Merit Financial Advisors, an Atlanta-area registered investment advisor with roughly $30.1 billion in client assets, has named John Rajes as its first chief technology officer. Rajes, who began the role on July 13, will oversee the firm's technology architecture, data strategy, systems integrations and artificial intelligence initiatives, according to a company announcement.
The appointment comes as Merit continues one of the industry's most active acquisition campaigns. The firm has closed 61 deals to date, including nine in 2026, and operates more than 55 offices nationwide. Its most recent transaction, the $900 million Bridgeway Group in Southern California, closed this summer, marking the firm's ninth partnership of the year. Six of those nine deals involved advisors formerly affiliated with Commonwealth Financial Network, the broker-dealer acquired by LPL Financial last year.
Rajes, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, will also spend significant time at Merit's headquarters in Alpharetta, Georgia. He joins from an independent consulting practice and previously held roles at LPL, UBS, Barclays and Goldman Sachs. At LPL, he served as head of strategic partnerships, managing a fintech ecosystem of roughly 90 providers and investment product relationships with asset managers, insurers and separately managed account providers.
Merit has been expanding its leadership bench in recent months. The firm hired Doug Moore as chief financial officer and Sarah Mouser as executive vice president of financial planning earlier this year, and Alex Hansen as chief advisor success officer. The new CTO role reflects a broader trend among private-equity-backed consolidators that are adding specialized executives to manage the operational complexity of rapid growth, particularly as they eye potential exits.
Chrissy Lee, Merit's chief operating officer, said technology is now central to supporting advisors, integrating new teams and creating scale. She noted that Rajes brings the wealth management experience and strategic perspective needed to connect current investments with a broader roadmap. Rajes described his approach as working "at the core and at the edges," focusing on data and integrations on one side, and advisor- and employee-facing tools, including emerging AI applications, on the other. He will work alongside Brian Green, Merit's chief product officer, with both reporting to Lee.
The emphasis on technology integration is increasingly a differentiator among consolidators. Research from Cerulli Associates shows that 55% of advisors view an integrated technology platform as one of the most valued services a consolidator can offer, ranking alongside succession planning, which nearly three-quarters of RIAs consider when deciding whether to join a larger platform.
Merit's capital structure has also shifted. The firm took a minority investment from Constellation Wealth Capital last year after its original private equity backers, Wealth Partners Capital Group and HGGC's Aspire Holdings, exited their positions. In 2025, Merit completed 16 acquisitions, making it the third-most active acquirer for the year, according to Echelon Partners.
Lee framed the hire as part of a long-term buildout rather than a response to any single transaction. "Our growth strategy has always been about much more than completing transactions," she said. "We want to make sure that when great firms choose Merit, we have the leadership, technology, resources and support infrastructure to help them become even stronger."
