Meanwhile, Mariner makes a strategic expansion into property and casualty insurance, and Wealth Enhancement plants its first stake in Kansas with a $1.2 billion advisor team.
Emigrant is building a dedicated unit for the ultra‑wealthy segment and RIA partners via a strategic deal with Fortis, while Mariner makes its own strategic expansion into the P&C space and Wealth Enhancement lands two billion dollar-plus partnerships, including its first foothold in Kansas.
Emigrant builds non‑investment family office platform with Fortis deal
Emigrant Bancorp has agreed to acquire a majority interest in Fortis Management Group, a Boston‑area firm that provides comprehensive non‑investment family office services to ultra‑high‑net‑worth individuals and families.
The acquisition is the cornerstone of Emigrant Family Office, a newly launched division affiliated with Emigrant Bank. The platform is designed to deliver a specialized suite of non‑investment services – from customized financial reporting and cash management to family governance and coordination across tax, trust and estate planning – to ultra‑wealthy families and RIAs looking to expand upmarket without building their own infrastructure.
Fortis, founded and led by chief executive Jay Goldfarb, brings a 14‑person team into Emigrant’s broader network of more than 100 professionals already focused on ultra‑high‑net‑worth clients across businesses such as New York Private Bank & Trust, Emigrant Partners, Emigrant Bank Fine Art Finance and several private trust companies.
“For decades, we have built a broad set of specialized capabilities to serve the increasingly complex needs of wealthy families,” Howard Milstein, chair and chief executive of Emigrant Bank and Emigrant Bancorp, said in a statement. “Emigrant Family Office brings these capabilities together into a single, coordinated platform – fulfilling a long‑standing vision of providing families and their advisors with an integrated solution supported by exceptional talent across our organization.”
Goldfarb said Fortis and Emigrant have “known [each other] for many years” and share a common vision for where family office services are headed. By pairing Fortis’s expertise with Emigrant’s scale and reach, he said, the combined platform has “a unique opportunity to redefine both the breadth and quality of services available to wealthy families and the advisors who serve them.”
Leadership of Emigrant Family Office will include president Mark Rogozinski, who was brought in from Cresset to lead family office services last year, and managing director Ken Eyler, who joined in 2025 and worked with executive chair Liz Nesvold on the division’s strategy and development. The Fortis transaction is expected to close in April.
Mariner brings property and casualty into its advisor platform
In a deal designed to fuse wealth management and risk management more tightly, Overland Park‑based Mariner announced it has acquired Cowell Insurance Services, a property and casualty insurance provider founded in 2009 that serves both businesses and individuals.
The move underscores ongoing pressure for wealth platforms to provide more coordinated risk management, including property, casualty and liability coverage, alongside traditional planning and portfolio construction. Mariner is betting that bringing P&C capabilities in‑house will make it easier for advisors to fold insurance into conversations around cash flow, estate planning, business succession and generational wealth transfer.
The 18‑person Cowell Insurance Services team brings experience in commercial and personal P&C coverage, underwriting strategy, risk control, claims advocacy and risk management. Mariner said the acquisition adds business and individual risk advisory solutions to its service offering and is meant to strengthen its “One Mariner” ecosystem, giving clients and advisors a more integrated support model.
“As we continue to grow, our focus is on building a firm that can truly meet clients wherever their needs take them,” said Marty Bicknell, Mariner’s president and chief executive. “Property and casualty is a natural extension of the work we already do – helping those we serve protect what they’ve worked so hard to build.”
Cowell Insurance Services will operate under the Mariner brand once the deal closes on March 4. The firm will keep its existing team in place while tapping Mariner’s national platform and resources.
Founder Lance Cowell said joining Mariner allows it to keep doing what it does best while “creating new opportunities and reinforcing support for our clients for years to come.”
Wealth Enhancement welcomes billion-dollar plus teams in Kansas, Oregon
Meanwhile, Wealth Enhancement said it has acquired an advisor team from TFB Advisors in Overland Park, Kansas, marking the firm’s first office in the state and adding more than $1.2 billion in client assets.
The deal pushes Wealth Enhancement deeper into mega-RIA status as it brings total client assets to more than $143.8 billion.
The team of six advisors and four support staff is led by Josh Selzer, Tim Gaigals and Daniel Dolan. The group, which will operate as The Archer Team at Wealth Enhancement, offers planning and investment services for high‑net‑worth individuals, business owners, hospitals and hospital systems, and dental practices.
The incoming professionals bring a combined 73 years of experience. Wealth Enhancement chief executive Jeff Dekko said that the partnership is aimed at supporting their growth while broadening what clients can access through the platform.
Selzer highlighted the opportunity to give clients a more expansive menu of strategies under one roof “from sophisticated tax strategies and estate planning to diversified investment options that leverage national resources.” He also pointed to the mega-RIA’s “unwavering fiduciary focus: always putting clients’ interests first.”
Earlier this week, Wealth Enhacement also inked a deal to acquire the H Group and its affiliated practice, FocusPoint Solutions, which together oversee more than $6.7 billion in assets. Under that agreement, FocusPoint Solutions will incorporate into Advisory Solutions Group, a newly formed RIA affiliate of Wealth Enhancement that supports advisors operating outside Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services, which is Wealth Enhancement’s registered investment advisor.
Led by founder and owner Chris Hicks, the H Group and FocusPoint Solutions are headquartered in Portland, Oregon, with additional locations across the Pacific Northwest and Southwest.
After a two-month silence, the two moves mark Wealth Enhancement’s comeback for the 2026 dealmaking season. It led the buyers table in 2025, emerging as the most active acquirer of the year with 20 deals according to the 2025 Echelon Partners RIA M&A deal report.
