Regal Holdings, a full-service financial firm headquartered in Kentwood, Michigan, enters 2024 commemorating its 24th anniversary. And there’s even more reason for celebration, as the anniversary arrives on the cusp of its founder’s 2023 inclusion on InvestmentNews’ inaugural Hot 100 List.
The Hot List recognizes 100 wealth professionals redefining success in the industry. Regal Holdings Founder & CEO John A. Kailunas II appears alongside other eminent industry leaders like Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, Gary Gensler of the SEC and Larry Fink of BlackRock.
“It’s quite an honor for me and the firm,” Kailunas said. “There are a lot of people on that list I respect and to be included made me feel very humbled. My name is listed individually but I wouldn’t be on that list if it wasn’t for our great affiliates and our outstanding team.”
Finance professionals across the country nominated individuals for the Hot List accolade in August 2023. InvestmentNews then whittled the candidates down to a select 100 based on their contributions that helped shape the industry. The list then published in December.
Kailunas’s appearance on the list includes his team’s contributions through LionShare, an investment distribution platform designed to bring Regal’s investment arm to other firms on the Pershing, Fidelity and Schwab platforms. As an entity under Regal Holdings, LionShare empowers and aids in the development of independent Registered Investment Advisors and Investment Advisor Representatives with a practice management focus.
Twenty-four years ago, Kailunas and his partners branched off on their own and are now at $3.5 billion between Assets Under Administration and Assets Under Management. Financial advisors often attempt independence but can experience numerous obstacles that hinder the type of success Kailunas, and his team, generated with Regal Holdings.
Regal Holdings Founder & CEO John A. Kailunas II
LionShare launched in 2020 to help affiliated advisors clear those hurdles. The platform equips advisors with robust strategies, resources and solutions to better meet their clients’ custom objectives. These available tools address a swath of issues a broker and client may encounter in their journey together to retirement.
“What we’ve been able to do is scale as we’ve built the business,” Kailunas said. “We’ve invested heavily in it. It’s allowing us and other people to have their shot at the American Dream.”
Through LionShare, financial professionals leverage Regal Holdings’ renowned brand and resources while remaining their own entity. Regal Holdings helps build their business in return for the lion’s share of new assets raised via sub-advisory agreement. Kailunas credits his team’s ability to help and train people in transforming careers that result in clients with better financial health.
The affiliated advisors directly interact with portfolio managers to review strategies, the market and program client cases — and LionShare’s platform covers most risk profiles imaginable. Advisors tap into extensive support that focuses solely on accomplishing defined goals and objectives. LionShare fosters connections that spur growth, already galvanizing some affiliates from $15 million in management to $130 million and $2 million to $25 million thus far.
“Those are life changing numbers,” Kailunas said. “It changes the trajectory of the broker’s life, it changes their family’s dynamic. We’re in tune with helping other people.”
Empathy and integrity underline LionShare’s tactful approach. Sole practitioners can encounter an assortment of obstacles and pressures that potentially stifle their progress. Kailunas and his staff understand these situations because they experienced it themselves in creating Regal Holdings. Feelings of isolation may mount as regulatory, economic and marketing pressures produce a nebulous landscape to navigate.
But it’s a path that LionShare innovatively traverses with process-driven tactics that empower advisors to understand what the future can hold. Each affiliate relationship is unique but aligned in the same direction: toward the best version of themselves.
LionShare knows it’s a transformation that requires discerning every angle and analyzing every advisor’s skill set. The partnership not only maximizes an advisor’s adept capabilities but helps change weaknesses into strengths. Kailunas said sometimes a good broker can be an inefficient marketer, or someone could excel in client meetings but also lack an effective referral process. LionShare bridges these gaps and accomplishes it through utilizing each individual’s strengths. A customized approach to practice management is the cornerstone of the LionShare platform.
Kailunas and Regal Holdings’ inclusion in the InvestmentNews Hot 100 List highlights their proficiencies in helping and training people. Achieving the honor affirms he and LionShare are on the right path — and it’s a path Kailunas seeks to steer other financial professionals upon.
LionShare wants advisors roaring to life. Kailunas knows there are people in Michigan sitting at home evaluating their future in the industry, setting goals and straining over challenges. There are all these people with all these different thoughts, yet the same problem persists: they lack an accessible path.
“We want to try and be the guiding path to help them grow and build,” Kailunas said.
Learn more at regal-lionshare.com.
Third-party rankings and recognition from rating services or publications are no guarantee of future investment success. Working with a highly rated advisor does not ensure that a client or prospective client will experience a higher level of performance or results. These ratings should not be construed as an endorsement of the advisor or by any client nor are they representative of any one client’s evaluation. Generally, ratings, rankings and recognition are based on information prepared and submitted by the advisor. No fee was paid for consideration of any ranking or award. A more thorough description of the award is available by clicking the following link.
