Press Room 

Top Wealth Manager Survey Reveals Assets Under Management up 24%

New York, NY, July 13, 2010—Assets under management have already recovered from the lows in 2008 and early 2009, and on average firms have more AUM today than they have had in their history—one of several key findings from WealthManagerWeb.com's 10th Annual Top Wealth Managers Survey, sponsored by Pershing Advisor Solutions. At the end of 2009 the average AUM for participants was $877 million—a 24% increase from the lows of December 31, 2008. Most of that recovery was due to market performance with a relatively small contribution from business development.

In addition to these industry trends, WealthManagerWeb.com reveals the 2010 Top Wealth Manager Rankings. Full coverage of the survey results includes Philip Palaveev's exclusive Special Report and Analysis, articles, and profiles of firms.  

Wealth managers had to meet several criteria to be included in the rankings; a firm must be an SEC registered investment advisor with its own IARD number; have minimum assets under advisement of $50 million; have individuals or high-net-worth individuals (as defined by the SEC) as more than half of its client base; and offer financial planning services.

In addition to the classic ranking on average assets per client, WealthManagerWeb.com delivers a new way of analyzing the rankings with an interactive database that enables visitors to look at firms sorted on many different attributes: alphabetically, by total AUM, average AUM per client, city or state, year the firm started or minimum fee. Special sections with the rankings will be published in the September issues of Investment Advisor and Research magazines.

"The firms that participate in the annual Top Wealth Managers survey are the lion's share of the largest, most established registered investment advisors (RIAs), in America," according to WealthManagerWeb.com's Editor-in-Chief Kathleen McBride. "These are the firms our survey partner, Fusion Advisor Network President Philip Palaveev, describes as the ones every RIA wants to be when they grow up."

Some highlights from WealthManagerWeb.com's Top Wealth Manager survey report:                                                     

• Worries about job less, continued market volatility, taxes, inflation or deflation and interest rates are keeping clients awake at night.
• Of the Top Wealth Managers universe, 15% are family offices. Of those 93% are multi-family offices. There is a trend for single-family office to convert to multi-family offices, gaining scale while maintaining a very high level of service
• Due diligence goes in-house. Most firms (63%) conducting their due diligence in house.

This information is updated throughout the year, as Wealth Manager has started quarterly Top Wealth Managers Pulse mini-surveys with rankings. The next quarterly survey will be available for participation toward the end of July, and is based on data from the second quarter of 2010. For notice of future surveys, please click here.

About Summit Business Media
Summit Business Media is the leading B2B media company serving the insurance and investment markets. Through its Media and Reference Divisions, SBM publishes 16 magazines, more than 30 targeted industry websites, and 150 reference titles. The Events Division hosts a dozen conferences supporting these brands. SBM's Data Division is the leading provider of group benefits and retirement prospecting tools and insurance industry financial data. For more information, visit sbmedia.com.

About WealthManagerWeb.com
WealthManagerWeb.com provides authoritative, unique, sophisticated content that wealth managers can find only at the web site named after them. Its mission is to provide knowledge, information and data to an audience focused on building, preserving and endowing wealth.

Contact:
Kathleen McBride
Editor, WealthManagerWeb.com
201-526-1254
kmcbride@sbmedia.com
WealthManagerWeb.com 

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Centennial, CO, May 4, 2009 — Boomer Market Advisor, a Summit Business Media publication, announced its 2009 Advisor of the Year, C5 Wealth Management's Paul Bennett and Stanley Corey. Each year, Advisor of the Year applicants are evaluated by the editors of Boomer Market Advisor based on their ideas, strategies, boomer-specific focus, AUM (minimum: $100 million), experience (minimum: 10 years), and undergo extensive background checks.

The principals of C5 Wealth Management were chosen as this year's award recipient based on their passion for helping boomer clients and the community at large, achieving over $750 million AUM, their use of cutting-edge technology and his understanding how this niche fuels their success.

