Why Envestnet's Stuart DePina Is Stepping Down

As part of its restructuring, Envestnet is “streamlining” its business into three segments: Envestnet Solutions, Envestnet Data and Analytics, and Envestnet WealthTech, it said.

Envestnet announced three group presidents for the new business lines: Dana D’Auria, who will lead Envestnet Solutions and also was named co-chief investment officer; Farouk Ferchichi for Envestnet Data and Analytics; and Tony Leal for Envestnet WealthTech.

Another Take on Envestnet’s Restructuring

“What is now called WealthTech, run by Tony Leal as per the announcement, should have been separate from the legacy Envestnet and from the data and analytics. Long ago,” Joel Bruckenstein, head of Technology Tools for Today (T3), told ThinkAdvisor by email on Wednesday.

Bruckenstein added: “This feels to me like they are peeling off what I think of as the legacy Envestnet, with some of the newer innovations attached to that like direct indexing, portfolio overlays, and the exchanges…. This makes sense.”

While MoneyGuide is “innovative, and they stick to their knitting,” he said that, “in the RIA space, and that is the fastest growing segment of the business, Tamarac is a natural fit” for MoneyGuidePro.

Envestnet “could be doing a lot more to deeply integrate the two,” Bruckenstein said, adding: “Now that they are all under Tony, hopefully that will happen.”

That division also has the Envestnet client portal and some next-generation tools under development and “this is where they belong,” according to Bruckenstein.

“That is not to say that Tony’s division will cease working with the other divisions,” he said. “I think it just laser focuses the WealthTech division on what matters most to the long term success of their segment.”

(Pictured: Stuart DePina, Envestnet president)