MDE Group Spins Off Asset Management Business to Serve RIA Community

MORRISTOWN, N.J., Sept. 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The MDE Group, a $1.3 billion wealth management firm, today announced the spin-off of its asset management business. The resulting company, Risk 3.0™ Asset Management, will operate as an independent investment advisory firm dedicated exclusively to providing Registered Investment Advisors ("RIAs") with a risk-centric approach to investing based on The MDE Group's proven Risk 3.0™ Investment Solutions.

"Investment advisors are increasingly seeking ways to differentiate themselves in a volatile market fraught with competitive challenges," said Mitchell Eichen, Founder and CEO of The MDE Group. "Risk 3.0™ Asset Management was spun off into a separate and independent entity to provide RIAs with a unique advantage in this market by giving them access to the successful and proven family of Risk 3.0™ Investment Solutions. Over the past two years, our clients have benefited from the consistent and predictable returns of Risk 3.0™ in this environment of inconsistency and unpredictability, and we are excited to be able to extend these same benefits to other RIAs and their clients."

The company also announced that D. Erik Leishman has been appointed Senior Vice President of Business Development for Risk 3.0™ Asset Management, responsible for driving business development efforts at the firm. Mr. Leishman has more than a decade of experience serving the RIA market. Most recently, he served as a Vice President and RIA Segment Specialist for Fixed Income Sales at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in Purchase, NY, where he originated an RIA-focused sales effort in Capital Markets to directly capture fixed income flows from money managers and investment advisory firms.  

Prior to this, he was a Senior Vice President of Sales for the East Coast at Concord Wealth Management in Matawan, NJ, where he marketed the firm's proprietary open architecture wealth management platform to the bank trust, brokerage and independent advisor channel, giving them access to third-party managers. From 2000 to 2007, Mr. Leishman was a Vice President and National Sales Consultant for The Reserve Funds in New York where he was instrumental in growing the assets under management to more than $125 billion. Earlier in his career, he served at firms including Merrill Lynch & Co. in New York, and CMA Mortgage Associates.

Mr. Leishman earned a Bachelor of Arts in Finance from St. John University in New York and holds a Series 65, 63 and 7 licenses.

"In all my years serving the RIA market, I have yet to encounter a turnkey investment solution that provides the consistency, predictability and performance of Risk 3.0™," said Mr. Leishman. "I look forward to being part of the leadership of this new venture and helping to expand the firm's unique investment solutions into the larger advisory community."

About Risk 3.0™ Asset Management

Risk 3.0™ Asset Management offers Risk 3.0™ Investment Solutions to independent advisors, asset management platforms, and other institutional partners. Risk 3.0™ Investment Solutions are transparent and  liquid strategies, managed in a separate account format, that provide a consistent pattern of returns designed for the new market realities of slow growth, continued volatility and periodic crisis. The first Risk 3.0™ Investment Solutions – Planned Return Strategy® and Accelerated Return Strategy™ – deliver a combination of enhanced returns and downside protection in the large-cap, domestic equity markets. For more about Risk 3.0™ Asset Management, visit www.risk3investing.com.

About The MDE Group

The MDE Group is a pioneering wealth management firm focused on providing innovative and practical financial services to high-net-worth families, corporate executives, endowments, and foundations. Since 1987, we have strived to define Wealth Leadership® through our client-centric approach, strong history, and experienced team. The MDE Group consistently ranks among Barron's "Top 100 Independent Financial Advisors" and has more than $1.3 billion under management. By spinning off Risk 3.0™ Asset Management into an independent entity focused exclusively on serving other advisors, MDE seeks to expand access to its unique offering of Risk First™ investment strategies by offering them to investors via the professional advisory marketplace. For more about The MDE Group, visit www.mdegroup.com.

SOURCE MDE Group