmann reviews to Equitable Advisors Chairman David Karr.
“Equitable’s Wealth Administration enterprise is core to our progress technique, and skilled advisor recruiting will stay integral to accelerating our momentum,” the spokesperson mentioned.
Goettelmann, who has been with Equitable for 15 years, is “a prime expertise and the proper individual to drive our enterprise improvement technique ahead,” they added.
George, a 27-year trade veteran who had spent nearly a decade at Ameriprise Monetary earlier than becoming a member of Equitable, didn’t return a request for remark. He held a divisional recruiting function at Ameriprise, in keeping with his LinkedIn profile.
The shift comes as a number of impartial broker-dealers, together with LPL Monetary and Ameriprise Monetary, have been retooling their government ranks and hiring operations amid a more durable marketplace for skilled recruits.
It additionally follows Equitable’s February buy of Stifel Monetary’s $9 billion-asset impartial brokerage. One of many ‘flagship’ Stifel impartial groups with $650 million left earlier this month for Wells Fargo Monetary Community, and one other with $620 million joined Raymond James Monetary in April.
Individually, Equitable, which can also be the bulk proprietor of asset supervisor AllianceBernstein, agreed in March to merge with insurer Corebridge Monetary in an all-stock transaction that may create a mixed firm with round $1.5 trillion in belongings. The deal is anticipated to shut later this yr.
Equitable’s wealth enterprise has round $131 billion in belongings, in keeping with its most up-to-date earnings report. The Corebridge deal will add round $20 billion in wealth belongings, executives have mentioned.