"Not to take anything away from past winners, but to receive this kind of recognition with all that's happening with the overall economy is something for which they should be particularly proud," says John Sullivan, group editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines. "They've built a first rate practice that serves as a model for the rest of the industry."

C5 Wealth Management redefines the meaning of advisory excellence, and represents the best the industry has to offer. In case you’re wondering what the five in C5 represents:

• Client first
• Comprehensive
• Collaboration
• Cutting edge
• Credentials

More exclusive, first-hand tips from the 2009 Advisor of the Year can be found at BoomerMarketAdvisor.com or in the May issue of Boomer Market Advisor.

About Boomer Market Advisor Boomer Market Advisor's mission as the boomer retirement expert is to deliver strategies, trends and analysis across multiple media platforms to the comprehensive advisor serving the most lucrative group of clients - boomers. Based in Colorado, Boomer Market Advisor a product of Summit Business Media. About Summit Business Media Summit Business Media is the leading B2B media and Information Company for the insurance, investment and professional services markets. Summit publishes the insurance titles National Underwriter Property/Casualty and Life/Health weeklies, Life Insurance Selling, Agent Sales Journal, American Agent & Broker, Claims, Tech Decisions and Florida Underwriter, and financial titles Investment Advisor, Wealth Manager, Research, Futures, and Mortgage Originator. Summit's professional services titles include Credit Union Times, Inside Counsel and Treasury & Risk magazines. In July 2008, Summit acquired WiesnerMedia's Financial Group of B2B media and marketing services which further expanded its footprint in the financial and professional services arena adding the magazines Senior Market Advisor, Boomer Market Advisor, Benefits Selling, as well as ProducersWEB.com. In the Reference arena, the company publishes TaxFacts and Fire, Casualty and Surety Bulletins, and, through its Highline Data unit, financial and market information on insurers, agents and company benefit plans. Summit also sponsors the International Investment Conferences on global mining investment, a dozen conference events affiliated with its magazine brands, and via its Executive Enterprises unit, nearly 100 professional education seminars annually, along with 150 other books and electronic products. Summit offers more than 200 live events (trade shows, conferences and professional education seminars). The company is also the leading data provider of financial and market information on insurance companies in the country. Summit Business Media employs nearly 500 people in 15 offices throughout the United States. Summit is also one of the leading organizers of consumer art expositions and providers of business-to-business information to the art market. Nearly all products are available online as well as in print. For additional information about Summit, visit SummitBusinessMedia.com.

Centennial, Co., November 3, 2008 - Boomer Market Advisor, a Summit Business Media publication, announced its 2008 Broker/Dealer Excellence Award Winners in the November issue. The second annual award program asked Boomer Market Advisor readers about technology, wealth management offerings, practice management help and - of course - payout, to gauge which broker/dealers go above and beyond in servicing their reps. Four firms stood out from the rest.

The winners are: in the large independent broker/dealer category, Raymond James Financial Services; in the mid-size broker/dealer category, Brecek & Young Advisors; in the boutique broker/dealer category, Summit Brokerage Services and in the niche broker/dealer category, Ensemble Financial Services.

Each of the categories was defined by the number of advisors at each firm.

"Congratulations to the winners, whose cutting edge strategies and attention to detail have earned the notice of our readers," said John Sullivan, Group Editor, Boomer Market Advisor. "And given the current market meltdown and uncertainty in the advisor space, these four firms deserve extra praise for assisting their reps in calming baby boomer clients and helping them stay focused on their wants, needs and goals for retirement."

To find out more, read the November issue of Boomer Market Advisor online at www.BoomerMarketAdvisor.com.

About Boomer Market Advisor
Boomer Market Advisor's mission as the boomer retirement expert is to deliver strategies, trends and analysis across multiple media platforms to the comprehensive advisor serving the most lucrative group of clients - boomers. Based in Colorado, Boomer Market Advisor a product of Summit Business Media.

