Sanctuary Wealth Appoints Chief Technology Officer to Capitalize on AI, Emerging Solutions

Robert Coppola

Sanctuary Wealth announced the appointment of Robert Coppola as chief technology officer. Key goals for Coppola, according to Sanctuary, include identifying and prioritizing the development of cutting-edge digital solutions and advancing the build-out of the firm’s innovative technology platform. The latter is designed to help accelerate the growth of independent wealth management firms within the Sanctuary Wealth and tru Independence networks.

Earlier this month, Sanctuary acquired tru Independence, a Portland, Ore.-based enterprise that supports 30 registered investment adviser firms managing $12.5 billion in client assets.

Coppola will report to CEO Adam Malamed, chief executive officer.

“The addition of Bob Coppola, a widely respected fintech leader in the wealth management space, to our leadership team underscores our strategy to align best-in-class technology solutions and expertise with our partner firms to fuel their growth and success,” said Malamed. “Bob shares our commitment to helping partner firms create outsize value in the equity of their own businesses by providing them with top-tier resources that enable the delivery of an exceptional service experience to highly sophisticated and demanding clients.”

“Equally important, he is a business-minded technologist acclaimed for his ability to innovate and create new strategies that help advisers serve clients and grow their businesses through transformative change while generating concrete, impressive results,” Malamed added. “With Bob on board, advisers now have a visionary as their partner to help navigate the complex evolution of technology that will enhance their businesses far into the future. This latest leadership team expansion is another example of Sanctuary’s long-term commitment to investing in resources to benefit our partner firms.”

Coppola will refine Sanctuary’s digital strategy to fully capture opportunities related to emerging solutions, including artificial intelligence. Sanctuary said this will empower partner firms’ financial advisers to elevate service for existing client relationships, prospect for new clients, and grow their businesses much more effectively and efficiently than ever before.

Coppola has a track record of developing and managing complex initiatives and organizations globally while supporting extraordinary growth and improving efficiencies. He has worked closely with enterprises across the size and scale spectrum, from large and complex organizations to start-up ventures.

Before joining Sanctuary, Coppola was chief technology officer of Envestnet from since November 2020, where he was instrumental in the development of fintech that transformed the wealth management industry to enable once captive, W-2 employees to establish independent firms and unlock the value of their businesses. Earlier, as chief information officer at Cision from 2016 to 2020, he evolved and enhanced the firm’s technology capabilities and security posture globally while transforming the company from a traditional services-based holding company into a tech-driven solution provider. His tenure in the financial services industry also includes technology leadership roles at companies such as Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters/Thomson Financial, and S&P Global.

Sanctuary has developed a robust program called the Sanctuary Difference. It contains Sanctuary’s industry-leading capital markets desk, alternatives platform, and innovative business consulting programs. Coppola will oversee the technological aspects of the program, including ongoing enhancements to the Sanctuary One TAMP, which provides partner firms with seamless access to over 600 asset management solutions, and Sanctuary Open, a technology-enabled fee-for-advice platform that expands adviser scope to guide their clients regardless of where their assets are held. He will also continue the strategic build-out of Sanctuary’s adviser workstation, Haven.

“Sanctuary developed a tech stack that uses the latest digital solutions to drive efficiencies, improve client service, and accelerate adviser growth by listening to the feedback and creative thinking of some of the most sophisticated and elite advisers in the business,” said Coppola.

“This vital communications loop will continue, and I’m thrilled to join a firm that prioritizes this kind of critical, continuous improvement. I am excited to build on Sanctuary’s impressive tech foundation and reinforce our position as an industry-leading innovator with a proven track record of delivering an exceptional service experience that financial advisers would not receive at a wirehouse or elsewhere in the independent channel,” concluded Coppola.

Sanctuary Wealth supports advisers to build and own their own practices and deliver tailored service to clients. Currently, the network includes more than 120 partner firms in 30 states across the country with approximately $42 billion in assets on platform. Sanctuary Wealth consists of the wholly owned subsidiaries: tru Independence and Sanctuary Advisors LLC, SEC-RIAs; Sanctuary Securities Inc., a FINRA member broker-dealer; as well as Sanctuary Alternative Holdings, Sanctuary Asset Management, Sanctuary Insurance Solutions, Sanctuary Global, and Sanctuary Global Family Office.

Click here to visit AltsWire directory page.