Pioneers

At Rise Growth Partners we are pioneering something different and refreshing for the RIA industry. Operators don’t need dead weight on their cap table. They need experts and experienced operators who have been there and done that.

We have done it. We are here to help. These are the pioneers helping us to build out the world’s first Synergistic Financial Partnership in wealth management.

Joe
Duran

Beach Volleyballer + Yogi + Girl Dad

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Darius
Mirshahzadeh

Pizza Fanatic + Book Worm

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Dan
Newhall

Hunter + Musician

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Mike
Mirshahzadeh

Mixed Martial Artist + Animal Lover

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Phil
Jacobson

Mogul Skiing Pickle Baller

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Brian
Shenson

Music Lover + Family Guy

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Tiffany K
Burgess

Texas-born Native Hawaiian 🌺

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Ashley
Ward

Dog Mom + Cooking Connoisseur

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Hannah
Birchard

International Travel + Fine Wines

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Cooper
Bricks

Golf Addict + Novice Farmer

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Terri
Kallsen

Avid Beach Hiker + Boater + Mentor

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Will Armenta

Will
Armenta

Outdoor Sports Hack, Coffee + Gear Enthusiast

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Stacy Coffey

Stacy
Coffey

Broadway Fanatic + Casual Foodie

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Contact Us

If you are a growth oriented, middle market RIA with 1B to 5B looking for growth capital, and an experienced partner to help you to on your journey, we would love to speak with you.

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Joe Duran

Beach Lover + Girl Dad

Joe is a serial entrepreneur and an industry visionary in wealth management and wealthtech. 

Most recently Joe was a Partner at Goldman Sachs as Co-Head of the Workplace and Personal Wealth business. Joe founded and was CEO of United Capital, one of the nation’s largest independent wealth management firms, which was acquired by Goldman Sachs in July, 2019. Prior to that he built and sold Centurion Capital, one of the first Turnkey Asset Management Platforms to General Electric where he served as President of GE Private Asset Management (now NYSE listed AssetMark.) 

He has written three books on investing and entrepreneurship and has been on the New York Times and USA bestseller lists. Joe is a sought after conference speaker and appears frequently on a broad spectrum of media from CNBC to Goop.

Joe has MBAs from Columbia University and UC Berkeley, and an undergraduate degree from Saint Louis University. He is a CFA Charterholder and a member of YPO. He has been a Yogi for decades, meditates daily and is an avid beach volleyball player. 

Joe is married to Jennifer and they have three daughters that they cherish.  They live in Laguna Beach, California and Tribeca, New York. They travel frequently, love dining, dancing and live concerts. 

Darius Mirshahzadeh

Pizza Aficionado + Book Lover

Darius is an award winning high growth CEO, entrepreneur, author, advisor and podcaster with over 23 years of experience growing companies from startup to scale. Darius is the former CEO of TMS where he grew the company from 30 to over 1000 employees in just 3 years and was named the #9 highest rated CEO in America on Glassdoor.com. Under his leadership, Darius has led his businesses to raise $166M in institutional capital, generated $1.2B in top line revenue and created pretax EBITDA in excess of $250M. 

Darius is the author of the Best Selling business book, The Core Value Equation, is a 2020 graduate of the renowned Integral Leadership Program from the Stagen Institute, is a 2008 graduate of MIT’s Birthing of Giants  Entrepreneurial Masters Program, and holds a Bachelor of Arts from UC Santa Barbara in Business and Economics. 

Darius is a lover of all things pizza, practices transcendental meditation daily, plays the ukulele, loves books (2023 goal is to finish 52 books, 1 per week), lifting heavy things, and meeting amazing people on his iTunes top rated entrepreneurial podcast, The Greatness Machine. 

Darius lives in Austin Texas with his amazing wife Maria, sons Rumi and Pablo, and dog Desi. 

Dan Newhall

Hunter + Musician

Dan is a conscious leader, and experienced RIA operator, with a flare for making deals happen. 

In his last RIA partnership, Dan and his team grew the business from 400M to 4.5B in AUM in 5 years . Dan was the CCO and Head of Merger & Acquisitions for the firm, recruiting more than 25 advisors into the business and affecting multiple M&A transactions totaling more than 3.5B in assets transitioned into the business. Dan enjoys working on culture, strategy, M&A and partner relations. 

