Former McKinsey partner brings deep wealth management and M&A expertise to accelerate firm’s next phase of expansion

Mercer Global Advisors, Inc. (“Mercer Advisors”), a national Registered Investment Adviser (“RIA”), today announced the appointment of Jimmy Zhao as Chief Corporate Development Officer. Zhao joins Mercer Advisors to lead corporate development efforts and strategic partnerships as the firm continues to expand its national platform and position itself as the destination of choice for clients and like-minded advisory firms.

The newly created role builds on Mercer Advisors’ industry-leading RIA M&A Partner Development approach, which has led to the integration of 116 partnerships over the last decade.

Zhao joins Mercer Advisors following the firm’s most successful year of inorganic growth in 2025 when the firm closed 18 partnerships with wealth advisory and tax firms. While wealth management and tax firms remain the core focus of Mercer Advisors’ efforts, Zhao’s broader charter includes evaluating additional growth opportunities and partnerships that are aligned with the firm’s long-term strategy.

“Jimmy brings a distinct combination of wealth management industry expertise, strategic insight, transaction expertise, and operational discipline that aligns directly with our next phase of growth,” said Chief Executive Officer Dave Welling. “Mercer Advisors has built a highly differentiated platform that delivers a unified standard of financial care for clients while creating meaningful opportunities for advisors and partner firms. Jimmy’s experience advising and working with RIAs, asset managers and private equity sponsors on large-scale transactions and growth transformations will be instrumental as we continue to scale our impact and expand our partnership model.”

Zhao will serve as a key member of the executive leadership team, reporting to Welling. He will partner closely with the board of directors and Mercer Advisors’ capital partners to advance the firm’s long-term growth strategy. The M&A Partner Development team, led by Executive Managing Partners Martine Lellis and Ted Motheral, will report into Zhao. He will also lead the expansion of Mercer Advisors’ Corporate Development function to evaluate adjacent markets, new partnerships, and new opportunities.

Zhao brings more than a decade of experience advising financial services firms on strategy, M&A and large-scale transformation. Most recently, he was a partner at McKinsey & Company, where he led the firm’s North American wealth management and retirement practices and advised on some of the industry's largest M&A deals and private capital investments. He advised large RIAs, asset managers and financial sponsors on more than 50 transactions and strategic growth initiatives, including acquisitions totaling over $100 billion in enterprise value.

“Mercer Advisors is distinguished by its ability to bring together high-quality firms and teams and distinctive capabilities under an integrated model,” said Zhao. “The firm’s commitment to a fiduciary-first approach, combined with its technology and collaborative culture, creates a strong foundation for continued success. I’m excited to help build new partnerships and further strengthen Mercer Advisors’ ability to deliver value for clients, employees and shareholders.”

Zhao’s appointment is part of Mercer Advisors’ ongoing investment in its executive team. Most recently the firm announced Melissa Nims as Chief Solutions Officer and Jeremiah Barlow as Chief Commercial Officer.

For more information on Mercer Advisors, please visit merceradvisors.com.

About Mercer Advisors

Mercer Global Advisors, Inc. was named the #1 ranked RIA firm in the nation for two years in a row according to Barron’s 2025 and 2024 Top 100 Registered Investment Advisor Firms. Founded in 1985, Mercer Advisors has been trusted to help families amplify and simplify their financial lives. The company offers comprehensive, fee-based family office services, including financial planning, estate and tax planning, insurance solutions, and corporate trustee and trust administration services. Mercer Advisors is majority owned by Oak Hill Capital, Genstar Capital, and Altas Partners. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. is headquartered in Denver, Colorado, is privately held, has over 1,560 employees, and operates nationally through more than 110 locations. Mercer Advisors has $98 billion in client assets. For more information, visit merceradvisors.com and merceradvisors.com/partnerwithus.

Important Information

Company statistics as of January 31, 2026. Client assets refers to client assets under management (AUM) and client assets under advisement (AUA) as well as assets gained from recent acquisitions where the advisory agreements have been properly assigned to Mercer Global Advisors, but the custodial accounts have yet to be transferred and/or the accounts have yet to be migrated to Mercer Global Advisors’ portfolio management system.

“Mercer Advisors” is a brand name used by several affiliated legal entities owned by Mercer Advisors, Inc., including, Mercer Global Advisors, Inc., an SEC registered investment adviser providing investment advisory and family office services; Mercer Advisors Private Asset Management, Inc., an SEC registered investment adviser providing discretionary investment management services to affiliated private funds; Mercer Advisors Tax Services LLC, a tax services and accounting firm; Heim, Young and Associates, Inc., (MA Brokerage Solutions) a broker/dealer, member FINRA/SIPC; and Mercer Advisors Insurance Services LLC, (MAIS) an insurance agency.

Mercer Advisors is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice to clients. All Estate planning document preparation and other legal advice are provided through select third parties, with which Mercer Advisors has a contractual relationship. Mercer Advisors Tax Services, LLC, does not provide financial audit, assurance, compilations, or forensic accounting services. Each individual tax situation is unique, depending on complexity, additional fees may apply. Insurance products are provided by Mercer Advisors Insurance Services, LLC (MAIS), which places individual life, disability, long term care coverage, and property and casualty coverage through select insurance companies. Trustee services are offered through select third parties with which a client would sign an additional agreement, and additional fees may apply.

2025 and 2024 - Barron’s Top 100 RIA methodology

Mercer Global Advisors, Inc. was ranked #1 for non-mega RIA firms. Advisers who wish to be ranked fill out a 100+ question survey about their practice. Barron's verifies that data with regulatory databases and then Barron's applies their rankings formula to the data to generate a ranking. The formula features three major categories of calculations: (1) Assets (2) Revenue (3) Quality of practice. In each of those categories Barron's does multiple sub calculations including asset type, growth, client retention, technology spending, succession planning, diversity of their teams, charitable and philanthropic work and compliance records. No fee was paid for participation in the ranking, however, Mercer Advisors has paid a fee to Barron's to use the ranking in marketing.

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