LPL names Ken Hullings head of advisor recruiting

LPL Financial has named Ken Hullings executive vice president of business development and head of advisor recruiting, starting in November, according to a memo from chief growth officer Marc Cohen quoted by InvestmentNews.

Hullings replaces Scott Posner, who left the firm earlier this year. Posner joined LPL in 2018 and most recently focused on smoothing the move of Commonwealth Financial Network advisors to LPL after LPL acquired the firm last year.

"Advisor recruiting is core to how we grow," Cohen wrote in the memo. "With Ken leading this work and partnering across the firm, we're well positioned to keep building on our momentum." LPL works with more than 30,000 financial advisors.

Inside LPL, Hullings joined in 2005 on the firm's inside sales desk and later led institutional sales, according to the memo.

The recruiting line Hullings inherits is growing: LPL reported $25 billion in recruited assets for the second quarter, up 35% from a year earlier. Executives said on the earnings call that it was the firm's strongest recruiting quarter in nearly two years when large institutional wins are excluded.

DeVoe & Company's third-quarter 2026 Deal Book says LPL has bought more than 75 practices since 2021. PWD's 30-day activity log has LPL adding $5.4 billion in advisor teams, ahead of UBS in tracked events. Acquisitions deliver advisors in blocks; the recruiting seat Hullings takes adds them team by team, and it reports into growth leadership rather than into the deal team.