About Summit Business Media
Summit Business Media strives to provide the highest-quality information for those in the insurance, financial and professional services markets. The information provided spans all types: news, analysis, senior management perspective, editorial opinion, market and consumer trends, regulatory and compliance, and how-to. Information is delivered via print weeklies and monthlies; via electronic newsletters and blogs updated daily, and Websites updated with news as it happens; through live events, including trade shows, conferences, classroom-type seminars and Web seminars; via reference materials, disseminated in both book and electronic formats; and financial and market¬ing databases. Some of our premier titles include the National Underwriter Property/ Casualty and Life/Health weeklies, Boomer Market Advisor, Senior Market Advisor, Wealth Manager, Investment Advisor, Credit Union Times and Inside Counsel. Our refer¬ence tools include the Tax Fact series; Fire, Casualty and Surety Bulletins and the Tools and Techniques Series. Summit Business Media employs more than 530 people.

New York, N.Y. - July 16, 2008 - Summit Business Media today announced the acquisition of WiesnerMedia's Financial Group of B2B media and marketing services, including Senior Market Advisor, Boomer Market Advisor, Benefits Selling and Bank Advisor magazines, as well as ProducersWEB.com, the fast-growing online destination for insurance agents. The transaction is Summit's fourth major acquisition since being formed in November 2006 and its seventh overall since its inception.

The group's products and services provide information on sales, marketing and best practice techniques for insurance, financial, benefits and bank advisors. In addition to the publications and ProducersWEB.com, the transaction also includes Advisors Data Source, a comprehensive database with 2 million agent and advisor names, and two leading industry events, Benefits Selling Expo and Senior Market Advisor Expo.

"This acquisition of one of the last significant independent financial and insurance publishers substantially increases our penetration of the life insurance and financial advisor markets, two of our core segments, while providing access to the benefits advisor market, one of the fastest-growing segments in the financial services marketplace," said William F. Reilly, Chairman and CEO of Summit.

As a result of this acquisition, Summit will offer more readers more high quality products and services, and provide marketers with even more comprehensive and measurable ways to build their businesses.

Andrew L. Goodenough, Summit's President, added, "These assets compliment Summit's existing B2B media platform, now with 25 magazine titles, 150 reference books and electronic products, and 100 live events. The WiesnerMedia properties further strengthen our market position in the `independent retail financial distribution' sector, which we believe is a long-term, inexorable trend, as most major financial providers continue to outsource sales to independent agents and advisors."

Dan Wiesner, CEO of WiesnerMedia LLC, commented, "Since the launch of Senior Market Advisor in 2000, our publishing teams have developed successful products and services to serve the financial markets. Now, teamed up with Summit, these professionals have access to world-class resources and the opportunity to continue expanding their brands and innovating for customers."

Headquartered in Denver, the new Summit properties will report to Tom Fowler, Executive Vice President and Managing Director of Summit's Media Division. Betsy Kominsky, who had been Vice President/Publishing Director at WiesnerMedia, becomes Vice President/Group Publisher of Summit's Market Advisor Group and now reports to Fowler. Jeff Schottland, Vice President and Director of ProducersWEB.com out of Philadelphia, will also report to Fowler.

"Working with the support of Wind Point Partners, our private equity investor, we will continue to make appropriate investments to advance Summit's growth strategy," said Goodenough. "While strategic follow-on acquisitions will remain an important part of that strategy, especially in live event, data, reference and electronic arenas, we believe the platform we have continues to have strong organic growth potential. This growth is coming not only online, where in the first half of 2008 Summit has grown more than 50% over last year, but also in print, where the WiesnerMedia magazines have exhibited strong growth characteristics."

Media Resource Group (www.media-resource.com) represented WiesnerMedia, LLC in this transaction and acted as its exclusive financial advisor. Founded by Steve Rosenfield in 1995, MRG is a leading independent advisory group serving the media and information industries.

