Heather Kelly, the former head of RIA distribution at Allianz Life, has launched Mosaic Advanced Planning, which will help advisors integrate risk management and insurance into their practices. MAP has received minority investments from Merchant Investment Management and Apollon Holdings, a Merchant-backed registered investment advisory.
The new company will bring advisors access to Kelly’s expertise in integrating insurance into the financial planning process. Most recently, she served as first senior vice president of advisory and strategic accounts at Allianz, where she was responsible for the strategy, integration and growth of the firm’s RIA channel, as well as its broker/dealer partnerships.
Prior to joining Allianz, Kelly led risk management at United Capital, which was acquired by Goldman Sachs in 2019 and then Creative Planning in 2023. There, she built a platform for integrating insurance strategies into the planning process. She also has expertise in educating advisors and clients on how insurance-based products can augment global planning and financial stability.
“I’m in a position where I can give them the tips and tricks on what’s worked and what hasn’t worked and how to build that product-agnostic but advisor-centric platform,” Kelly said.
“I had a front-row seat watching Heather build advanced planning and risk management resources at United Capital that transformed the quality of our client experience and empowered advisors to deliver more comprehensive planning solutions,” said Matt Brinker, managing partner at Merchant, in a statement. “As advisory firms evolve and client’s financial lives get more complex, access to a knowledgeable and culturally aligned planning team is crucial for staying competitive.”
She has hired Rick Muzik, former director of partnerships at Alaris Acquisitions, as chief growth officer and managing partner. Prior to joining Alaris, Muzik worked with United Capital on its risk management and insurance platforms. He’ll be responsible for business development and will also interact directly with advisors and end clients.
Both Muzik and Kelly have deep relationships in the RIA community, and MAP has already signed on several advisors in the Merchant network.
Kelly’s company will provide advisors access to both commission- and fee-based products across the life insurance, annuity, long-term care, disability and Medicare supplement marketplaces. It will also provide a model that they can plug in to meet their desired level of support.
“If they want to do it themselves, they can plug in and have a scalable platform that they can execute on,” she said. “If they want to use us for consulting, they can do that and also use the product offering. And if they want to outsource it to someone on the team, they can have us interface directly with the client and implement and work side by side with the advisor on what the recommendations are going to be and pull it through the entire lifecycle from recommendation to implementation for that client.”