Dan leads a local men’s group, The Journeymen  in Bozeman focused on redefining masculinity and helping men through the inevitable stresses of mid life. 

He holds a B.S. from Williams College and an M.S. from San Francisco State University.

Dan is competitive by nature, and is drawn to dopamine producing activities like bowhunting for elk, heli-skiing, golf, running and playing guitar and music producer.

He lives in Bozeman with his beautiful wife Lexi and their 2 boys, Dodger & Augustus. 

Mike Mirshahzadeh

Mixed Martial Artist + Animal Lover

Mike is a lifelong deal originator with over 27 years of sales, recruiting and M&A experience in the financial services space. In his last role as Chief Revenue Officer at TMS, Mike and the teams he has led, successfully grew TMS’s institutional lending platform from startup to over $11B per year in MBS securitization. From 2013- 2020, Mike successfully originated 67 Institutional relationships that transitioned onto TMS’s third party servicing platform which now manages over $90B+ in mortgage servicing assets. 

Mike is a car lover, graffiti artist, painter and lover of all things design. Mike is a mixed martial artist and has trained MMA and Muay Thai for over 17 years. Mike has trained and had professional Muay Thai fights in Thailand and the USA. Mike is also an avid animal lover and rescuer. Mike is the host to The What Matters Podcast where he interviews some of the greatest minds in the world of wealth management. 

Mike lives in Scottsdale Arizona and is the loving owner of Larry the pig and Walter the french bulldog.

Phil
Jacobson

Mogul Skiing Pickle Baller

Phil is a 35 year veteran in the financial services industry and has played many roles over that time.  Starting with developing the first PC Advisor workstation rolled out across a BD system of 72 offices.  Phil then transitioned to an advisory role 1994, and then Head of Office for United Capital  for 11 years.  In 2016 Phil took over the practice management group at United Capital called the GO Team for Growth Optimization.  The GO Team partnered with advisors to help them dramatically accelerate their growth trajectories by optimizing their advisory practices, developing high performing teams, and implementing sustainable growth strategies.  Phil then played a key role with the integration of United Capital into Goldman Sachs, with their 2019 purchase of the firm.  Phil is excited to be back in the role of helping independent advisors make the necessary paradigm shifts to accelerate their growth trajectories and build national platform advisory business that will impact families for generations.

Phil is a graduate of the University of Minnesota Carlson School of management with a Bachelor of Science degree, along with an additional 35 years of boots on the ground experience.

Phil and his wife moved to Colorado in 2020 to be closer to the mountain life that they both love in any season, but ski season is the tops! Or, is it mountain biking season or fly fishing season, or hiking season…. heck you pick! 

Phil and Cindy are relatively new empty nesters (for now…), with a daughter working in New York, and a son finishing his master’s and working in Des Moines.

Brian Shenson

Music Lover + Family Guy

Brian is a veteran business builder and wealth tech strategist with 20+ years experience. 

Most recently Brian was with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) delivering specialized expertise to leading players in financial services and wealth management. Prior to that, he co-founded Springboard Advisory Group – a boutique wealth management tech consultancy focused on growth-oriented advisors. As a consultant, Brian has served countless firms helping them navigate tech stack strategy, business process redesign and client experience definition. 

Brian cut his teeth in the industry working at Charles Schwab’s Advisor Services unit where he developed and oversaw a range of technology solutions for independent advisors.  While there, he pioneered platform integration capabilities for Schwab’s wealthtech ecosystem and led the evolution of its market-leading portfolio management system.  With roots in technology product management and marketing, Brian brings a client value orientation to his work and a pragmatic lens to solving business problems. 

Brian holds a B.A from the University of California at Berkeley where he studied political science. From there, he got a real world business education wearing a variety of hats inside two early stage tech ventures before finding a long term career home serving financial advisors.

Brian lives in Lafayette, California with his beautiful wife Emily, two young boys Rowan and Adler and their dog Mojo.  When not busy running around with the family, you might find Brian on the trail hiking, out seeing live music or enjoying a San Francisco Giants baseball game.

