The Evolution of the COO Role and Why It Often Fails at RIAs

In the eighth episode of The COO Roundtable , Matt sat down with David Canter and Scott Slater of Fidelity Clearing & Custody Solutions.

David is the Executive Vice President and Head of the RIA Segment at Fidelity. A lawyer by trade, David has been in the industry for 25 years and has been involved in everything from setting up RIAs from a legal and compliance perspective to helping them grow and scale from a practice management standpoint.Scott is the Vice President of Practice Management and Consulting at Fidelity. He helps some of the largest firms in the industry work through their M&A strategy and is also host of the Future Ready Through M&A Podcast.Matt, David, and Scott sit down to discuss their unique perspective into RIAs of various shapes and sizes across the country and much more, including:
  • David and Scott’s respective professional backgrounds and how those affect their roles today
  • The evolution of the Chief Operating Officer role and how they can help a firm navigate the greater RIA ecosystem
  • How Fidelity is working with firms outside of their clearing and custody solutions
  • The four areas Fidelity focuses on to help take RIAs to the next level
  • Scott’s take on what Buyers and Sellers need to do in order to be successful in the M&A market
  • David’s perspective on the profit vs. growth debate
  • Their thoughts on why professional management tends to fail at RIAs
  • Related: Challenging the Notion of What it Truly Means to be a Business Owner in the RIA Space