PLANADVISER - March/April 2022 - 29

Multiple Successors
By joining CAPTRUST, in 2009, Mark Davis, senior vice president,
financial adviser, gained the ability to select his successors
from the large acquirer's adviser pool.
PLANADVISER: When did you begin to
think about succession planning and
the longer-term future of your clients?
Mark Davis: I started about two or
three years ago, before COVID, and
COVID cemented it and accelerated
it.
I'm 62 years old, and my father
passed away at age 66-that gives
you a perspective on things. My bride
is a cancer survivor, and we found
ourselves in a situation where financially
we didn't need to work anymore.
We had the opportunity to start planning
a couple of years ahead. When
Debbie Basch, the person who helped
me run the business, scheduled her
retirement this past year, that became
what was the final straw for me. Instead
of rebuilding to replace her, it made
more sense to step aside at that time.
PA: How has your succession evolved?
Davis: One of the blessings of being
part of the CAPTRUST team is that,
with the help of Rick Shoff, I had the
chance to look down, at 30,000 feet,
and handpick advisers to take on
clients.
I'm thankful that my practice, over
time, evolved into a national one. I had
clients from New York to Honolulu and
in a bunch of states in between-43 in
all. It didn't make sense for any one
advisory firm to pick up what was an
inefficient way of doing business.
With the luxury of having so many
talented advisers on the CAPTRUST
team, I was able to sort out the best
person to take over plan A, plan B, etc.
This was sometimes based on experience,
sometimes based on geographic
proximity, other times, on personality
types. It's been a pretty easy process.
Seven different advisers have taken
over the majority of client relationPA:
How did you communicate your
succession planning to clients?
Davis: We laid out a thorough process.
About two years ago, we made out a
schedule where I called each of my
clients on my own and set out what
would be happening, and set up an
ships, and I currently manage four of
them. They are clients that came to
us during the pandemic. I didn't feel it
was appropriate for me to back away
when they had just hired us. Those
final four will transition in the next
six to 12 months.
about 18 months. It's been very efficient.
And we haven't lost any clients.
By the end of this year, I'll transition
my whole book of business to
succession advisers on the team. I
hope to be fully retired by 2023. We
really took this time to plan the work
and work the plan. We're following it,
and it is working extremely well.
PA: Was a reason for your move to
CAPTRUST to start your succession
planning?
Davis: At the time, it was quite the
opposite. Thirteen years ago, I wanted
" ... I called each of my clients on
my own and set out what would
be happening, and set up an
appointment for them to meet their
new adviser over the phone. "
appointment for them to meet their
new adviser over the phone. Then
the new adviser sat in on a round of
quarterly meetings but didn't say
anything-was just there. Then the
next round of quarterly meetings, that
individual participated a little bit, but
it was still my meeting to run. The
next quarterly meeting, the adviser
ran the meeting. I was the one who
was just there. Now we're at the point
where the new advisers are off and
running. With very few exceptions,
those plans are running perfectly well
with the new adviser, and there's no
need for me.
From when we communicated to
the client to the time I backed away was
to grow my business significantly. I
had been through personal life events,
and I had been very involved and put
a lot of time and energy into NAPA
[National Association of Plan Advisors]
and ASPPA [American Society for
Pension Professionals and Actuaries].
We found ourselves in the early
2000s with a business I hadn't devoted
enough time to. I turned my focus to
it, so when I joined a bigger firm, that
gave me the opportunity to blast off
to grow the business. I really wasn't
thinking about an exit strategy at all
for my first 10 years. Only after that,
in the past couple of years, it became
clear that it was time to step away.
-Judy Faust Hartnett
planadviser.com March-April 2022 | 29
http://www.planadviser.com
PLANADVISER - March/April 2022

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