For over 20 years, the Adhesion Wealth outsourced managed accounts solution has been enabling advisors to transform their businesses. Our powerful suite of portfolio and practice management software and services can help advisors of all sizes to reinvigorate their investment operations while maintaining the level of independence and product flexibility they require to optimize their client outcomes.
Adhesion Wealth Advisor Solutions, Inc. is owned by AssetMark Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE, AMK), whose majority and controlling shareholder is Huatai Securities Co., Ltd., a financial services and securities brokerage firm incorporated in China and listed on the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges.
President and CEO
Barrett Ayers is the President and CEO of Adhesion Wealth as well as one of its original founders. He has dedicated his career to advancing and promoting the fee-based advisory business by helping independent advisors deliver conflict-free investment advice to the investment public. Adhesion Wealth allows advisors to focus on client relationships and build their practice by offering a robust outsourced managed account solution.
Barrett has unparalleled insight into the inner workings of model-based and managed account platforms and is an innovator and thought leader in the industry. He is a frequent speaker, presenter, and author on topics ranging from the state of the advisory market, outsourcing investment management, advisory best practices, leveraging behavioral finance in investment management, and custom index design for taxable client portfolios.
Prior to Adhesion Wealth, Barrett served as Senior Vice President of Product Management at Wachovia Securities and held several senior-level strategic posts with Fidelity Investments and Broadridge.
Chief Technology Officer
As one of the original founders of Adhesion Wealth, Trey has been with the company from the beginning. Today, as Chief Information Officer, Trey oversees Adhesion Wealth's engineering, infrastructure, and product teams. In the early years, Trey was responsible for defining the original mission of the company as well as raising the capital to launch it.
Prior to Adhesion Wealth, Trey served as a technology consultant with EDS’ US Banking Division and a Systems Engineer with General Motors’ Plant Automation Division.
Chief Administrative Officer
Kay Marie joined Adhesion Wealth in 2019. As Chief Administrative Officer, she is responsible for the organization and implementation of companywide strategy, initiatives and corporate communications and oversees Adhesion’s finance and marketing functions. Kay Marie has over 20 years of experience successfully transforming teams into high-performance cultures while building an optimal work environment.
Her passion for giving back to the Charlotte area and notable national charities has resulted in bringing over $200,000 of coordinated donations and specialized events to organizations such as Ace and TJ's Grin Kids, Beds for Kids, Boys and Girls Club, Cam Newton Foundation, Cindy's Hope Chest, JDRF, and Pro-Am Jam.
Head of Investment Programs
Alicia has over 20 years of investment management experience, dedicated to SMA and UMA platforms, manager due diligence, and building asset allocation models. She has also supported several direct indexing and tax-managed strategies. Alicia leads the Investment Program group at Adhesion Wealth, focusing on growing investment manager relationships and support.
Before Adhesion Wealth, Alicia was with Resolute Investment Managers. She was a product specialist for several SMA and tax-managed strategies and had a National Account role growing platform exposure for several SMA strategies. In addition, Alicia spent almost 12 years at Commonwealth Financial Network and has held positions at State Street Global Advisors, Morgan Stanley, and Oppenheimer & Co.
Alicia graduated from the University of Vermont and has her FINRA 7, 65, and 63 Licenses and her CIMA designation.
Director of Overlay Portfolio Management
As our Director of Overlay Portfolio Management, Jordan leads the strategic direction and implementation of Adhesion Wealth's Trading, Portfolio Management, Portfolio Operations, and Tax Management Teams. In addition, he oversees the execution of all investment-related activities with Adhesion Wealth.
Prior to Adhesion Wealth, Jordan spent over 15 years at LPL Financial, helping build and expand the firm's UMA and mutual fund/ETF wrap offering. Jordan holds an MBA and B.A. in Mathematics/Applied Science from the University of California, San Diego.
Senior Director, Business Development
Kevin has deep experience in managed accounts, investment outsourcing, and the independent advisory channel. As Senior Director of Business Development, he oversees our sales team and consults with firms to understand what they are trying to achieve and helps design their solution. Prior to Adhesion Wealth, Kevin held positions at Sungard, SEI, and New England Financial.
Kevin holds is B.S. in Business Management from West Chester University of Pennsylvania.
