World Investment Advisors, a division of World Insurance Associates that offers wealth and 401(k) plan advice with about $56 billion in assets, has hired Edward Walters, a former chief operating officer and head of wealth management at Lincoln Financial Network, the broker/dealer subsidiary of Lincoln that was acquired by Osaic last year, as president.
Walters replaces Troy Hammond, the firm’s current CEO, who will step down from his role at the end of the year as part of a pre-planned leadership transition.
“Ed is a visionary leader with a proven track record of executing successful strategies that transform financial services businesses,” said Rich Eknoian, CEO of World Insurance Associates, in a statement. “We are confident Ed’s leadership will accelerate our ability to deliver innovative solutions, empower advisors and create long-term value for our clients and stakeholders. I am deeply grateful to Troy Hammond, whose contributions to World Investment Advisors over the years have been immense.”
In his prior role at Lincoln, Walters helped lead a $70 billion organization with over 200 associates and 1,500 financial advisors. He executed a growth strategy that quintupled earnings. He also helped lead the organization through its integration with Osaic, which he departed in May of this year.
“My focus is building a real, scaled wealth management platform that will be able to meet both our existing clients and that next generation of clients and be attractive to them,” Walters said. “Also, in building an organization like that, how do we attract talent? How do we get talent here and expand on the talent we already have so we can do more and serve better?”
Prior to joining Lincoln, he held leadership positions at T. Rowe Price, Janney Montgomery Scott and Ferris Baker Watts. At T. Rowe, he developed the firm’s Active Plus Portfolios, an online investing program.
Hammond led World Investment Advisors through its rebrand last year from Pensionmark Financial Group. The new name is a nod to the firm’s parent company, World Insurance Associates, which acquired it in 2022.
The firm has been quietly but deliberately building itself into a full-service wealth management enterprise focused on serving fee-based advisors who support a sophisticated client base.
In March, the firm launched a new portfolio management platform with its own in-house investment options. The World Managed Account Platform, or WorldMAP, is an open-architecture, multi-custodial investment platform for the firm’s advisors. It offers strategies created and managed by the World’s investment team, models provided by other strategists and separately managed account managers.
Last year, World Insurance Associates announced that Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Charlesbank would be investing more than $1 billion into the company.
