15-29 EMPLOYEES

3

CIC Wealth

Employees 15 | Firm Type RIA | CEO Ryan Wibberley | Location Rockville, Md. | Primary Custodian Schwab Advisor Services |

“We give employees a lot of say on how things are run,” said Ryan Wibberley, founder and CEO of CIC Wealth.

For the past two and a half years, the firm has been transitioning from an independent broker-dealer model into an independent RIA, which has included the huge task of evaluating all back-office operations and technology. To tackle this, Wibberley created employee-run committees, placing the responsibility of redesigning work processes and coming up with solutions in the hands of employees.

The committees were empowered to recreate onboarding and client-services models, investigate a new CRM system, reorganize the firm’s cloud storage, and identify options for advisers to offload investment management responsibilities.

Along with a sense of accomplishment and ownership, employees acquired a greater sense of camaraderie, as people worked with fellow staff members they might otherwise only see once a year at the office holiday party. Wibberley believes it was important to ask employees to participate.

“We felt they would have lots of great ideas. But unless they’re asked, they might not tell you what they think,” he said.