We use AI-driven matchmaking and three decades of Wall Street experience to align RIA buyers and sellers on culture, leadership, and business fit, and leadership alignment; not just the highest bid.
Boardwalk Financial Partners leverages targeted, AI and human capital driven M&A matchmaking to connect highly curated RIA buyers and sellers based on cultural fit, leadership alignment, personality fit, and business fit to maximize the probability of long-term, post-transaction success.
With three decades of Wall Street experience, the Boardwalk team packages and presents your business to a small, highly curated group of RIA professional buyers, zeroing in on cultural and business fit to make sure the value of your life's work is realized and your legacy endures.
Unlike traditional M&A advisory firms that focus exclusively on the highest price, Boardwalk focuses culture, vision, and business fit first to create lasting synchronicity after the deal closes.
Our use of AI brings a different approach to M&A advisory to focus on cultural and business fit to achieve a >95% post-transaction success, compared to a traditional M&A advisory firms who tend to use an auction process focused on price alone.
Boardwalk ensures cultural fit, business fit, and enterprise value are aligned from the start. From pre-sale preparedness through coaching, we provide guidance tailored to the outcome you want which maximizes the odds of post-transaction success and long-term satisfaction.
Unlike advisors who rely on auction processes, our proprietary AI focuses on finding the right match by prioritizing cultural, personality, and business fit to deliver a more seamless, more successful experience for everyone at the table.
Pre-sale preparation and a comprehensive sell-side pitch deck (CIM), built around your business.
AI and human judgment work together to surface curated RIA buyers aligned on culture and business fit.
Curated introductions only with buyers who clear the cultural and business-fit bar, so no wasted meetings.
Move forward with the partner who fits, with Boardwalk advocating for you throughout.
Close the deal with a long-term, post-transaction success rate to back it up.
Shad Besikof, MBA, brings 30 years of expertise advising RIAs on growth, mergers, and sales. His career spans from investment advisory at major Wall Street firms to executive leadership at major RIA custodians, and buy-side M&A which gives him a firsthand view of every angle of a successful transaction; a perfect advocate for sell-side clients.
Through hundreds of seller meetings led by sell-side bankers, Shad saw the flaws in the traditional auction process, where maximizing price often overshadows true compatibility. That insight led him to launch Boardwalk Financial Partners, a platform that pairs AI tooling with human judgment to create genuinely well-matched buyer-seller partnerships, offering a fairer, more efficient alternative to advisors who prioritize short-term gains over long-term success.
Boston-based RIA CW Advisors acquired Catalina Capital Group, a fee-only RIA managing roughly $655M in assets, in a continued push into the West Coast market.
June 2026The addition of Catalina Capital Group brings roughly $655 million in assets under management into CW Advisors' growing national footprint.
June 2, 2026CW Advisors confirmed its purchase of fellow RIA Catalina Capital Group, based near Los Angeles, as part of its broader westward growth strategy.
June 3, 2026