Michigan-Based Rock Harbor Raises $1B AUM On Know-How, Quality Partnerships

Michigan-based Rock Harbor, a provider of wholesale distribution, consulting and national accounts services, formally announced this week it has successfully raised over $1 billion in assets under management.

What Happened: As part of a vision to align wealth advisors with boutique asset management firms, Rock Harbor raised $1 billion in under three years of establishing its marketplace strategy and brand.

In a discussion surrounding the firm’s work pairing asset managers, mutual funds, and ETF providers with financial advisors, Rock Harbor founder and CEO Sean Ritchlin said the milestone didn’t come without challenges.

“The early struggles were tough, but I think we really nailed it down in 2018," Ritchlin told Benzinga.

Ritchlin noted his Vice President and Head of National Accounts, Lindsey Cipro, was a major factor in achieving this recent milestone.

“She does a lot of the work behind the scenes,” he said in a description of her role in bringing together quality partners and advisors. “She goes through all of the processes, … to see if there’s a good fit from a product standpoint and economically.”

“Once we find something, we take it to our internal crew of top wholesalers, and have a discussion with them to see if this is going to be a good fit for business," he said.

Why It Matters: Rock Harbor, in the simplest way, leverages a team of veteran financial marketers with over 100 years of experience in finance to pair advisors with more valuable products and services.

“We try to recruit the more experienced, tenured sellers that have great relationships with their financial advisors,” said Ritchlin. “There’s a digital shift going on in this world and it’s really difficult if you don’t have a relationship with a financial advisor to create interest.”

Going forward, the company aims to hone in on efficient processes to scale growth and add greater value.

“In 2021, we will continue doing a great job of adding value from a product standpoint, as well as from a thought leadership standpoint with our partners," said Ritchlin. "We’re also going to continue to add people that can sell products and have great relationships in the marketplace”