Indianapolis-based Sanctuary Wealth appointed former Morgan Stanley managing director, Chris Shaw, as its new East Coast regional managing director. With three decades of experience, Shaw joins several other wirehouse executives whose skills and strategic relationships enable the team to better support wirehouse breakaway advisors, according to the firm. Shaw will report to Sanctuary President Vince Fertitta, another former wirehouse executive.
In this role, Shaw will be responsible for all aspects of recruiting along the East Coast, with the ultimate goal of attracting top quintile financial advisors across multiple wirehouse firms who are interested in launching and rapidly growing their own independent wealth management business. Additionally, he will serve “as the regional ambassador for Sanctuary,” helping Sanctuary’s affiliated firms receive the services and support “necessary to thrive as entrepreneurial business owners.”
Prior to joining Sanctuary, Shaw spent 29 years at Morgan Stanley and most recently led the Southern New Jersey region, which comprised seven offices and 250 financial advisors, and was responsible for recruiting, coaching and mentoring new financial advisors. Previously, he served in other management capacities at Morgan Stanley, having started his career with the firm as a financial advisor.
“With a well-earned reputation for integrity, innovative thinking and leadership, Chris came highly recommended by our partner firms who already know him well, multiple centers of influence in the industry and his former colleagues,” said Fertitta. “His balance of hard and soft skills, in-the-trenches experience as a former Morgan Stanley financial advisor and industry insights make Chris the perfect addition to our team. Bringing aboard Chris nicely rounds out Sanctuary’s exceptional understanding of multiple top wirehouse institutions.”
Shaw earned a degree in education from Trenton State College, where he was a standout on the football field. He has long used his experience in education and athletics to support advisors reaching their full potential and is now excited to take his skills to South Beach (and north to Maine’s coastline, as well).
“As I was considering my next role, I knew I wanted to mesh my experience with what I loved most about our industry, empowering advisors to service their clients, and put it all to work at a firm that shared my values,” said Shaw in a release. “All arrows kept pointing toward Sanctuary. The firm is enjoying explosive growth for all the right reasons: its great culture, focus on client care and commitment to ensuring its Partner Firms succeed.”
The platform makes the difference
“At the core of Sanctuary’s strategic vision is our belief in the power of our Partnered Independence model, combined with the people, platforms and tools that we have built to support this model,” said Adam Malamed, CEO of Sanctuary Wealth.
The platform includes a robust and diversified alternatives offering that goes well beyond what is available at the wirehouses, explained Robert Walter, Sanctuary’s President responsible for operations and platform.
“We offer the larger funds often found at the wires but complement them with well-vetted, best-in-class boutique offerings. Importantly, these strategies and products — large or small — were introduced or requested by our Partner Firms, which differentiates our offerings,” he added. “Coupled with our streamlined subscription system, our platform, which was built for advisors, by advisors, gives us an advantage when reaching out to advisors considering a break.”
Sanctuary believes bringing in Shaw will help them better explain this platform to their target audience of top wirehouse breakaway advisors, according to Malamed.
“Not only do we liberate [advisors] from wirehouse channel obstacles that have held back their professional growth, we also actively work with our partner firms to develop and execute comprehensive launch and growth plans that enable the delivery of a truly superior service experience to their clients as independent wealth managers,” he said. “Chris demonstrably shares our passion for helping wirehouse breakaway advisors grow and succeed, and we’re delighted he’s decided to join the Sanctuary community.”
