Todd Mackay named president of Cetera Solutions

Todd Mackay has been appointed president of Cetera Solutions. In his new role, Mackay will drive end-to-end platform strategy and lead advice delivery across the organization. He will also steer the company’s growth across various business lines, overseeing all digital and investment products and services for Cetera advisers and clients. Mackay will also serve as a member of Cetera’s executive leadership team. “Todd is an established and talented leader whose vision will help propel Cetera through its next growth phase in service to our financial professionals and their clients,” said Mike Durbin, CEO of Cetera Holdings. In his years at Avantax, he has proven his unique ability to connect with the Avantax community and strategically lead the organization through instrumental change.” During Mackay’s more than 20-year tenure, he led Avantax to record levels of recruited advisors and assets. He drove advisory asset flows to the highest levels in the company’s history. Mackay created an organic growth engine through various sales enablement programs and developed new affiliation and succession models through Avantax Planning Partner. Andy Watts, vice president of planning and growth solutions, will take over Mackay’s duties as tax channel leader, overseeing more than 4,000 advisors within Avantax and Cetera Financial Specialists.

Mackay to spearhead Cetera’s growth

Ron Krueger will continue as president of Cetera Financial Specialists. Cetera hired Heidrick & Struggles, an executive search and management consulting company, to search for the president of Cetera Solutions. “I will continue working with Avantax in my new role at Cetera, which is important to me because I value the many relationships created over the years,” Mackay said. Cetera stated it does not expect significant changes to the operations of Avantax’s Dallas office nor Cetera Financial Specialists’ office in Schaumburg, Ill. Mackay’s appointment is part of several recent changes to Cetera’s C-suite. Last month, Tom Taylor announced his departure from his role as chief sales and growth officer at Cetera Financial Group by the year’s end. The firm is currently searching for his replacement. In June, Cetera brought in a former Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Company president to build out retirement, life insurance, and annuity products. CEO Mike Durbin, who joined Cetera from Fidelity in May of last year, and other new leaders continue to shape the firm’s future.