Kestra Financial is deepening its business development bench in the western United States with a new hire from Raymond James and an internal promotion, the firm announced Tuesday. The moves come as the Austin-based independent broker-dealer continues a recruiting surge that has brought in roughly 130 advisors over the past year.
Austen Karr joins Kestra as a business development consultant covering Southern California, Colorado, Nevada and Hawaii. Karr spent nearly 11 years at Raymond James as a vice president and previously held recruiting and distribution roles at LPL Financial and MetLife, giving him more than 15 years of experience in financial-services business development. Separately, Kestra promoted Jack Roller to vice president, business development, overseeing recruiting across Washington, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota and Alaska. Roller joined the firm in 2022 as a financial planning analyst and most recently served as senior business development consultant.
James Collins, executive vice president and head of business development at Kestra, said the additions reflect the firm's effort to keep pace with its growing advisor base. "Austen brings deep recruiting experience and strong advisor relationships across the West," Collins said, adding that Roller's promotion underscores Kestra's commitment to developing talent internally.
The hires extend a buildout that has been underway for more than a year. Kestra recruited close to 130 advisors in 2025 from Commonwealth Financial Network, according to a report from AdvizorPro and Muriel Consulting. That report found that 653 advisors left Commonwealth after its roughly $2.7 billion sale to LPL was announced in March last year. Raymond James captured 33% of those departing advisors, while Kestra took 19% and Cambridge Investment Research picked up 11%.
Kestra has also been hiring directly from LPL, the industry's largest broker-dealer by headcount. The firm brought on Austin Shives from LPL in January as a Tampa-based vice president of business development, then added Benjamin Marks, formerly of LPL's Milwaukee office, as vice president and business development consultant. Those hires followed Collins' own promotion from senior vice president to his current executive vice president role last June.
The recruiting push has unfolded alongside a change in ownership. Kestra Holdings announced a fresh capital infusion from funds managed by Stone Point Capital in 2024, replacing funds managed by Warburg Pincus as majority owner — a reversal of a 2019 transaction in which Warburg Pincus had bought Kestra from Stone Point. Oak Hill Capital has remained a minority owner throughout.
The scale of the buildout has left industry executives split on what Kestra's efforts to beef up its business development bench mean exactly. "To me, this looks like Kestra could be getting ready for a deal," one senior industry executive told InvestmentNews in February, pointing to the firm's private-equity ownership. Other executives have been less convinced a sale is imminent, arguing instead that Kestra's cultural fit with former Commonwealth advisors — not deal preparation — accounts for its recruiting success.
Kestra reported more than 1,300 advisors on its platform and $142 billion in total assets earlier this year, before the addition of Karr and Roller. The firm's recent moves come amid broader industry shifts, including Cetera and Raymond James adding teams with $550 million in combined client assets and Raymond James luring a $620 million Stifel trio. Meanwhile, AI is reshaping hiring at RIAs, with back-office roles shrinking but advisor demand holding steady.
