Ohio Advisory Firm With Nearly $1 Billion in Assets Joins Osaic for Succession Planning

Beacon Financial Group’s move to Osaic puts succession planning at the center of a broader business decision: how to give a firm a durable structure for the next leadership chapter while keeping its established team and client relationships intact. The Aurora, Ohio, advisory firm oversees nearly $1 billion in client assets and serves more than 120 families.

Beacon is joining Osaic’s Empowered Independence channel, which offers centralized infrastructure and business support. The firm said succession planning and expanded wealth management capabilities were the main reasons for the change. It had operated as an independent registered investment advisor with a broker-dealer affiliation through Private Client Services.

For Beacon, the transition follows a relatively recent step toward independence. Managing Director Brent Besinger founded the firm in 2007, then established it as an independent RIA in 2022 after spending 24 years at Lincoln Financial Advisors. He has more than 30 years of experience in financial services.

Continuity is central to the transition

Besinger described the search as a way to address the firm’s future without changing the principles that have shaped its day-to-day work. “When we started exploring succession planning options, our biggest priority was finding a partner that would allow us to continue running our business the way we always have, with our clients’ needs guiding every decision,” he said.

A long-standing professional relationship also informed the choice. Besinger and John DiMonda, Osaic’s head of Advisor Direct, have known each other for more than 15 years. Besinger said DiMonda understood the firm’s team, clients and relationships. DiMonda, in turn, characterized Beacon’s move as a search for a partner that could help protect the business Besinger had built and prepare it for the long term.

That emphasis on continuity matters because Beacon’s identity is closely tied to its seven-person team. Several employees have worked alongside Besinger for more than a decade. Their experience spans financial planning, investment management, retirement plan services and multigenerational wealth management.

Keeping that expertise together may help preserve the relationships families rely on as leadership changes. But a succession structure also has to support the firm’s operations and decision-making over time. Beacon’s stated priority is to secure that support while retaining control of client relationships and daily operations.

What Osaic’s channel provides

Osaic launched its Empowered Independence W-2 affiliation model in 2023. Through the channel, Beacon gains access to centralized compliance infrastructure, technology resources and business development support. Osaic says firms in the model can maintain their identity and client-facing autonomy while drawing on those capabilities.

The arrangement pairs that operating support with a W-2 affiliation. For an established advisory firm, the appeal can be practical: succession planning involves more than identifying who will lead next. It also raises questions about how a business will handle core functions, sustain service and keep its operating model workable as responsibilities shift. Centralized resources can address some of those demands, while control of client relationships remains a key point for Beacon.

Those elements are the stated terms of the fit; the source does not specify Beacon’s succession timeline, the future leadership structure or the financial terms of the affiliation. Those details will help show how the arrangement works in practice for the firm and the families it serves.

A channel seeking established firms

Beacon’s move comes as Osaic builds its Empowered Independence roster. Cindy Hamel, who leads the channel, has said the firm expects more external teams to join and wants to be “much more aggressive externally” in pursuing prospects.

Osaic operates a network with more than 10,000 advisors and is owned by private equity. Recent additions to the channel have included firms with assets ranging from $500 million to $1.5 billion, according to the source. That range places Beacon’s nearly $1 billion in client assets within the scale of teams that have recently made the transition.

The broader industry context is a succession challenge for independent firms whose value often rests on personal relationships, experienced staff and a distinctive way of serving clients. A change in affiliation can provide resources for continuity, but the arrangement’s value ultimately depends on whether support systems fit the firm’s needs and whether clients continue to receive the service they expect. The transition also affects employees, whose roles and established working relationships are part of the continuity Beacon says it wants to preserve.

Hamel described Beacon as an entrepreneurial, client-focused firm and said Osaic’s channel is designed to help firms plan for succession while maintaining their identity. For Beacon, the measure to watch is whether the added infrastructure supports a future leadership transition without disrupting the team’s work with more than 120 families.

That makes the affiliation a test of execution as much as a platform choice. Beacon has identified its priorities—succession planning, operating support and continuity in client relationships. The next chapter will show how effectively Osaic’s resources serve those aims as the firm’s leadership needs evolve.