An employee-owned investment advisory firm called Washington Wealth Management has launched in Middleburg, Virginia. The firm aims to get away from the more traditional wirehouse relationship and has stated that its mission to is to provide advisors with independence.

WWM is the latest firm to launch targeting advisors looking to go independent. 

It aims to provide a structure that allows advisors to have local onsite access to back-office and administrative support for managing high net worth accounts. WWM’s open-architecture platform currently includes brokerage and trading services from Mid Atlantic Capital Corporation, and assets are carried by National Financial Services.

WWM has the view that more and more advisors and their clients have become disillusioned with the traditional brokerage model and it is gearing itself to this market.

“We don’t simply tout a slogan like ‘putting clients first’. We’ve put our money where our mouth is and designed an entire business around how to provide the best wealth management services for the client today. We feel the key to that is to put the advisor in a situation where they own their own business, are free of conflicts of interests, and are able to offer the best products and services that will allow them to attract high net worth clients,” said chief executive and managing partner Tony Sirianni.

“Our goal is to create an independent branch network, allowing advisors to own their businesses, but also to allow them to become part of an organization and culture that values and encourages collaboration and idea sharing.” 

In addition to Sirianni at the helm, Ross Wilkinson will take the reins as director of development and John Bouchard, Saundra Albrite-Bouchard and Julie-Anne Lewis will be the first financial advisor partners at the firm. Meanwhile Yvonne Gough and Robert Jones will join the advisory team. Collectively these five have managed nearly $200 million in client assets at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.