Tiffany K Burgess

Texas-born Native Hawaiian 🌺

Tiffany is an accomplished operations professional with over 20 years of experience helping companies be their best.

Tiffany has held a wide variety of operational roles at companies ranging from Teco Westinghouse, Land Rover, BMW, TMS and most recently was the Chief of Staff for TRD, a boutique management consulting firm specializing in high growth scale consulting for mid market companies in the financial services space. Tiffany is experienced in workflow optimization, large scale project management, and is the Queen Bee of GSD (Getting Stuff Done).

Tiffany graduated Cum Laude from Midwestern State University with a Bachelor of Science in Business, is a member of the Delta Mu Delta Honor Society of Business, an NCAA Academic All-American, a full tennis scholarship recipient, and a certified RYT Yoga Instructor..

Tiffany is a boy mom and boat captain, who isn’t scared to weed-eat her lawn, plays pickleball, loves a good ping pong challenge, is learning how to wakesurf, and can back a trailer down a boat ramp.  

Tiffany is a native Hawaiian, living in Lago Vista Texas with her hubby Jay and and two boys, Holt and Hayes.

Ashley
Ward

Dog Mom + Cooking Connoisseur

Ashley is an experienced financial services professional and has actively managed and transitioned over $70B in institutional mortgage servicing assets in her career.

Ashley holds a Bachelor of Letters, Arts, & Sciences from The University of Arizona, with an emphasis on Economy and Industry and a minor in Business Administration.

Ashley is enthusiastic about cooking, all things wellness, passionate about fashion, loves live music, pugs, playing a round of golf (particularly from the ladies tees), and flourishing her newfound love for gardening.

Ashley lives in Scottsdale, Arizona with her exuberant fur-baby, Tito.




Hannah Birchard

International Travel + Fine Wines

Hannah Birchard is a dynamic professional with a unique blend of problem-solving prowess, strategic thinking, and project management expertise. For the past two years, Hannah has worked at TRD contributing her adept problem-solving skills and project management acumen. She helped manage a diverse portfolio of over 50 high growth mid market companies, showcasing their commitment to excellence. 

With a remarkable knack for orchestrating seamless experiences, she masterminded events for more than 30 clients across Park City, Utah, and Austin, Texas. Her meticulous attention to detail and strategic approach have consistently yielded outstanding outcomes. Hannah is excited to be a valuable part of Rise’s Mergers and Acquisitions Team.

Hannah graduated with her Bachelor’s degree in Human Development and Family Studies from Texas Tech University. This academic journey unearthed her passion for collaborating with individuals and nurturing their growth.

Hannah has lived in Cambodia, Ecuador, and Russia, she developed a global perspective that fuels her love for travel. She enjoys playing pickleball, a good cabernet, and weekends on Lake Travis. 

Hannah currently lives in San Antonio, Texas with her husband and dog.



Cooper Bricks

Golf Addict + Novice Farmer

Cooper has spent time on the Corporate Development and M&A teams at both an RIA startup, where he helped create and take their acquisition model to market, as well as at Goldman Sachs – Personal Financial Management (GSPFM), previously United Capital, where he helped manage active deal processes through the valuation, negotiation, and diligence phases. With experience in wholesaling and investment sales, Cooper enjoys being able to marry his technical skillset with a passion for building relationships and helping lead our strategic partners through the RGP process.

Cooper is a graduate of Sonoma State, where he studied Economics as well as from RMIT in Melbourne, AUS where he completed his Masters in Finance. Cooper is also a CFA charterholder.

Cooper and his wife, Hollie, reside in Nipomo, CA with their young sons Brady and Rory. He spends a lot of time perfecting his BBQ, hosting in their AirBNB, and when time allows at the driving range in the never-ending quest for a scratch handicap.

Terri Kallsen

Avid Beach Hiker + Boater + Mentor

Terri is an award winning high growth Wealth Management Executive, leading RIA growth, digital solutions, and innovative ways to improve service and scale for Advisors and Clients. Terri was honored as the San Francisco Financial Woman of the Year in 2019 for her dedication to mentoring others in the community and empowering women in the workplace. Terri is the former COO of Wealth Enhancement Group (WEG) where she led Advisor Teams, Platform/Digital Strategy, High Net Worth & Trust Services. Prior to WEG, she was Executive Vice President of Investor Services at Charles Schwab, leading 7,000 employees and $1.6T in AUM. Her tenure at Charles Schwab was highlighted by multiple JD Power awards for client satisfaction, a clear testament to her commitment to delivering top-tier service.

