Former Captrust executive Rush Benton is joining Coldstream Holdings’ board of directors, replacing Cascadia Capital CEO and Chairman Michael Butler after a 13-year run on the board.
Benton’s career in the industry extends to 13 years as founder and CEO of WealthTrust, a holding company for wealth management firms, and as a managing partner at Benton Capital Partners, where he offered M&A strategic advisory services for RIAs and other wealth management players.
As the head of wealth management M&A at Captrust, Benton helped boost the firm’s assets through organic growth and acquiring independent fee-based RIAs. After 11 years at the firm, Benton launched the investment banking firm Gorman Jones in June.
Overall, Benton has been involved in more than 70 M&A deals throughout his tenure in the industry. According to Coldstream Managing Shareholder Kevin Fitzwilson, the board was “thrilled” to welcome Benton.
“Rush has one of the most extensive wealth management M&A backgrounds of anyone in our industry, making him a vital asset as we continue to execute our longtime mergers and acquisitions strategy, which prioritizes consistent year-over-year growth but also places an emphasis on the firm remaining independent and employee-owned,” he said.
Coldstream is an employee-owned and independent Bellevue, Wash.-based RIA founded in 1996. It has seven locations across four states and more than $10 billion in assets under advisement.
Earlier this fall, Coldstream Wealth Management merged with Arnerich Massena, a Portland, Ore.-based RIA, with about $2 billion in managed assets. The latter firm now operates as Team Rae, with all 19 employees (including seven advisors) shareholders of Coldstream.
As part of the Anerich Massena deal, Reegan Rae, the firm’s co-CEO, managing principal and senior investment advisor, also joined Coldstream’s board of directors.
That deal capped several Pacific Northwest-focused mergers that helped it double in size over the previous three years without taking any outside capital. In 2021, the firm acquired the $1.4 billion Mercer Island, Wash.-based Paracle Advisors, followed shortly by Seattle-based firm Rosenbaum Financial.
Last fall, Coldstream merged with Seidman Capital Group, a wealth management firm, and Hersman Serles Almond, which provides accounting and consulting services. In 2023, Coldstream brought on industry veteran Matt Sonnen as its new chief operating officer to help onboard the new firms.
At the time of the Arnerich Massena deal, Fitzwilson told WealthManagement.com that the firm was “taking the path less traveled of staying truly independent” by not taking outside capital.
“That’s not been some kind of ambitious growth plan to hit some number by some date because some spreadsheet told us to do it from some PE (private equity) firm, he said. “It’s been more so finding like-minded partners.”