Adam Antoniades, who has served as CEO of Cetera Financial Group since December 2019, will retire from his role at the independent broker/dealer network at the end of this year, the company confirmed. Mike Durbin, CEO of Cetera’s parent company, will assume Antoniades’ position. Antoniades, 59, will continue to serve on Cetera’s board of directors.
WealthManagement.com was the first to report that Antoniades was to leave the company. Sources said at the time that former Fidelity executive Durbin would take control of the firm after a recapitalization with private equity owner Genstar.
Sources confirmed the firm’s board wanted a strategic leader and having a CEO of the holding company, as well as one overseeing the combined broker/dealers, did not make sense. At the time, Durbin and Antoniades both denied there were any plans for Antoniades to leave.
“There are many chapters in every exceptional organization,” Antoniades said in a statement. “I am proud to have served as both a turnaround and expansion CEO, guiding the company through crucial phases of growth and transformation. Mike is a proven leader who will guide the next chapter, driving the company forward into even greater opportunities for accelerated growth and success.”
In October 2023, Cetera’s private equity owner Genstar reinvested fresh capital into the broker/dealer network from two of its newest funds, Fund XI and Fund X.
When then-CEO RJ Moore stepped down from his role in February 2019, the firm appointed Ben Brigeman, nonexecutive chairman of the board of directors, as interim CEO. The board then searched for a new CEO for eight months before finally promoting Antoniades, president at the time, to the position.
Antoniades served as president of Cetera from 2014 to 2019. Prior to that, he co-founded First Allied Securities in 1994, a broker/dealer that was acquired by Cetera, and served as its president and CEO for the better part of two decades.
“These 35 years have been incredibly rewarding,” he said in a statement. “I wouldn’t change any of it. However, now is the right time to focus on a different part of my life, especially my family and friends.”
Under his leadership, the firm has grown to about 12,000 advisors, more than $521 billion in assets under administration and $224 billion in assets under management, as of June 2024.