Allen Darby, the founder of Alaris, has worked in the financial services industry for 20+ years. As an owner of his own wealth management firm, Allen grew his practice by completing 9 mergers and acquisitions. As an independent consultant to United Capital, he led their outbound acquisition efforts from 2012 until their sale to Goldman Sachs in 2019.
Meet Our Team
Allen Darby
CEO
Allen has been in the wealth management industry for 3 decades. He founded a highly successful firm that was one of the pioneers in assisting accounting firms get into the wealth management business. In 1999, he sold that enterprise to First Global, Inc. of Dallas TX, and subsequently founded a successful RIA in Charlotte, NC. With his own RIA he conducted 9 mergers and acquisitions and eventually sold his practice in 2009 in order to focus his expertise in the M&A arena.
In 2012, Allen took a role with United Capital on their new partnership team. As a buyer advisor for United, he led a team that sourced acquisition candidates for the firm. During his tenure with United, he sourced and closed 32 acquisitions. He has a wife, Jo Ann, of 29 years and two children, Trevor and Alana. Allen lives in Cornelius, NC.
Jacqueline Martinez
Managing Partner
Jacqueline is a Managing Partner at Alaris Acquisitions focused on assisting our buy-side clients build repeatable, scalable acquisition programs and leading sell-side clients to a broader marketplace.
Before joining Alaris in 2021, Jacqueline served as the head of acquisitions for Goldman Sachs’ Personal Financial Management, following their acquisition of United Capital in 2019. Jacqueline led the charge to create a new deal structure and completed two acquisitions in the first year. For the five years prior to the sale to Goldman Sachs, Jacqueline led United Capital’s analytical and legal efforts to successfully close and integrate nearly 35 transactions of independent RIAs firms ranging between $200M – $2B in assets under management.
Jacqueline lives in Orange County, CA with her husband and two young children. Outside of the office, she loves taking barre classes, trips to Maui without the kids, and supporting local craft breweries.
John Salony
Director of Valuations
John is an Advisor and Director of Valuations at Alaris assisting both buy and sell side clients with valuations, financial analysis, and financial recasts.
John has vast experience in M&A having been a Vice President in the Global Corporate Investment Banking Group at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and he was a Management Consultant for RGP providing M&A services to clients throughout the southeast. Additionally, John worked at Lowe's Home Improvement in their Corporate Finance Department.
John holds a Master of Business Administration and Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Maryland. John was awarded a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Salisbury State University.
John and his wife Julie have 2 boys, Jack and Owen. John enjoys anytime with his family, hunting, and shooting sporting clays.
Zach Pavlosky
Director of Partnerships
Zach Pavlosky, CFA is Director of Partnerships at Alaris
Acquisitions. Before joining Alaris in 2021, Zach was Vice
President of M&A for LPL Financial, where he led and managed
all aspects of the deal process throughout the entire lifecycle,
including sourcing, due diligence, execution, closing, and
integration activities. While at LPL Financial, Zach launched their
sell-side M&A offering and strategy to help advisors successfully
execute on strategic transactions.
Over the course of his career, Zach has completed many M&A
transactions participating in buy-side and sell-side due diligence
projects in roles at Tide Rock Holdings and FOCUS Investment
banking. Zach’s depth of experience and knowledge covers the entire
spectrum of M&A related to acquisitions by private equity investor
groups and strategic corporate buyers. He is a Chartered Financial
Analyst (CFA) Charterholder and graduated from Virginia Tech with
Bachelor’s Degree in Pre-Medicine.
Zach resides in San Diego.
Bethany Muensterman
Director of Partnerships
Bethany Muensterman, CFA joins Alaris with an extensive knowledge of the independent wealth management industry. Before joining Alaris in 2022, Bethany was Vice President at Goldman Sachs Personal Financial Management where she led her local office’s investment research function from asset allocation to implementation for each client. She brings experience in operating an RIAs investment management platform. Bethany started at Payne Wealth Partners in 2011 as a Research Analyst; she was promoted to Investment Manager in 2014 and earned through the years her position of Chief Investment Officer in 2016. Bethany took on the role of Senior Wealth Manager in 2017 when Payne Wealth Partners merged with United Capital Financial Advisers and in 2019, United Capital was acquired by Goldman Sachs. Bethany graduated from Ball State University Magna Cum Laude in 2010 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Finance and earned the Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA®) designation in 2015. Outside of the office, Bethany enjoys an active life with her husband, daughter, and her small dog, Thor. Some of her favorite adventures have been living in Manhattan and Honolulu, running a half marathon on the Great Wall of China, and watching her daughter laugh and discover new things.
