After 14 years with LPL Financial and 32 years in the business, Andy Kalbaugh — head ofNational Sales and Consulting — retiredin late March.
Kalbaugh won’t have one successor.Instead, LPL is having several executivestake over his responsibilities, which arebeing incorporated into broader initiatives to support advisors and theirgrowth strategies.
When he started at LPL in 2007, thefirm had about 5,700 affiliated independent advisors. “We’re now at over17,000. The expansion of that [advisorbase] and the skill sets needed [to support it] are really important,” he said,adding that he believes LPL has therequired executive talent in place andthus feels “pretty comfortable” aboutthe timing of his departure.
Known for his friendly, supportivedemeanor as an executive, Kalbaughspoke recently with Investment Advisorabout some of his career highlights,as well as the management skills andindustry insights he’s learned from others. This includes current LPL CEO& President Dan Arnold, the broker-dealer’s former leader Mark Casady(now with Vestigo Ventures and LefterisAcquisition Corp.) and Voya FinancialChairman and CEO Rod Martin.
HIS ‘NICE GUY’ REPUTATION
When asked about his affable approach
to business and working with others,
Kalbaugh said he was “born with some
of that personality, whether that’s my
upbringing or whatever you want to call
it. I like people, and I think most people
want to help people.”
Before and during his time as CEO of
the AIG-owned broker-dealer American
General Securities (1995-2007), he saw
“as an executive, you want to be viewed
as a person who people trust. They need
to know you genuinely care. … Once
[people] know you care, then they gen-
erally tend to open up, and you can make
some deposits into their personal bank-
ing account.”
That is helpful, Kalbaugh says,
“because there are times that will
require me to make a withdrawal. If I
make a withdrawal while having made a
bunch of deposits, that makes the with-
drawal a little less painful.”
He says he learned about this dynam-
ic from Voya’s Martin, who could speak
easily and effectively to Wall Street
analysts, and from former AIG CEO
Hank Greenberg.
Martin’s most critical advice to him?
“You need to [make deposits in others].
And the good part is that it’s free.”
While good leaders don’t always say
yes to others, “they know you’re going to
try. If I say, ‘I’m not doing this one,’ but …
I’ve treated you fairly along the way, that’s
usually easier [for them] to understand.”
As a leader, “You need to have thatgive and take, because it is not always aneasy street. I want to make sure that I canget things done. And [this approach has]worked well. It’s who I am, but it’s alsobeen a very conscious effort on my part.”
BROKER-DEALER BEAT
By Janet Levaux
LPL’s Kalbaugh Explains Why Nice Guys
Finish First
The executive, who retired in late March, highlights lessons learned
over the past 14 years at LPL and his 32 years in the business.