About Summit Business Media
Summit Business Media was formed through Wind Point Partners' acquisition of Highline Media and Pfingsten Publishing in November 2006. The leading B2B media and information company for the insurance, investment and professional services markets, Summit publishes the insurance titles National Underwriter Property/Casualty and Life/Health weeklies, Life Insurance Selling, Agent Sales Journal, American Agent & Broker, Claims, Tech Decisions and Florida Underwriter, and financial titles Wealth Manager, Research, Futures and Mortgage Originator. In July 2007 the Company acquired Wicks Business Information, and added Investment Advisor, Credit Union Times, Inside Counsel and Treasury & Risk magazines, continuing to expand its footprint in the financial industry as well as adding the legal and accounting markets, as part of its growth into the professional services marketplace. In the Reference arena, the company publishes TaxFacts and Fire, Casualty and Surety Bulletins, and, through its Highline Data unit, financial and market information on insurers, agents and company benefit plans. Summit also sponsors the International Investment Conferences on global mining investment, a dozen conference events affiliated with its magazine brands, and via its Executive Enterprises unit, nearly 100 professional education seminars annually.

Summit is also one of the leading organizers of consumer art expositions and providers of business-to-business information to the art market.

Nearly all products are available online as well as in print. Additional information about Summit is available at www.summitbusinessmedia.com.

About WiesnerMedia
Established in 1980, WiesnerMedia, LLC is one of Colorado's leading independent media companies. Colorado Biz is the state's 35 year-old publication serving business executives charged with leading the company's growth initiatives. Trucking Times serves retailers, warehouse distributors, jobbers, and other industry observers in the light-truck and SUV accessory aftermarket. Corporate Apparel is dedicated to corporate buyers of branded apparel. WiesnerMedia's Custom Publishing Group is acclaimed for its quality publications, customer service and innovative marketing solutions. Additional information is available at www.wiesnermedia.com.

About Wind Point Partners®
Wind Point Partners is a private equity investment firm with approximately $2 billion of capital under management. Wind Point focuses on partnering with top caliber management teams to acquire middle market businesses where we can establish a clear path to value creation. Additional information about Wind Point is available at www.windpointpartners.com.

Centennial, CO, June 2, 2008 - Boomer Market Advisor, published by WiesnerMedia Financial Group, announced the launch of a new Website: BoomerMarketAdvisor.com. The Website, in partnership with Boomer Market Advisor magazine, is a leading resource for information on the boomer market and retirement, and contains comprehensive marketing, product, and practice management tips and techniques for comprehensive advisors serving the boomer market.

The new Website is THE boomer retirement expert for all things boomer. It is packed with stats, product information and facts on boomers. An additional new section, In the Life of a Boomer, takes a comprehensive look at the wants, fears and needs of the largest generation in American history. Not only does the site feature new content, but the site also expands advertiser opportunities with custom emedia packages including rich media advertising, microsites, podcasts and much more.

"We've been hearing from our customers that they were looking for a more interactive Website for Boomer Market Advisor," said Tracy Donley, group publisher. "Our goal is to extend the strong brand of the magazine to give our readers the opportunity to interact directly with our boomer retirement experts. In addition, advertisers will have yet another way to connect with our engaged readers. There is no other Website that helps advisors with retirement planning in this niche market."

The new site will include Ask the Experts, where industry professionals supply solutions to advisors problems in real-time; Boomer Stats and Facts, which is heavily stacked with boomer research studies; and an editor's blog to sound off on the magazine and industry topics.

"The new Boomer Market Advisor Website was developed to take advantage of industry leading technologies and address the needs of both subscribers and advertisers," said Joe Haddock, vice president of branded eMedia. "The site presents new opportunities for advisors to gain instant access to the resources they need with the quality brand they can trust, while advertisers gain new avenues to interact with the advisors looking for information on their product."

