Josh Gerry, who stepped down as CEO of VestGen Wealth Partners in May, has launched a new wealth management firm, Valla Wealth, a Chicago-based, employee-owned firm focused on high-net-worth families.
Valla Wealth is operating as a DBA of The Invictus Collective, a registered investment advisor that launched in 2021 with backing from Dynasty Financial Partners. Invictus is an ultra-high-net-worth shop serving families and institutions, and Valla will use Invictus’ infrastructure, proprietary technology stack and other capabilities, including its structured notes expertise.
“[Valla] is the culmination of everything I’ve learned in the industry, from 35 years ago when I started as a little intern as a UCLA student in West L.A. and worked at some of these wirehouses, all the way through wholesaling and then building wealth management firms,” Gerry said. “Valla is kind of a spawn of all my years of experience.”
Gerry co-founded Valla alongside Michael Simon, who has more than 20 years of hedge fund and proprietary trading experience.
Valla will remain 100% independent and employee-owned, Gerry said. The firm has a slightly different fee structure from a typical RIA: it will charge clients only an AUM fee in years when the client sets a high watermark.
Gerry also aims to give his clients access to downside-protection strategies that have historically been available only to the wealthiest families. That aligns with broader industry trends to bring downside-protection strategies downstream, including with a recent explosion in autocallable ETFs.
“We believe that harnessing the IP and the capabilities that the ultra-high-net-worth use and bringing it to everybody, and we do this at Valla, is important,” he said.
That includes an “advance and protect” strategy that Valla will use to optimize risk management for clients. Gerry said Invictus has built some fame over the years for constructing structured note portfolios. Valla will work on bringing bespoke customizations of those strategies to its clients. That may include establishing ETFs based on those strategies.
The Invictus Collective was launched in 2021 by Christian Habitz and Sarah Damsgaard, a sibling team that oversaw $1 billion in assets under advisement at former employer J.P. Morgan. Habitz is a former hedge fund manager and used his experience in early-stage private placements to differentiate the firm in the marketplace.
The Invictus Collective is also building its own proprietary tech stack, which Valla will use. When thinking about the layers of technology and programs that a well-run wealth management firm might buy, advisors typically use only 5% to 9% of any given tool, Gerry said. Invictus is building that 5% to 9% in-house. The firm’s mobile application was just approved to launch in app stores. It also has its own artificial intelligence agent.
Gerry said that because Valla is just getting started, the firm doesn’t have assets yet. But they plan to work with 50 to 90 new families with net worths ranging from $1.5 million to $30 million.
Gerry’s former firm, VestGen, just announced this week that it received investments from Willow Tree Credit Partners, a private credit alternatives firm, and nFleXion Capital Partners, a New York-based private investment firm.
Gerry started the firm after leading a former LPL Financial affiliate, Impetus Wealth Strategies.
