Kestra’s Bluespring Adds $920M Whitaker-Myers, Lifting River Valley Platform to $2.4B
Bluespring Wealth, a Kestra Holdings subsidiary that acquires independent wealth management firms, has acquired the wealth management business of Whitaker-Myers Wealth Managers, a Wooster, Ohio-based firm that oversees approximately $920 million in client assets, the company said Tuesday. Terms were not disclosed.
Whitaker-Myers will join Bluespring’s River Valley platform and operate under the Bluespring Wealth brand. Bluespring formed the platform in July by combining Joule Financial and Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory. With the addition, the platform represents $2.4 billion in client assets and 44 team members across offices in Ohio, Kentucky, and South Carolina, according to the company.
The addition of Whitaker-Myers is Bluespring’s eighth deal announced this year; five have closed so far, according to a spokesperson for the company.
Bluespring acquired Cincinnati-based Ritter Daniher in 2021 and Lexington, Kentucky-based Joule Financial in 2022. Both were among the first partner firms Bluespring said would move onto the Bluespring RIA, a registered investment adviser it launched in June.
Whitaker-Myers traces its roots to the Whitaker-Myers Insurance Agency, which has served the Wooster area since 1869. John-Mark Young, president and co-chief investment officer, and Matthew Harris, co-founder and financial adviser, launched the wealth management practice roughly a decade ago with two advisers; the firm now has more than 20 team members. The firm emphasizes debt-free living, disciplined saving, and financial planning grounded in faith and family, the company said.
Bluespring said the deal gives the Whitaker-Myers team operational, compliance, and technology resources to support succession, career development, and continued expansion.
“Matthew and I started this practice with two advisers, and we’ve grown by bringing talented young advisers in early and developing them into leaders,” Young said. “We wanted a partner who would help us keep doing that on a bigger scale, and we found that in Bluespring Wealth and the River Valley team.”
Following the deal, Young is managing director of wealth management and Harris is director of wealth management at Bluespring Wealth – River Valley.
John Ritter, a co-founder of Ritter Daniher and now executive managing director of Bluespring Wealth – River Valley, said the firms share an approach built around long-term client relationships. “Whitaker-Myers has built something special by meeting clients early in their financial lives and staying with them as their wealth grows,” Ritter said.
Josh Bartholomew, Bluespring’s head of business development, said Whitaker-Myers’ community roots and long-term client focus fit the company’s acquisition strategy.
The Austin, Texas-based acquirer completed nine transactions in 2025 representing more than $6 billion in client assets. Its 2026 deals have included SHP Financial, a Plymouth, Mass.-based firm with approximately $2.3 billion in assets; Synthesis Wealth Planning, a Morristown, N.J.-based RIA with approximately $1.1 billion; and Atlanta-based Element Wealth Advisors, with approximately $450 million in assets. In October, Bluespring acquired Family Wealth Counseling and merged it into KDI Wealth Management, the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based firm it acquired in 2024.
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