To see the new site, visit www.BoomerMarketAdvisor.com.

ABOUT WIESNERMEDIA
WiesnerMedia Financial Group, a division of WiesnerMedia, LLC is a multi-media and marketing services company that provides essential information on sales, marketing and best practices techniques for insurance, benefits, financial advisors and agents. Its industry leading brands include four award winning publications; Senior Market Advisor, Benefits Selling, Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor, ProducersWEB.com, the leading online destination for insurance and financial professionals, two successful industry conferences and Advisor Data Source a database and direct marketing services group with over 1.4 million licensed and certified agents and advisors.

Contact: Tracy Donley
Boomer Market Advisor
Publisher
303-662-5350
tdonley@seniormarketadvisor.com

Centennial, CO, May 1, 2008 - Boomer Market Advisor, a WiesnerMedia Financial Group publication, announced its 2008 Advisor of the Year, Peter Mallouk. Each year, Advisor of the Year applicants are evaluated by the editors of Boomer Market Advisor based on their ideas, strategies, boomer-specific focus, AUM (minimum: $100 million), experience (minimum: 10 years), and undergo extensive background checks.

Mallouk was chosen as this year's award recipient based on his passion for helping boomer clients and the community at large, achieving over $700 million AUM, -his use of cutting-edge technology and his understanding how this niche fuels his success.

"Peter's vision in helping his baby boomer clients deal with the unique they face in retirement sets the bar that much higher for the rest of us," says John Sullivan, group editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines. "He's built a first rate practice that serves as a model for the rest of the industry."

Mallouk redefines the meaning of advisory excellence, and represents the best the industry has to offer. He volunteers these tips to help advisors build their business:

• Differentiate yourself through segment marketing
• Know your niche inside and out
• Only partner with true experts (CFPs, CPAs, JDs)
• Don't get cute - Build nuts-and-bolts portfolios for your clients
• You're all selling the same thing - Compete on service

More exclusive, first-hand tips from the 2008 Advisor of the Year can be found at www.BoomerMarketAdvisor.com or in the May issue of Boomer Market Advisor.

ABOUT WIESNERMEDIA
WiesnerMedia Financial Group, a division of WiesnerMedia, LLC is a multi-media and marketing services company that provides essential information on sales, marketing and best practices techniques for insurance, benefits, financial advisors and agents. Its industry leading brands include four award winning publications; Senior Market Advisor, Benefits Selling, Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor, ProducersWEB.com, the leading online destination for insurance and financial professionals, two successful industry conferences and Advisor Data Source a database and direct marketing services group with over 1.4 million licensed and certified agents and advisors.

Contact: Tracy Donley
Boomer Market Advisor
Publisher
303-662-5350
tdonley@seniormarketadvisor.com

Centennial, CO, January 9, 2008 — WiesnerMedia Financial Group, a division of WiesnerMedia, LLC, announced that Joe Haddock, a veteran emedia and publishing executive with deep experience in online strategy and electronic products, has joined the company.

WiesnerMedia Financial Group currently operates leading print and electronic media brands including Senior Market Advisor, Benefits Selling, Boomer Market Advisor, Bank Advisor and the leading online destination for insurance agents and advisors, ProducersWEB.com.

"We're committed to developing innovative products that meet the growing and increasingly complex needs of insurance, benefits and financial advisors and agents. Joe is a perfect fit for our team and he will lead the way as we bring new emedia products to market in the coming months," said Dan Wiesner, CEO.

"The company's numerous market-leading brands are a solid foundation for expansion opportunities. WiesnerMedia's entrepreneurial culture, quality of product and willingness to invest means we'll be able to move quickly. It's a great opportunity and a very exciting company," said Joe Haddock.

Previously, Joe was Vice President of Technology at Wicks Business Information where he was responsible for corporate internet and information technology strategy and development. Previously, he was Senior Director of Development at SourceMedia, where he established and managed a team of programmers, developers and designers who produced over 50 web sites and emedia products.

