Richards returns to consulting

(April 6, 2004) Mutual fund executive Dan Richards is leaving Dundee Wealth Management to re-establish himself as an industry consultant. Richards has relaunched his former firm, Strategic Imperatives, and says he will work with both advisors and fund companies to help them more effectively serve their clients’ needs.

“It’s back to my roots, although the business has changed in the last couple of years,” Richards says. “We’re seeing a pretty dramatic evolution that’s driven by more informed clients and a much tougher competitive environment in terms of new product offerings as well as new advisory alternatives.”

Richards says he wants to help advisors and firms gain a better understanding of what investors are looking for and hopes to generate fresh approaches, beyond the traditional sales-driven environment.

“That’s still going to be important, but we’re evolving to a value-driven environment, where you have to be able to get in front of clients and have a differentiated value proposition to talk to clients about,” he explains.

For advisors, Richards will be concentrating on client development and bringing in new clients. “The stuff that worked in the past just isn’t working anymore and it’s not just because we’ve been through tough markets, it goes way beyond that. This expectation that you will get referrals if you just do your job is not aligned with today’s reality. So I’ll be focusing on helping advisors identify some new approaches to bringing new clients on board.”

Richards spent nearly two years as president of Cartier Partners. The firm was purchased by Dundee last year and Richards helped oversee the integration. He agreed to an amicable departure from Dundee, even though he was offered some “interesting opportunities” to remain with the fund firm.

“I felt that the challenge which I had signed on for in accepting the CEO position two years ago was essentially complete and wanted to take the opportunity to tackle some of the issues which have arisen in today’s very different competitive environment for advisors and fund companies,” Richards says. “Cartier was a great experience and I worked with great people and I wouldn’t have missed that opportunity.”

Strategic Imperatives became operational April 1, although for now, Richards continues to work out of his Cartier office. He plans to hire staff later this year.

Richards, a columnist for Advisor’s Edge magazine, also headed research company Marketing Solutions, the originator of the Advisor Forum conferences. Marketing Solutions was acquired by Rogers Media in 2001 and the conferences were integrated into The ADVISOR Group.

Filed by Doug Watt, Advisor.ca, doug.watt@advisor.rogers.com