Given his 15 years as CEO of LPL Financial, thousands of advisers probably think of Mark Casady as a successful, and retired, corporate executive.

Perhaps less well known is what Casady has been busy doing since leaving LPL in 2017: funding and guiding fintech companies, many of which support advisers, through the venture capital firm he co-founded in 2015, Vestigo Ventures.

Helping lead technological innovation for the benefit of financial advisers and their clients is the thread that Casady sees running through both phases of his career. “During my time at LPL, we innovated in three important areas,” he said. “We integrated the large broker-dealers we acquired onto our platform, giving us advantages of scale other acquirers didn’t have; we were early in launching a support platform for RIAs; and we invested heavily in centrally managed platforms that freed advisers to focus on client relationships.”

At Vestigo, he mentors and coaches the entrepreneurs who run the 23 fintech companies in which his firm invests through its two early-stage funds. Portfolio companies tend to focus on operational improvements that drive down costs for asset managers and insurers.

Casady also created and heads Lefteris, a special-purpose acquisition company that raised $200 million and listed on Nasdaq last October. He now is looking for an established fintech company ready to go public, and the SPAC requirements give him until October 2022 to acquire one.

“I see myself as helping to build a tech-enabled advice industry that’s better, faster and cheaper,” he said.

— Evan Cooper