Kestra Financial, the Austin-based independent broker-dealer, has recruited Ecclesiastes Wealth Partners, a Richardson, Texas-based planning firm, to its advisor community. The addition brings approximately $550 million in client assets to Kestra's platform, marking the latest in a series of moves aimed at attracting planning-focused practices.
Ecclesiastes Wealth Partners was founded by Shannon Harris, a CFP and BFA, and operates with partners Sarah Walsh and Justin Snowden. The team's expertise spans comprehensive financial planning, investment management, divorce financial analysis, and multigenerational wealth planning. Harris said the decision to join Kestra was driven by the firm's ability to support growth without compromising the personalized service they provide to clients.
"What stood out to us about Kestra was the combination of flexibility, resources, and support," Harris said. "It gives us access to additional planning solutions and technology while allowing us to continue building the business in a way that reflects who we are and how we serve our clients." Harris also cited Kestra's culture and its community of independent advisors as meaningful factors, noting the opportunity to collaborate with peers while retaining full control of the business.
John Amore, president of Kestra Financial, said the addition reflects the type of firm the platform is designed to attract. "Shannon, Sarah, and team have built an impressive practice rooted in service, planning excellence, and a genuine commitment to helping clients achieve meaningful outcomes," Amore said. "Firms like Ecclesiastes are exactly the type of growth-oriented, client-focused businesses we are proud to partner with."
A firm in growth mode
The Ecclesiastes addition comes during a period of deliberate expansion across Kestra's business. In August 2026, the firm appointed Kelly Apple as head of wealth management, ending a lengthy search for the role that had been open since Amore's elevation to president in April 2025. Apple, a former managing director at BlackRock with more than two decades of experience in asset management and intermediary distribution, oversees Kestra's investment management, advanced planning, advisory solutions, retirement and insurance, and alternatives functions across both Kestra Financial and its breakaway-advisor channel, Kestra Private Wealth Services.
On the technology and planning side, Kestra announced in January 2026 a partnership with RightCapital, giving affiliated advisors turnkey access to the financial planning software platform and its retirement, tax, and insurance planning tools. The firm simultaneously appointed Christine E. Brown, a licensed attorney with more than two decades of experience advising ultra-high-net-worth families on estate and wealth transfer strategies, as head of advanced planning, according to a Kestra press release dated January 21, 2026.
Kestra has also been expanding its recruiting infrastructure throughout the year, adding four business development consultants in March 2026 to cover the Midwest, Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Southeast, and then bolstering its Western US operation in July 2026 with the addition of Austen Karr, a nearly 11-year Raymond James veteran, alongside an internal promotion.
The firm currently supports more than 1,300 producing financial professionals overseeing approximately $142 billion in assets under advisement through its subsidiaries, according to Kestra. Its internal asset management arm, Kestra Investment Management, reached $5 billion in assets under management in June 2026, offering 55 model portfolios exclusively to affiliated advisors.
For Ecclesiastes, the timing aligns with the firm's own ambitions. Through the Kestra partnership, the practice gains access to AI-powered tools, integrated technology, and business consulting resources—capabilities it plans to use to scale operations and deepen the client experience without departing from its planning-first approach. The move also reflects a broader trend of independent broker-dealers enhancing their platforms to compete for top advisory talent, as seen in recent moves by other firms like LPL's Texas team additions and Cerity Partners' New York expansion.