Director, Systems Administration
Jason joined Adhesion Wealth in 2012. As Manager of Adhesion Wealth’s Systems department, Jason oversees day to day IT operations. This includes maintaining the Adhesion Wealth platform as well as strategic and long-term planning for Adhesion Wealth's Systems. He is also responsible for keeping the department in line with the organizations growth and ensuring stability.
Prior to Adhesion Wealth, Jason served as a Project Manager and Systems Engineer at an IT Managed Services Provider for 5 years where he was responsible for designing and implementing solutions for small to medium business clients.
Director, Overlay Portfolio Management
Lisa joined Adhesion Wealth in 2006. As the Manager of Overlay Portfolio Management, she oversees the daily execution of all investment-related tasks by Adhesion Wealth's Portfolio Management Team. Lisa has been involved in Adhesion's Overlay Portfolio Management (OPM) program since its inception and has been a key contributor to its rapid success. Under Lisa's leadership, the OPM program has grown and developed an array of very talented and experienced Portfolio Managers and Traders that are also direct contributors to the company's success.
Prior to Adhesion Wealth, Lisa served as Operations Manager for six years at Howe and Rusling, an RIA firm based out of Rochester, New York.
Director, Software Development
Robert joined Adhesion Wealth in 2006 and has been an integral part of overseeing the engineering of the Adhesion Wealth platform. As the Director of Development, he is responsible for developing and maintaining all of the various software applications that make up the Adhesion Wealth offering. His team of full-stack developers handle all aspects of the software development lifecycle, utilizing the latest tools and frameworks to provide robust applications for our clients.
Prior to Adhesion Wealth, from 1995 to 2001, Robert built and ultimately sold an engineering firm that developed custom enterprise software solutions. His clients were companies from a variety of industries including Retail, Banking, and Oil & Gas Exploration.
Manager, Portfolio Operations
Kim joined Adhesion Wealth in 2018 and brought her years of experience in different facets of the wealth management field to the operations support group. As the Portfolio Operations Manager, she is responsible for defining and executing processes to support all trading and portfolio management functions. Her team of professionals provide daily middle-office services; from reconciliation to managing the myriad of changes essential to comprehensive portfolio management, her team sits at the core of Adhesion’s outsourcing solution.
Prior to Adhesion Wealth, Kim was a Portfolio Manager and Trader for six years at Dividend Assets Capital, an RIA firm based in Bluffton, South Carolina.
Senior Billing Analyst
Tammy joined Adhesion Wealth in 2006. As the Senior Billing Analyst, she oversees all billing operations and our advisor fee offerings. During her years at Adhesion Wealth, Tammy spent the majority as a QA Analyst. She continues to have a strong emphasis on performance measurement.
Prior to Adhesion Wealth, Tammy served as QA Analyst and Support for Schwab Performance Technologies, Inc and Infovisa, Inc. She is a CIPM® certificant.
CIPM is a registered trademark owned by CFA Institute.
Director, Head of Manager Relations
Christopher brings over 20 years of investment management experience to Adhesion Wealth. His experience has been dedicated to relationship management, product development, product management and distribution with asset managers across various investment vehicles. At Adhesion, Christopher is responsible for identifying, developing, and maintaining strategic relationships with asset managers that deliver SMA, UMA, ETF and Alternative strategies through the Adhesion platform.
Prior to Adhesion Wealth, Christopher was Global Head of Fund Manager Relations with Aliier Global where he was responsible for deployment and placement of offshore funds through the Aliier Global platform. Additionally, Christopher spent several years at Envestnet Asset Management overseeing asset manager relationships and deployment of Sub Advised Funds, he also held strategic relationship manager positions at Bear, Stearns, and First Chicago Investment Services.
Sr. Training Analyst
Michelle joined Adhesion in 2019 with 25 years of financial service experience and manages the firm's onboarding, training, and custodian partnerships. She oversees the onboarding process to ensure an advisor's successful transition to Adhesion. In addition, Michelle coordinates all the firm and advisor training and actively maintains Adhesion's learning management system.
Prior to Adhesion, Michelle was part of the Mass Mutual product team as the senior lead trainer for their outsourced managed platform. She also worked for independent RIA firms and as a financial specialist for a major bank. Michelle holds her BLS in Organizational Communication and Management from Wingate University.
Michelle enjoys volunteering with her husband and children at the local charity, TreesCharlotte.