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Independent Advisor Alliance (IAA)
Robert Russo launched IAA in Charlotte during 2013, structuring it as an independent practice model on LPL Financial's custodial and brokerage platform.
Independent Advisor Alliance (IAA)
Robert Russo launched IAA in Charlotte during 2013, structuring it as an independent practice model on LPL Financial's custodial and brokerage platform. The firm recruits experienced advisors from wirehouses and regional banks who want to own their own firms but do not want to build compliance, technology, or investment management infrastructure from scratch. Russo previously held leadership roles at LPL, which shaped the firm's hybrid RIA/independent broker-dealer architecture. IAA primarily serves individual and mass-affluent investors through a multi-advisor office network spanning the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. Its advisors offer financial planning, retirement income strategies, and managed portfolio solutions. The firm maintains a flexible platform that allows advisors to use IAA's corporate RIA or operate through their own independent RIA entities while IAA functions as the OSJ (Office of Supervisory Jurisdiction). Advisor practices on the platform collectively oversee billable client assets estimated by industry consultants at several billion dollars. The firm operates from its Charlotte headquarters and serves advisor offices concentrated in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, and Georgia. IAA has layered on succession planning services for its aging advisor base — a critical structural feature as the industry faces a wave of advisor retirements. In 2022 the firm deepened its partnership with LPL Financial to expand back-office support for rapidly growing advisor teams. IAA's structural distinction is its pure OSJ-and-platform model: the firm does not itself manage proprietary products or compete with its advisors for clients. This creates a clean alignment — IAA collects platform and supervisory fees while advisors keep majority economics and full client ownership. The model positions IAA as a scaling utility, not an employer, which accelerates recruitment of established teams who refuse to become employees again.
General information
Firm type
Bank / Wealth / Trust
Year founded
2013
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Charlotte
Corporate office
Charlotte, NC, United States
Principals
Robert Russo
CEO & Founder
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
What is IAA's relationship with LPL Financial?
IAA operates as an Office of Supervisory Jurisdiction (OSJ) on LPL Financial's institutional platform. This means IAA provides compliance supervision, technology support, and practice management services to affiliated advisors who custody assets with LPL. Advisors are not employees of IAA or LPL — they own their own practices and use IAA as their supervisory layer and business support partner.
Does IAA manage proprietary investment products?
IAA does not manufacture or manage proprietary investment products. The firm operates as a platform and supervisory organization, not a product manufacturer. Advisors on the IAA platform select from third-party managed portfolios, mutual funds, ETFs, and separately managed accounts available through LPL Financial's open architecture platform, avoiding the conflict of pushing house products.
How does IAA recruit financial advisors?
IAA targets experienced advisors leaving wirehouses and regional banks with established books of business, typically $300K-$2M in annual production. The firm offers a transition package that includes upfront capital, compliance coverage, and technology infrastructure. Advisors maintain full ownership of their client relationships and practice equity — a key differentiator from bank and wirehouse employment models where the firm owns the client.
What does IAA charge its advisors?
IAA collects platform and supervisory fees from its affiliated advisor practices, typically as a percentage of gross revenue or a fixed monthly fee. The exact economics vary by practice size, service tier, and whether the advisor uses IAA's corporate RIA or maintains an independent RIA. The firm does not publicly disclose its fee schedule. Advisors retain the majority of their revenue after paying IAA's platform fees and LPL's custody and clearing charges.
Is IAA a registered investment advisor (RIA) or a broker-dealer?
IAA operates as a hybrid — it maintains a corporate RIA for advisors who choose to use it, and functions as an OSJ on LPL Financial's independent broker-dealer platform. Advisors can practice as fee-only RIAs, fee-based hybrids combining advisory and brokerage business, or primarily commission-based advisors, depending on their individual licenses and registrations through the IAA/LPL framework.
How large is the IAA advisor network?
IAA serves roughly 200 independent financial advisor practices, concentrated in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. The firm does not publicly disclose aggregate assets under administration or exact advisor headcount. Industry consultants estimate the network's combined billable client assets at several billion dollars based on the typical advisor profile IAA recruits and the firm's tenure on the LPL platform.
Who runs IAA and what is their background?
Robert Russo is the CEO and founder. He previously held leadership roles at LPL Financial, where he gained direct experience with the independent advisor model, OSJ operations, and the breakaway advisor transition process. His background shaped IAA's architecture as a platform built on top of LPL's custody and clearing infrastructure rather than an independent firm building its own technology and compliance stack from scratch.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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