Mercer Advisors Surpasses 50% Employee Ownership Milestone, Reinforcing Growth and Culture Strategy

Equity ownership reflects Mercer Advisors’ commitment to employee participation in the firm’s future growth and success

Mercer Global Advisors, Inc. (“Mercer Advisors”), a national Registered Investment Adviser (RIA), announced a major milestone: more than half of its 1,300+ employees are now equity owners, underscoring the firm’s commitment to shared success and long-term value creation. Mercer Advisors has steadily increased the percentage of employee-shareholders in recent years. The number of employee-shareholders has grown tenfold since 2018—from fewer than 70 to 674 today. In just five years, the firm has doubled its ownership rate, from under 25% in 2020 to over 50% in 2025.

Mercer Advisors’ ownership structure blends employee participation with strategic capital, combining a strong employee-owned culture with the backing of leading investors. The firm makes equity ownership opportunities available to all full-time employees at the equivalent share class of its four institutional investor partners, reinforcing its singular mission to build the nation’s leading fiduciary-based wealth management platform and one-team culture.

Equity ownership is central to Mercer Advisors’ employee value proposition, empowering team members to share in the firm’s growth and conduct their day-to-day work like owners. Equity ownership is a powerful extension of the firm’s mission to create Economic Freedom™—not only for the 35,000+ families that it serves but also for its employees. Since 2015, Mercer Advisors has grown AUM and earnings at an average rate of greater than 30% per year, underscoring the financial opportunity tied to employee ownership.

“Crossing the 50% threshold of employee ownership is a major milestone for Mercer Advisors,” said Dave Welling, CEO at Mercer Advisors. “Our team believes deeply in creating and sustaining Economic Freedom™ for our clients, and our partnership is fully aligned with helping our employees share in the growth and success of Mercer Advisors. We are building a place where fiduciary-minded financial professionals can do their best work. By making equity available to employees at all levels, we are assembling a team of long-term partners who believe in the power of building together.”

The firm makes equity ownership available through direct equity purchase as well as through a key contributor equity grant program. As part of its strategy to expand equity opportunities, the firm has launched an innovative “Path to Partnership” program which is open to all full-time employees.

Launched in 2020, the Path to Partnership program provides access to equity where employees become direct owners at the time of investment, with financing options available to support participation. The program opens annually, typically accompanied by a firmwide informational session to encourage enrollment and transparency. The 2025 enrollment just wrapped up with the new record of employee owners.

“Our culture is about collaboration and deep commitment to our clients – and treating each other with the same care and regard we have for our clients,” said Elizabeth Hioe, Chief People Officer at Mercer Advisors. “The Path to Partnership program is a direct expression of this culture, where employees are empowered to be long-term stewards of the firm’s growth. While many RIAs limit ownership to founders, principals and select advisors, we believe equity compensation should be possible for every full-time employee.”

About Mercer Advisors

Mercer Advisors, the #1 ranked RIA firm in the nation according to the Barron’s 2024 Top 100 Registered Investment Advisor Firms, was founded in 1985. For 40 years, Mercer Advisors has been trusted to help families amplify and simplify their financial lives. The company offers comprehensive, fee-based family office services, including financial planning, estate and tax planning, insurance solutions, and corporate trustee and trust administration services. Mercer Advisors Inc. is a parent company of Mercer Global Advisors Inc. and is majority owned by Oak Hill Capital, Genstar Capital, and Altas Partners. Mercer Global Advisors, Inc. is headquartered in Denver, Colorado, is privately held, and operates nationally through more than 100 locations. Mercer Advisors has $72 billion in client assets. For more information, visit merceradvisors.com and merceradvisors.com/partnerwithus.

Important Information

Company statistics as of April 31, 2025. Client assets refers to client assets under management (AUM) and client assets under advisement (AUA) as well as assets gained from recent acquisitions where the advisory agreements have been properly assigned to Mercer Global Advisors, but the custodial accounts have yet to be transferred and/or the accounts have yet to be migrated to Mercer Global Advisors’ portfolio management system.

Mercer Advisors is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice to clients. All estate planning documentation preparation and other legal advice is provided through select third parties unaffiliated to Mercer Advisors. Tax preparation and tax filing are a separate fee from Mercer Advisors’ investment management and planning services. Trustee services are offered through select third parties with which a client would engage directly, as such additional fees may apply. Mercer Global Advisors has a related insurance agency. Mercer Advisors Insurance Services, LLC (MAIS) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mercer Advisors Inc. MAIS provides individual life, disability, long term care coverage, and property and casualty coverage through various insurance companies. For Mercer Global Advisors clients who wish to purchase insurance products, MAIS has entered into a non-exclusive referral agreement with Strategic Partner(s), where the Strategic Partner will provide necessary services relative to the marketing, placement, and servicing of the insurance products, including without limitation preparing and presenting illustrations, supporting the underwriting process, assisting with the completion and execution of applications, delivering policies, and servicing in-force business. MAIS and the Strategic Partner will be listed as either “agents” or “co-agents” on the policies. While Mercer Global Advisors does not receive a referral fee, Strategic Partner receives a percentage of the commission revenue. MAIS and Strategic Partner do have a revenue sharing agreement.

2024 - Barron’s Top 100 RIA methodology

Mercer Advisors was ranked number 1 for firms with up to $70 billion in client assets. In 2024 Barron’s ranked the largest registered investment advisor firms separately from its broader RIA ranking. For Barron’s Mega RIAs list, they selected firms that manage 2% or more of the total assets of all ranking applicants. This year, that created a threshold of $70 billion in assets. Advisers who wish to be ranked fill out a 100+ question survey about their practice. Barron’s verifies that data with regulatory databases and then Barron’s applies their rankings formula to the data to generate a ranking. The formula features three major categories of calculations: (1) Assets (2) Revenue (3) Quality of practice. In each of those categories Barron’s does multiple sub calculations including asset type, growth, client retention, technology spending, succession planning, diversity of their teams, charitable and philanthropic work and compliance records. No fee was paid for participation in the ranking, however, Mercer Advisors has paid a fee to Barron’s to use the ranking in marketing.

Neither rankings and/or recognitions by unaffiliated rating services, publications, media, or other organizations, should be construed by a client or prospective client as a guarantee that he/she will experience a certain level of results if Mercer Advisors is engaged, or continues to be engaged, to provide investment advisory services. Rankings published by magazines, and others, generally base their selections exclusively on information prepared and/or submitted by the recognized adviser. Rankings are generally limited to participating advisers (see participation criteria/methodology). Unless expressly indicated to the contrary, Mercer Advisors did not pay a fee to be included on any such ranking. No ranking or recognition should be construed as a current or past endorsement of Mercer Advisors by any of its clients.

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