Carson Group, the mega-RIA based in Omaha, Neb., has snagged a senior-level Envestnet executive to run its technology operations after it had been overseen by a “technology council” over the past couple of years.
Ramesh Vaswani had been the global group head of engineering, overseeing a team of more than 250 people and reporting directly to Envestnet CTO Robert Coppola. Now, he’ll be joining the $41 billion Carson Group to develop and executive technology strategy across its network of roughly 50 advisor offices and 150 partnered advisories through Carson Partners, its RIA channel, the firm announced Monday.
Vaswani is the second senior executive from Envestnet Carson has hired in the past two years. In April 2024, the firm hired former Envestnet chief strategy officer Dani Fava to take the same role at Carson Group, replacing now-CEO Burt White.
While Vaswani’s CTO role is not new, he will be the first sole leader of tech operations in about a year and a half. Carson’s first-ever CTO, Nimesh Patel, was hired in 2022 but left in the summer of 2023 for RIA Corient in a move that Carson described as a “mutual separation.” Since then, the firm’s technology capabilities have been run by a four-person “technology council.”
Now, Carson execs have decided they’d like a CTO leader to help give its advisors and advisor network access to the best wealth management technology and ensure recruiting competitiveness.
“We can all agree that technology is changing the way we operate, and investors expect their advisor to be up to date on the tools that make their experience the best it can be,” White said in a statement. “We’re constantly thinking about how we can make it easier for our advisors to best serve their clients, and we recognize the tremendous role technology plays in this mission.”
Vaswani is leaving an organization going through its own transformation. Envestnet, one of the industry’s largest technology providers, was taken private last year through an acquisition led by Bain Capital.
Vaswani had been with Envestnet for over nine years. In his group head role, he oversaw a team of developers, architects and analysts focused on automation and efficiency projects that included adopting artificial intelligence.
In a statement, Vaswani said of the move to Carson: “I’m passionate about aligning business and technology to drive results and I see an incredible opportunity to integrate technology in a way that promotes growth and creates ease and confidence for our advisors.”
Former Carson CTO Patel has since moved on to the technology-focused custodian Altruist.
In February, tech-focused RIA Savvy Wealth, which recently topped $1 billion in AUM, hired its first CTO with Eric Hurkman, formerly of valuation software firm Carta.