Rick Muzik
Director of Partnerships
Rick joins Alaris Acquisitions with 15 years of wealth management experience. He brings an extensive network and knowledge base to the team from his background consulting with owners of independent wealth management firms. For the last 8 years, Rick's primary client was United Capital and its advisors. In that time, Rick worked with United Capital to build, launch, and scale a successful risk management and insurance platform for offices to use with their clients. Rick earned a degree in communications from Eastern Michigan University while competing on the Forensics Team and doing play-by-play for Football and Basketball. Rick is fueled by laughter and his beautiful wife of 10 years, Jessica, and two sons Andrew and Colton.
John Moraites
Senior Partnership Coordinator
John is a broad-based impact leader with over 40 years as a financial services leader with proven and measurable success. He has provided national leadership to the fifth largest accounting firm, RSM McGladrey, in the development of a major growth practice in Wealth Management Services that resulted in building a $5Billion wealth management national practice in just four years which included mergers.
John was with American Express Financial Advisors (currently named Ameriprise), and pioneered the innovation of financial planning and tax services acquisitions while leading several key business units to great success. As a Senior Vice President with MetLife, and president of a broker dealer, he successfully developed and merged a new distribution system and the centralized financial planning service system.
In all aspects of his role and specifically the past several years, he has been advising clients on mergers and long term growth strategies leveraging his deep knowledge of the industry and cultural dynamic fits for clients.
John is a graduate of Loyola University in New Orleans with a bachelor’s in social services and has attained the CFP© designation.
Alana Groulx
Partnership Coordinator
Alana Groulx, Partnership Coordinator at Alaris Acquisitions, is passionate about helping financial advisors solve stress points in their business by finding partners to support them. She joined Alaris in May of 2021 as the Partnership Coordinator. At Alaris, she is the primary point of contact for business owners looking to transact utilizing the Alaris Process. She is responsible for understanding the ideal outcomes of a seller and keeping a healthy cadence during the process.
Alana is a driven, creative thinker with an exceptional track record of firms that have gone through the Alaris process from start to finish. Alana has assisted in 13 successful acquisitions and is excited to continue building relationships with sellers and buyers alike.
Alana graduated from Clemson University with a Marketing degree and Professional Sales Certificate and enjoys hosting friends and family in her spare time by creating customized charcuterie boards and pairing them with craft cocktails.
Trevor Darby
Partnership Coordinator
Trevor joined Alaris in 2021 as a Partnership Coordinator. He is responsible for assisting candidates to move through the Alaris process leading to a successful partnership.
Prior to joining the team, he worked at Goldman Sachs Personal Financial Management as a financial advisor. Trevor has 2 years of previous experience mentoring in various United Capital offices.
Trevor holds a degree in Computer Science from Elon University and lives in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Hana Thomas
M&A Transition Coordinator
Hana Thomas joined Alaris in 2022 as M&A transition coordinator. Prior to joining Alaris, she worked at Goldman Sachs Personal Financial Management, where she assisted advisors. Before graduating, Hana interned with United Capital during the Goldman Sachs merger. Hana graduated from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles with a degree in finance and lives in Dallas, Texas. In her free time, Hana enjoys competing in equestrian events and was inducted into the Martial Arts Hall of Fame as Junior Martial Artist of the Year in 2016.
Ragan Edwards
Partnership Coordinator
Ragan Edwards joined Alaris Acquisitions in January of 2022 as a Partnership Coordinator. He graduated from Clemson University in 2021 with a Financial Management Degree, while minoring in Accounting & Management. In 2021, Ragan also obtained insurance producer licenses in the state of North Carolina for life insurance and accident and health or sickness. He enjoys gathering with friends and family and going out on the golf course in his spare time.