While December marked the end of a long chapter at Acacia Financial Group, Inc., a women-owned business that ranks among the nation's top municipal advisors, Kim Whelan, its president and chief executive officer, said the firm is well-positioned for the future.
"Our reputation for always having a shareholder on the account and keeping a very seasoned team and giving quality service I think has been our secret sauce," Whelan said of her firm, which according to a recent
Whelan became president and CEO of Acacia effective Jan. 1 as part of a transition that also saw Noreen White – whose last day as an Acacia shareholder and co-president of the firm with Whelan was Dec. 31 – move into the role of special senior advisor to the firm. Whelan, who purchased White's shares and now owns a more than 70% stake in Acacia, said White had been talking about retiring as a shareholder for a few years, which gave the firm time to prepare.
In addition to Whelan, Mount Laurel, N.J.-based Acacia has three other shareholders – Peter Nissen, Joshua Nyikita and Jennifer Edwards – a trio Whelan described as "amazing and talented."
"So, we are in a great position," she said, adding that the firm is also glad to have White staying on as an advisor
"She is still helping us with our national reach and … continuing to work on the clients that she handled and just transitioning them over to me and some of the other shareholders," Whelan said.
Though Acacia is well-positioned for the days ahead, Whelan said that, on a personal level, she will "deeply" miss White, with whom she had shared the co-president title at Acacia for nearly twenty years.
"We were great together," Whelan said, adding that she doesn't recall ever having an argument with White about things like what direction the firm should go in, promotions or hiring. "And so for me, it'll be a loss, because we really did lean on each other, but she's still there as a friend and a support to the firm."
Whelan, who previously had owned a New Jersey-based regional financial advisory firm, was a partner with PFM when she approached White – who at the time was running her own New Jersey-based firm called Municipal Advisory Partners, Inc. – about creating Acacia, which they founded in 2006.
"Joining forces with Noreen would empower us to build a national practice as a leading women-owned business," Whelan said.
Whelan and White were united by the "same ethics," and a desire to build a full-service financial advisory firm "that would be second to none in the industry," White added.
"And so that's what we set out to do … when we started Acacia," she said.
White said her practice at the time Acacia started was primarily focused on Northern New Jersey and she also had clients in Ohio. The clients Whelan had in her practice were primarily in Southern New Jersey as well as in Philadelphia, White said, adding that she and Whelan both did work for state-level entities in New Jersey.
"We really had minimal if any overlap in clients, so right at the get-go we were very well positioned to … kind of take us to the next level," she said.
Earlier in her career, White had worked at Bear, Stearns & Co.
"Having worked at Bear Stearns, I developed a number of relationships with issuers around the country, and, given that we now had a large staff [at Acacia] we could then pursue those clients where when I was at Municipal Advisory Partners … we just didn't have the bandwidth to do that," she said.
"Acacia has far and away exceeded" her expectations for what it could become in the industry, said White, who described herself as "semi-retired."
"I have every confidence that the [Acacia] shareholders who have worked with me on various accounts will be able to seamlessly take over those accounts to give me more and more time to pursue other interests till I eventually 'Big R' retire," said White, who works with clients including the City of New York, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the State of Ohio, the State of Illinois and the District of Columbia.
Looking ahead, White said "the sky's the limit" for where Acacia can go.
"There is no doubt in my mind that, ... given the opportunities, these guys can beat the pants off anybody," she said.
