Washington Wealth Management Celebrates Successful First Year

MIDDLEBURG, Va., Feb. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Washington Wealth Management, LLC (WWM) announced today that they are poised for strong growth in 2012. The firm capped a successful first year by adding four senior leaders and opening three new branches. An independent investment advisory firm registered with the Securities Exchange Commission, WWM begins year two with a total of ten regional and branch directors and six branch offices nationwide.

"Our ability to attract seasoned, first-class leadership has allowed us to establish a strong presence in each of the four corners of the country and now in the Midwest," said Tony Sirianni, CEO, Washington Wealth Management. He cited their four recent hires as indicative of the caliber of leadership joining the firm:

• Rob Bartenstein, chief of strategy, is an attorney and brings 15 years' experience in the financial services industry, most recently a top regional business development manager for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in southern California. He previously advised both retail and private banking investors.
• Mike Malone, Midwest regional director, joined WWM from J.P. Morgan Securities where he was the national branch director, following a distinguished career at Morgan Stanley and Smith Barney. After building his own practice, he held various management roles, including leading one of Smith Barney's largest branches.
• Paul Dietrich, director of global research, was the founder of Foxhall Capital Management and Meridian Emerging Markets, Ltd. A former international corporate attorney, publisher, editor in chief and television producer, he is also a frequent contributor to major financial publications around the world, as well as an author and editor. He remains the chief investment officer of Foxhall Capital.
• Matt Lapides, branch director in south Florida, served in leadership roles in the financial advisory business at Merrill Lynch where he built a successful wealth planning team and at a private bank as a managing director and executive team member.

"Our strategy is to hire strong local leaders and then give them the freedom and flexibility to build their branches in their respective markets," said John Simmons, president, Washington Wealth Management. "We have built a strong partnership culture and an incentive plan based on top-line."

Compared with today's large firms, "we're like a 'back to the future' situation," said Bartenstein, "in that we believe that bigger isn't necessarily better. What gets lost at the big firms is the real engine, which is the relationship between the adviser and the client. Everything we do is to help support that relationship, which means we have no proprietary products, no sales & trading, no prop desk. A 'de-conflicted' environment enables us to provide our advisers and their clients with the best solutions from all across Wall Street."

Recent surveys have confirmed that a growing number of advisers love the idea of independence. But most of them have no idea how to do it, and they don't want to deal with the hassles of managing an office. "It's not their skill set, and frankly not the best use of their time," said Bartenstein. "Advisers are a lot like surgeons. Their time is best spent with their clients – not worrying about leases and copiers and payroll. We take care of all of that for them."

"We hire the smartest people, let them do what they do best, and watch the magic happen," said Simmons, pointing to three consecutive weeks in December, when WWM opened branch offices in Carmel Valley (San Diego), Las Vegas and Westport, CT, as evidence that the word is getting out.

Looking toward the future, he said, "We are finalizing plans for a national rollout – and it's creating a lot of excitement and strong momentum. We have targeted three additional markets – located in southern California, the Midwest and the Southeast – for expansion in 2012. That would give us twelve markets in all, plus five more that we're looking at for 2013."

"This is a huge opportunity," added Malone, "and we're receiving lots of inquiries. But we want to hire the right people – the ones who have the skills, the creativity and the desire to be entrepreneurs. And then we do everything we can to help them be successful. I like to call it independence without being alone."

ABOUT WASHINGTON WEALTH MANAGEMENT, LLC

Headquartered in Middleburg, Virginia, Washington Wealth Management is an independent Registered Investment Adviser, established to create a network of independent financial advisors. The firm offers advisors the opportunity to become their own boss and take ownership in their business, and provides them and their clients with access to a full set of investment products and services from an independent wealth management platform. Advisors at Washington Wealth Management are part of an organization that encourages collaboration and idea sharing, a culture that values them as individuals, and cares about the individual client.

SOURCE Washington Wealth Management, LLC