Highland Capital Management Fund Advisors, the retail affiliate of Dallas-based investment management firm Highland Capital Management has added 14 independent broker-dealer (IBD) sales professionals in the fourth quarter of 2015 and the first quarter of 2016.
Highland's IBD sales team represents a broad spectrum of products both from Highland Fund Advisors and from affiliates NexPoint Advisors, LP, NexPoint Capital, Inc. and NexPoint Real Estate Advisors, L.P. Products include non-traded business development companies (BDCs), REITs, mutual funds and ETFs. The firm also expects to roll out a series of interval funds later this year.
"The diverse product offerings we have across the Highland and NexPoint platforms are a significant draw for experienced wholesalers," says Brad Ross (pictured), president of Highland Funds. "The opportunity to represent this broad range of products has been a key factor in attracting top talent and growing our IBD sales team."
Among that top talent is PJ McDaniel, managing director and head of IBD sales, who joined Highland in October 2015 and has served as a catalyst for the firm's growth in this area. His background includes more than a decade of experience in the independent channel, which most recently involved building a team of wholesalers at SC Distributors to represent a series of non-traded products.
"We've been gaining momentum in the IBD distribution channel that we expect to continue throughout the year," says McDaniel, who has brought on 10 sales directors and three sales consultants since joining the firm himself. "We've already expanded from seven to 15 territories and have several product launches on the horizon that will certainly fuel our growth. And with new hires from the non-traded, liquid alternatives and variable annuity sectors, among others, we continue to build an impressive team with backgrounds as diverse as our product offerings."
Highland has served the IBD channel since 2013; however, the firm began reinforcing its efforts in the channel last year in response to the expanding role of independents within the advisor network and evidence of that trend intensifying.
The expanded IBD channel presence complements the sizeable, existing presence that Highland has built in the traditional wirehouse channel since 2004.