Joe lives in New York with his wife and three children and will operate out of New York and Denver.

ABOUT WIESNERMEDIA
WiesnerMedia Financial Group, a division of WiesnerMedia, LLC is a multi-media and marketing services company that provides essential information on sales, marketing and best practices techniques for insurance, benefits, financial advisors and agents. Its industry leading brands include four award winning publications; Senior Market Advisor, Benefits Selling, Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor, ProducersWEB.com, the leading online destination for insurance and financial professionals, two successful industry conferences and Advisor Data Source a database and direct marketing services group with over 1.4 million licensed and certified agents and advisors.

Contact: Betsy Kominsky
Group Vice President
303-662-5221
bkominsky@wiesnermedia.com

Centennial, CO, December 13, 2007 — WiesnerMedia Financial Group, a division of WiesnerMedia, LLC, announced today the launch of Bank Advisor BULLETIN, Benefits Selling WEEKLY, Boomer Market Advisor WATCH and Senior Market Advisor EXTRA weekly eNewsletters.

The launch of the eNewsletters solidifies WiesnerMedia Financial Group's presence in the eMedia realm. Each week, eNewsletter subscribers will receive timely, original content direct from the editors of each publication. The eNewsletters will cover hot topics in the industry, polls, quick stats and other useful information.

ABOUT WIESNERMEDIA
WiesnerMedia Financial Group, a division of WiesnerMedia, LLC is a multi-media and marketing services company that provides essential information on sales, marketing and best practices techniques for insurance, benefits, financial advisors and agents. Its industry leading brands include four award winning publications; Senior Market Advisor, Benefits Selling, Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor, ProducersWEB.com, the leading online destination for insurance and financial professionals, two successful industry conferences and Advisor Data Source a database and direct marketing services group with over 1.4 million licensed and certified agents and advisors.

Contact: Betsy Kominsky
Group Vice President
303-662-5221
bkominsky@wiesnermedia.com

Magazine is highlighted in Min's B-to-B Newsletter

Centennial, CO, August 22, 2007 — Boomer Market Advisor, a Wiesner Financial Media publication, was highlighted in the August 20, 2007 issue of Min's B-to-B newsletter. The front page article, "Baby Boomer's Money Attracts Ads, Publishers" covered the growing niche that Boomers represent for financial media companies, and specifically Wiesner Financial Media.

Min's B-to-B is a recognized industry publication that covers weekly news, analysis and strategies on business-to-business publishing. An Access Intelligence publication, it reaches 7,000 media executives each week.

"Niche publications are appearing everywhere and the enormous Boomer population cannot be ignored. I'm proud that Boomer Market Advisor is recognized as a cutting-edge leader in this specialized financial arena," said Tracy Donley, Publisher.

As the only publication focused on the retirement and asset management information needs for financial advisors who work with the boomer generation, the magazine has experienced immediate success with its content and award-winning design. The immediate success of Boomer Market Advisor translates into advertising growth with ad pages up 36% to date over last year.

To find out more about Boomer Market Advisor, go to www.BoomerMarketAdvisor.com.

ABOUT WIESNERMEDIA
WiesnerMedia Financial Group is the leading, independent source for information on sales, marketing and best practice techniques for insurance, financial and benefits advisors. WiesnerMedia Financial Group publishes four magazines: Senior Market Advisor, Boomer Market Advisor and Benefits Selling and Bank Advisor. ProducersWEB.com, the leading industry web portal, and Advisors Data Source, a data-services division, are also included in the division. In addition, WiesnerMedia Financial Group annually produces two leading industry events: Senior Market Advisor Expo and Benefits Selling Expo.
For more information, go to http://www.WiesnerMedia.com.

Contact: Betsy Kominsky
Group Vice President
303-662-5221
bkominsky@wiesnermedia.com