Informa Connect to launch Wealth Management EDGE

Today, Informa Connect announced the launch of Wealth Management EDGE, a new event experience designed for financial advisors and leaders of advisory firms who are looking to strategically accelerate the growth of their businesses – and ultimately position themselves among the industry’s elite firms.

EDGE will feature the wealth management industry’s two most powerful investment and technology events – Inside ETFs and Inside WealthStack – and will also introduce a new Informa event, “RIA EDGE.” RIA EDGE will focus on informing and connecting a community of influential Registered Investment Advisors who aim to grow through thoughtful M&A approaches and organic growth strategies, as well as improved technology and investment operations.

These three events will be aligned and combined with a new, innovative networking and one-to-one meeting application that will be featured at EDGE: The EDGE Peer & Partner Exchange. This facilitated meeting feature will connect advisors with leaders of other wealth management firms, as well as the top investment managers, WealthTech providers, custodians, broker-dealers and strategic consultants.

This 360-degree Wealth Management EDGE experience will take place February 13-16, 2022 at the Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood, FL.

We are not just creating an event, we are building a community that is focused on driving the growth of an advisory firm – and delivering improved outcomes to advisors’ clients.

- Mark Bruno, Managing Director, Informa Wealth Management.

Mr. Bruno, joined Informa last month from Echelon Partners, a leading investment bank and consulting firm to RIAs.

“The RIA market has evolved and grown considerably in recent years, and there is now an incredible need to unite and connect the key players in the RIA ecosystem – and provide ‘PhD-level’ guidance on how to enable their next wave of growth,” Mr. Bruno added.

By housing Inside ETFs, Inside WealthStack and RIA Edge on a single event platform, Wealth Management EDGE will provide advisors with efficient access to the most sought-after experts, thought leaders and researchers in investing, technology and practice management. In addition, Wealth Management EDGE will include:

• EDGE Think Tanks: EDGE will host several invitation-only Think Tanks for key influencers and decision-makers in the RIA, Retirement, ETF and WealthTech channels. The Think Tanks will be the foundation for strategic research studies and features that will be distributed through WealthManagement.com following the event.
• EDGE Strategic Partnerships: Informa has formed several strategic partnerships with leading consultants and event hosts that will bring highly targeted workshops and sessions to EDGE. Specific areas of focus will include M&A, valuation, advisor compensation and organizational design.
• EDGE Research & Awards: A new RIA Edge Study – which will focus on how the most successful RIA firms are driving their growth – will be released at EDGE. In tandem with the research, Informa will present the RIA Edge Awards to firms that have demonstrated the most strategic growth in assets, revenues and profits.
• The EDGE Consulting Lab: EDGE will feature a network of human capital, strategic planning, marketing and technology consultants who will be made available to advisors in a dedicated EDGE Consulting Lab. This feature will provide direct access to the leading minds in the wealth management industry and will allow attendees to leave EDGE with practical applications that will drive their future growth.
• The EDGE Innovation Station: EDGE will be the home of a new Innovation Station, which will feature the industry’s most influential WealthTech, research and data providers. This feature will allow advisors to efficiently demo, review and compare multiple technology solutions.

Adding RIA EDGE alongside the Inside ETFs and Inside WealthStack events and gathering the most influential members of the RIA ecosystem under one-roof will be a game-changer for the industry in terms of influence, connections, and actionable intelligence.

- William O’Conor, Managing Director of WealthManagement.com.

“If you are an advisor or a leader within an advisory firm and you want to grow by design – and not by default – the EDGE community is your new home.”

One of EDGE’s most unique attributes will be its ability to directly connect advisors with their peers in focused one-to-one sessions. Advisors will be able to draw on the experience of other advisors who have engaged in mergers and acquisitions, outsourced investment management, or made significant investments and enhancements to their back-office and client-facing technologies.

"An event and experience like Wealth Management EDGE is an absolute necessity right now,” said Greg Friedman, founder and CEO of Private Ocean, one of the industry’s top RIA firms. “Leaders of advisory firms need a network and community that can allow us to learn from – and with – one another as we grow through M&A, strategic marketing and the advancements we are seeing in WealthTech.”

Strategically, EDGE will also more closely integrate Informa’s Wealth Management Event and Media teams – and present unparalleled opportunities to distribute content from EDGE to the industry’s largest and most engaged audience of financial advisors.

Our ability to leverage WealthManagement.com’s expertise and universe of over 400,000 financial advice professionals, influencers and decision-makers positions us to create an experience unlike any other in this space.

- Lindsay Tis, Brand Strategy Director, Informa Connect.

“As we return to face-to-face events, EDGE represents the most efficient and effective way for advisors to maximize their time and guarantee a real return on their investment.”

For more information on Wealth Management EDGE, or to learn more about speaking and VIP opportunities, please contact Mark Bruno at mark.bruno@informa.com.