Carson Group Adds $1.6 Billion Marietta Practice in Atlanta Expansion

Carson Group’s addition of Marietta Wealth Management brings about $1.6 billion in assets under advisement and four partners into its Carson Wealth business. The move extends the Omaha-based firm’s Atlanta-area presence and gives the acquired practice access to Carson’s planning, research and operational resources.

Marietta joins Carson’s integrated channel, where acquired practices operate as branded Carson Wealth offices. That structure is distinct from the firm’s independent channel, which allows partner firms to retain their own identities. The distinction matters: this deal places Marietta within Carson’s employee-led business, while also connecting its staff to a larger platform.

The team is led by managing partners Scott Keller, Charlie Holloway, Ben Crowe and Wes Hackney. The multigenerational practice serves individuals, families and business owners with financial planning, investment management, tax planning and retirement planning. Its clients will keep their current advisors and service staff, according to Carson.

What changes for the Marietta team

Carson says the partners will gain access to Private Client Services, investment research, broader planning offerings and operational support. Those resources may give the team more capacity to serve clients as their needs become more complex, while allowing its advisors to keep working with existing clients through the transition.

Keller said the firm wanted a partner that would let it continue serving clients as before while adding scale, resources and expertise. Carson also says the arrangement creates more ownership opportunities for Marietta employees and supports the development of future advisors. Those provisions could help the practice manage succession over time, though the source does not specify which employees will qualify or how ownership will be allocated.

Michael Belluomini, Carson’s senior vice president of M&A, cited the team’s support staff, growth potential and client focus. For Carson, bringing in an established group adds both assets and experienced advisors; for Marietta, joining a larger firm changes the resources available to the practice without replacing its current client-facing team.

A second Atlanta-area addition in about a week

Marietta is Carson’s second Atlanta-area deal in roughly a week. Late last month, St. John & Associates, a family-run Roswell practice with about $131 million in assets under management, joined Carson Wealth’s office in Milton, Georgia. The two deals extend Carson’s reach across Atlanta’s northern suburbs, where firms are also attracting interest from other buyers.

Merit Financial Advisors, for example, agreed to acquire Yeomans Consulting Group, a Marietta practice with $434 million in assets, in March. The deals illustrate how established advisory firms in the same region can draw competing approaches to scale: Carson is bringing practices into its integrated network, while the details of each firm’s operating model and client transition remain specific to the individual deal.

Read more: Succession drives Wisconsin advisory team to Carson Group

Carson’s acquisition pace and operating model

Carson reports more than $66 billion in assets under management and serves upward of 60,000 client families through more than 165 partner offices. More than 50 of those locations are Carson Wealth offices. In September, the firm reached 50 integrated offices with the addition of Elios Financial Group, a Westlake, Ohio, practice with about $367 million in assets.

The company has also adjusted its leadership structure as it expands. In October, Carson hired former United Bank wealth chief Matt Humphrey to lead its W-2 channel as divisional president of the integrated advisor business. The reorganization placed the integrated and independent advisor businesses under separate leaders; Scott Conroy runs the independent channel.

Carson has also introduced an equity program for W-2 advisors and staff. Launched in July, the Carson Equity Program offers ownership to high-growth employee advisors nearing the end of acquisition-related incentives, as well as next-generation advisors and operations staff who previously had no path to equity. That approach connects the firm’s recruiting and retention model to its acquisition strategy: growth depends on bringing in practices, then giving employees reasons to build their careers within the broader organization.

Read more: Carson Group taps ex-United Bank wealth chief to run W-2 channel

Scale brings integration questions

Echelon Partners counted five Carson Wealth deals in the third quarter of 2026, representing about $2.7 billion in acquired assets. That activity places Carson among the market’s busiest buyers as advisory-firm dealmaking heads toward another record year, according to the source. The Marietta addition adds meaningful scale, but the reported figures do not spell out the purchase terms or how the acquired assets will be reflected in Carson’s totals.

For clients and employees, the practical test will be whether the added services and ownership opportunities take shape while familiar relationships remain in place. For Carson, the next measure is whether its expanding network can integrate new teams and preserve the local service that helped attract them. The Marietta deal adds another sizable practice to the platform; execution will determine how much of that scale translates into a stronger operating base.

Read more: Carson Group reaches 50 integrated offices with Ohio deal

Read more: Merit adds $434 million Marietta practice