Dynasty COO shares more on hiring key tech execs, focus on AI

St. Petersburg-based Dynasty Financial Partners has retained two big hires to grow its artificial intelligence capabilities and data analytics. 

Dynasty, which offers wealth management and technology platforms for independent financial advisory firms, moved from New York City to St. Petersburg in 2019 and has since rapidly grown with adding key talent to its team and making community investments. 

The two recent tech exec hires are Frank Coates, who has been named Chief Technology Officer, and Taylor Howard, appointed as the Chief Digital Officer, a newly created position. 

The executives will be based in St. Petersburg and will report directly to COO Ed Swenson.

“I’ve known Frank over the past four years. We have worked together on multiple projects and I have tremendous respect for him,” Swenson told the St. Pete Catalyst. “He has an entrepreneurial background in starting firms and building them up. When the opportunity came to hire someone for this role, I jumped at it.”  

Frank Coates. Dynasty Financial Partners.

Coates was previously an executive managing director at Chicago-based Envestnet Analytics, a company that provides wealth management technology. 

Coates is a seasoned professional with over 20 years of experience in the wealth management space. He will lead the way in technology for high-end registered investment advisor (RIA) accounts. 

Howard, the other new exec, was leading the artificial intelligence and data analytics of Tampa-based global digital transformation and consulting firm AgileThought.

“When we started to get more involved in the community, Taylor [Howard] was recommended to us as one of the most talented people in the tech space,” Swenson said. 

Howard will focus on Dynasty’s digital architecture – digital enablement and key proprietary Dynasty products, including the advisor business solutions dashboard, benchmarking and integrations.

Taylor Howard. Dynasty Financial Partners.

“This is a completely new position we created as we see a big opportunity in artificial intelligence in how to automate tasks that have been labor-intensive and use data more effectively,” Swenson said. “We are trying to bring this tech to the advisory market where it historically was only available to Fortune 500 firms. We want our firms to have this tech right at their fingertips.” 

Swenson said the firm has hired 30 to 40 over the last 18 months and is preparing to hire five to 10 more employees.

“With recent hires, it’s going to help us specifically with our tech initiatives–that’s a big part of my focus. We’d also like to continue growing our network of advisors and source that correctly,” he said. 

He explained the company is growing organically and that in the future, Dynasty may seek acquisitions.