Two UBS veterans launch Naples RIA after two-and-a-half-year process

Jason Stephens and Mic Lundon spent a combined four decades at UBS before making the move to independence this year. Their new firm, Evertern Wealth, is based in Naples, Fla., and serves high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients. Both hold the managing partner title. InvestmentNews detailed the transition.

The decision took about two and a half years. Stephens described it as no overnight thought, a period spent weighing a wirehouse stay, a bank route, and independence. The question that kept recurring, he told InvestmentNews, was what would build the most client trust over the long term. “It all circled back around” to that, he said.

He is explicit that the old firm is not the villain. Stephens says he has watched senior managers’ children grow up and has nothing negative to say about UBS. The pull was structural: clients want more access and more independence, and an RIA lets him sit on the same side of the table as the client.

The year before the switch went to building the new operation. Then Evertern opened.

The wirehouse and RIA worlds have seen plenty of mobility in recent years. AdvizorPro research released this year and cited by InvestmentNews found that total advisor movement across channels, firms and platforms accelerated between 2021 and 2025. In 2025 the RIA channel gained 17,453 advisors. The wirehouse channel lost 1,864. A year earlier the RIA channel gained 13,736. The wirehouse channel lost 1,672.

Stephens says the move has already paid off in client retention and growth. The decision was deliberate, and the clock reflects it. Two and a half years is a long time to spend on a choice. That tells a recruiter and a retention officer the same thing: this is a process, not a counteroffer.