Terri is a 2019 graduate of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business Financial Management/CFO Program. She holds a Master’s Degree from the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh and Bachelor Degree from the College of St. Benedict/Saint John’s University. Terri is Certified Financial Planner™.  Terri serves on the CFP® National Board of Directors.

Terri is an enthusiastic marathon runner who has completed 21 marathons, 50 half marathons, and even more triathlons. She was awarded the Abbot Labs World Marathon achievement. She enjoys hiking Mount Tamalpais, boating to Napa Valley, and mentoring others to foster positive change. She also volunteers with the Oakland Homeless Shelter Shower program.

Terri lives in the San Francisco Bay, with her husband, Scott of 30 years, and has three children and two dogs.

Will
Armenta

Outdoor Sports Hack, Coffee + Gear Enthusiast

For the past 20 years, Will has been immersed in investment management as a practitioner, technologist, investor and founder. 

Will launched his career among the best and brightest, navigating the fast-paced world of hedge funds on the trading floor of Fidelity Investments and honing portfolio management skills at Goldman Sachs Private Wealth, covering multi-asset and endowment style portfolios. 

Will is at his best when he can form a vision and make it a reality. As an early employee at fintech platform Addepar, he helped grow the company from its first clients to over $2.5 trillion in assets, incubating and scaling product, business and client teams. He launched the partnerships team, negotiating bank, tech and service partnerships; and helped lead Addepar’s first acquisition. He is passionate about building product and championed the vision and development of the Integration Center and Developer Portal.

Will joined 8VC as an Entrepreneur-In-Residence and co-founded Opto Investments with Joe Lonsdale, offering a customized and scalable private fund solution for RIAs. He focused on go to market strategy, helped recruit key talent, and was with the company through its Series A. He remains an advisor at Opto.

Will is an executive advisor at Fligoo, an AI-driven practice insights solution for enterprise wealth management. And he is co-owner of 4FRNT Ski Company. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Babson College with a B.S. in Business Management. 

Rain or shine, you will find Will outside: in the ocean or on the trails of West Marin, the backcountry of Lake Tahoe, or working in his garden in San Francisco with his wife Jory and dog Doc.

Stacy Coffey

Broadway Fanatic + Casual Foodie

With over two decades of wealth management experience, Stacy is a strategic, results-oriented executive in the financial services industry. Her career in finance began as a high school teacher and soccer coach when realized she had no idea why her paycheck was debited for “retirement,” and where the money was going, or how to invest it. When the opportunity arose, she made the leap to Charles Schwab, earning her FINRA licenses while gaining expertise and experience in financial planning and portfolio management.

Whether advising clients directly or leading advisory teams across the west coast, Stacy dedicated many of her 19+ years at Schwab to helping high net worth clients pursue their holistic wealth planning goals. She made the move from Phoenix to Schwab’s corporate headquarters in 2012, where she worked with Schwab Executive Leadership to drive client experience, wealth planning, and strategic growth initiatives across Schwab’s global client base and advisor network. She has been featured in Barron’s, US News & World Report, and Forbes. Most recently, Stacy led advisory products for Wealth Enhancement Group as SVP of Wealth Strategies. There, she focused on leading teams creating engaging, scalable financial planning, tax, estate planning, 401K, and insurance solutions to provide clients with outstanding results while driving organic growth in net new assets (NNA).

Stacy is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and holds her series 7, 9, 10, 63, and 66 licenses. A lifelong coach, Stacy earned her executive coaching certification from the UC Berkeley Executive Coaching Institute, and has a B.A. in secondary education from Ottawa University. Stacy is always planning the next trip to the theater, a concert, or any other live performance. Living squarely between the SF Giants ballpark and the Golden State Warriors arena, you can also frequently find her with her partner of 19 years, Mary Helen, attending a game or spending time with their dog and cat, Gracie and Mr. Jones.