As Fidelity disassembles powerhouse sales team aimed at major RIAs a top talent departs
Scott D'Alessandro's position was a casualty of Fido's new regional approach that worked so well that the last vestige of the old system was eliminated
3 min read- Fidelity restructures its RIA sales team, shifting from size-based to geography-based assignments.
- Departure of top sales executive Scott D'Alessandro signals the end of an era for Fidelity's elite RIA team.
- Analysts question Fidelity's decision to let go of a high-performing sales leader with strong advisor relationships.
After a successful — perhaps unsurpassed — sales run that began in 1996, Scott D’Alessandro has departed Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services as part of a sweeping structural change in its sales force.
A sales executive at a competing firm says that the departure of Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services former senior vice president of strategic business development in late December came as a surprise to the RIA sales community because it was known that D’Alessandro continued to deliver results. According to his LinkedIn profile, D’Alessandro helped raise $150 billion of net new assets during his career at Fidelity.
“Why would you intelligently let a talent like that go?” the executive asked.
Mike Durbin, president of Boston-based RIA custodian agrees that D’Alessandro served his company well.
“We think that Scott did a phenomenal job over his 17 years at Fidelity,” he says. See: Mike Durbin is putting his stamp on Fidelity as an RIA custodian for asset-flush breakaways.
Fidelity hires Bob Oros as its new RIA sales chief
D’Alessandro could not be reached for comment.
Old team regime
But it seems clear that D’Alessandro’s exit is the logical conclusion of a significant shift in departmental strategy — namely the restructuring two years ago of the sales department from one based on the RIA prospect’s size to one based more on the RIA’s geographical location. In other words Fidelity wanted its sales force closer to its prospects.
The success of D’Alessandro’s team — which handled the most elite advisors with $500 million or more of assets — was such that Fidelity held off for two years before tampering with it.
Story Timeline
Mike Durbin: We have retained each
and every one of his former
team members.
But as the positive results of restructuring became apparent, Durbin says that he chose to manage his business accordingly.
Fidelity Institutional looks like a big TAMP after Mike Durbin removes last internal walls between products and advisors after 'meteoric' 2019 leap; two Fido RIA sales legends depart amid the shift
“Because of the incredible success of the new structure, it became imperative for us to now include the team pursuing large new-business opportunities,” he says. “Under Scott D’Alessandro, the team dedicated to large advisors did a terrific job and generated some very impressive business results — particularly with large breakaways. That is why we have retained each and every one of his former team members and plugged them into their respective geographic regions.”
Fidelity continues to make big changes to its sales division. See: Fidelity hires Bob Oros as its new RIA sales chief.
Advisors working under D’Alessandro have been plugged into the new scheme and his position no longer exists.
Act locally
Making a sales structure run locally is the way to go, according to Tim Welsh, president of Nexus Strategy.
“It makes a lot more sense. You can call every week if [the RIA] demands that much attention.”
Still, sources wonder why Fidelity would let go of a talent with one of the best set of advisor relationships. For instance, people at Pershing would be sure to know of his talent because Jim Dario worked with D’Alessandro at Fidelity.
D’Alessandro cut his teeth in sales at IBM where he worked from 1988 to1993.
“We wish him the best as he explores new opportunities, and look forward to the sales team continuing to take advantage of the significant momentum that Fidelity has built with large advisors,” Durbin says.
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