RIA Veteran Kimberly Papedis Joins AdvizorStack to Champion Open Tech

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – April 30, 2026 – In a strategic move that underscores the growing demand for advisor-centric technology, wealthtech firm AdvizorStack has appointed Kimberly Papedis, CFP®, to its Advisory Board. Papedis, the President and Co-Founder of the influential RIA consultancy Fusion Financial Partners, brings a formidable track record and a clear mandate: to ensure the voice of the independent advisor is embedded in the very code of the industry's next-generation platforms.

The appointment is more than a new title; it represents a significant convergence of strategy and philosophy. AdvizorStack is positioning its AdvizorStation platform as a truly open-architecture operating system for advisory firms, a direct challenge to the closed, all-in-one ecosystems that have long dominated the market. By bringing in Papedis, a staunch advocate for advisor autonomy, the company is making a definitive statement about its commitment to flexibility and choice over vendor lock-in.

An Advocate for Independence Joins the Tech Table

Kimberly Papedis is a recognized force in the wealth management industry, having built a career on guiding advisors through the complexities of independence. Alongside business partner Mike Papedis, she co-founded Fusion Financial Partners, a consultancy that has become synonymous with the breakaway movement. Since its inception in 2017, Fusion has facilitated the transition of over $65 billion in assets under management to the independent RIA model, with Papedis personally overseeing more than $50 billion of that shift.

Her experience is not just in deal-making; it's in the granular, operational details of building a successful independent firm from the ground up. This gives her what AdvizorStack CEO Paul DeMaio calls a rare dual perspective. “Kimberly has spent her entire career doing what very few people in this industry can do, namely seeing the business of advising from both sides of the table,” DeMaio said in the announcement. “She has been an independent advisor, recruited, transitioned, and built hundreds of advisory firms, and she understands exactly what advisors need to succeed as independent business owners.”

Papedis’s philosophy, which has been the bedrock of Fusion's success, is an unwavering belief that the advisor and their end-client must come first, ahead of any vendor or platform consideration. It’s a principle she intends to enforce in her new advisory role, as she directly challenges the status quo of wealthtech platforms.

“The single biggest frustration I hear from advisors about technology is that someone else is making their choices for them,” Papedis stated. “Most platforms pick the tools, lock you in, and call it a solution. That’s not a solution. It’s a constraint dressed up as convenience.”

AdvizorStack’s Bet on an Open Future

AdvizorStack is placing a significant bet that Papedis’s frustration is shared by a large and growing segment of the market. The company is developing AdvizorStation not as another monolithic platform, but as a “unified operating and intelligence platform.” The core concept is to create an open-architecture layer that connects an advisor's existing and preferred tools, unifies the data across them, and provides actionable insights without forcing them to abandon technologies they already trust.

This approach directly targets the pain points of breakaway advisors and established RIAs who have painstakingly curated a tech stack that works for their unique business model, only to be told by a potential platform partner that they must switch to a proprietary or limited set of integrated tools.

DeMaio emphasized this distinction, noting, “Having Kimberly on our Advisory Board will make AdvizorStack a better company, helping foster better technology decisions, better service design, and a stronger voice for the advisor at every step of our build.”

The firm has already been laying the groundwork for this ecosystem. In recent years, AdvizorStack has announced strategic partnerships to bolster its platform, integrating with specialized providers like Zephyr for advanced investment analytics and StratiFi for sophisticated risk management and compliance. These moves demonstrate a commitment to integrating best-in-class solutions rather than attempting to build a closed, proprietary version of every tool.

Challenging the 'Convenience' of Closed Ecosystems

The tension between open and closed systems is a defining issue in modern wealthtech. Large, established platforms often promote their integrated, all-in-one solutions as a matter of convenience and simplicity. However, for many advisors, particularly those seeking independence, this convenience can feel like a gilded cage. It can limit their ability to serve niche clients, adapt to new market trends, or integrate a new, innovative tool that falls outside the platform’s walled garden.

The rise of the independent and breakaway advisor movement is intrinsically linked to a desire for greater control—over their business, their client service model, and their technology. These advisors are entrepreneurs who are leaving more restrictive wirehouse environments and are not looking to enter a new one. Papedis’s appointment is a direct acknowledgment of this mindset.

Her critique of bundled platforms as a “constraint dressed up as convenience” resonates deeply within the RIA community. The promise of AdvizorStack, with Papedis’s guidance, is to offer a different paradigm: a central nervous system that allows various best-in-class tools to communicate and work together seamlessly, empowering the advisor to build a tech stack that is as unique as their practice.

A Synergistic Alliance Shaping RIA Tech

The collaboration between Papedis and AdvizorStack represents a powerful synergy. Fusion Financial Partners excels at navigating the strategic, financial, and legal pathways to independence. AdvizorStack aims to provide the technological foundation upon which these new independent firms can be built and scaled efficiently.

With Papedis advising on the development of AdvizorStation, a natural and powerful feedback loop is created. The real-world challenges and technology wish lists of the hundreds of firms Fusion consults with can directly inform the platform’s features and roadmap. This ensures the product is not built in a vacuum but is forged from the practical, day-to-day needs of its target users.

Papedis herself confirmed this alignment. “What AdvizorStack is building is fundamentally different: an open-architecture operating layer that connects the tools you chose, for the clients you serve,” she said. “That’s exactly aligned with how Fusion approaches every engagement... I’m joining AdvizorStack because they share that conviction, and I intend to make sure it stays baked into everything we build.”

This appointment signals more than just a new face on a board; it signifies a deeper industry trend toward empowering advisors with the autonomy and flexibility they demand. As AdvizorStack continues to build its platform with one of the industry's most respected advisor advocates at the table, the rest of the wealthtech world will be watching closely.