Essential Edge Commences Next Stage of Strategic Growth Plan by Naming New Board of Advisors

Board of highly accomplished industry leaders will provide expertise and guidance to fast-growing compliance outsourcing firm

SANTA FE, N.M., Feb. 16, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Essential Edge Compliance Outsourcing Services LLC (Essential Edge), which provides third-party compliance services for broker-dealers and registered investment advisers (RIAs), announces the appointment of five highly regarded and experienced wealth management industry executives to its newly formed Board of Advisors.

The creation of this new advisory board comprising widely recognized industry leaders will enable Essential Edge to capture greater growth opportunities, while also expanding its value proposition to wealth management clients across the country who seek to leverage a cost-effective third-party solution for their regulatory and compliance challenges.

"Since launching Essential Edge, we have generated significant growth year over year by delivering on our core value proposition, which is in greater demand than ever before – providing outsourced, comprehensive compliance supervision and regulatory solutions that can, in effect, act as an extension of any wealth management enterprise's compliance department," said Sander Ressler, Co-Owner and Managing Partner. "As the complexities and costs associated with day-to-day compliance supervision and extraordinary regulatory compliance events continue to multiply, wealth management enterprises increasingly face a stark decision: continue to add full-time compliance supervision employees, dramatically increasing their operating costs, using capital and resources that could otherwise be used for more growth and revenue-generating functions of the business, or be smart and selective by partnering with third-party providers that can act as extensions of their compliance departments."

The members of the Essential Edge Board of Advisors include the following professionals:

• Larry Roth, Managing Partner of RLR Strategic Partners, a consultancy and M&A advisory firm. In addition to his work with RLR, Mr. Roth provides comprehensive mergers & acquisitions solutions, delivered in association with Berkshire Global Advisors, the leading international investment bank focused on supporting transactions between financial services companies. Mr. Roth, who has three decades of experience in the wealth management industry, oversees the Board of Advisors for Haven Tower Group and sits on the Board of Directors of both Oppenheimer & Co. and Clark Capital Management Group. Previously, Mr. Roth served as CEO of AIG Advisor Group as well as CEO of Cetera Financial Group, two of the largest networks of independent financial advisors in the country.
• Joseph Kuo, Founder and CEO of Haven Tower, a leading strategic communications agency for the wealth management industry. Bringing 25 years of experience in PR, corporate communications and marketing communications for financial services firms, Mr. Kuo's work encompasses both ongoing brand elevation campaigns as well as communications support for transactional, regulatory and special situations. Before launching Haven Tower in 2011, he served as Senior Vice President and Head of Public Relations at LPL Financial, one of the largest independent wealth management firms in the country. Prior to that, Mr. Kuo was a Partner at Kekst & Company, a leading New York City-based global public relations firm now known as Kekst CNC. He has served on the Board of Advisors of Entreda, a leading cybersecurity solutions firm for the wealth management space, providing strategic counsel to the company for two years, in support of its successful sale to Smarsh in 2020.
• Miriam Lefkowitz, Principal of Miriam Lefkowitz, LLC and Coda Advisory Group LLC. Ms. Lefkowitz provides expert consulting and testimony on securities compliance issues in various legal settings, such as court cases, arbitrations, administrative law forums and settled actions. She also advises broker-dealers and RIAs on their retail compliance programs, has been approved to serve as compliance consultant for firms seeking cooperation credit in settlements with the SEC and/or as an independent compliance consultant in connection with such settlements. Before going in-house, Ms. Lefkowitz served as Senior Counsel in the Enforcement Division of the Securities & Exchange Commission and practiced law at a firm in Miami. She was on the Board of Directors of the National Society of Compliance Professionals (NSCP) from 2014-2019, serving as its Chair in 2018. Previously, she served as the Chief Legal Officer of Summit Equities, Inc./Summit Financial Resources, Inc. from 2014-2019 and as its Chief Compliance Officer from 2014-2015.
• Jeff Nash, Co-Founder and CEO of Bridgemark Strategies, a third-party recruiting firm for broker-dealers, RIAs and Aggregators. He has over 30 years of industry experience and over 20 years of experience coaching and consulting with financial advisors to help them navigate major transition decisions such as broker-dealer changes and succession planning. Previously, Mr. Nash worked for six years as a financial advisor and spent 14 years in various leadership roles at LPL Financial.
• Sid Yenemandra, Founder and CEO of Surge Ventures, a RegTech venture studio that co-creates data governance, privacy and compliance management start-ups for regulated industries including financial services and wealth management. He was previously a founder of Entreda, a company that quickly rose to become the top provider of cybersecurity compliance software to financial services firms. Under Mr. Yenemandra's guidance, Entreda was acquired by K1 Capital and RegTech Unicorn Smarsh in 2020, and he served as CEO for approximately three years post-acquisition. 

About Essential Edge Compliance Outsourcing Services LLC
Essential Edge Compliance Outsourcing Services, LLC ("Essential Edge") is a strategic consultancy specializing in compliance and regulatory affairs. Headquartered in Santa Fe, NM and encompassing 25+ seasoned compliance supervision professionals across the country, Essential Edge delivers outsourced branch inspections to Offices of Supervisory Jurisdiction (OSJs) and independent financial advisor practices affiliated with broker-dealers throughout the country. Essential Edge's service offerings are designed to rapidly identify and resolve compliance issues in branch office sales and operations for independent broker-dealers before they escalate into expensive and time-consuming issues. For more information, please visit www.eeoutsourcing.com.

Media Contact: 

Paul Menchaca
Haven Tower Group
424-317-4871
[email protected]

SOURCE Essential Edge Compliance Outsourcing Services, LLC