# Former UBS Fort Worth team launches Cleros Wealth with Elevation Point backing

URL: https://www.financialadvsr.com/article/former-ubs-fort-worth-team-launches-cleros-wealth-with-elevation-point-97805e
Published: November 4, 2026
By: Grant Whitmore, Moves Correspondent
Section: Moves
Publisher: Financial ADVSR (https://www.financialadvsr.com)

A former UBS team in Fort Worth has launched Cleros Wealth Partners as an independent RIA, with a strategic investment from Elevation Point and custody at Goldman Sachs.

InvestmentNews reported on November 4 that a Fort Worth team formerly at UBS has launched as an independent registered investment adviser under the name Cleros Wealth. The outlet described the team as the latest wirehouse group to go independent with Elevation Point as UBS attrition continues. WealthManagement.com also reported the launch and gave the team's figure as $3.61 billion in assets.

The firm's launch release says the team oversaw approximately $3.61 billion in assets under supervision at UBS. The release explains that AUS includes assets managed and advised upon, and that each figure reflects what a team reported when it partnered with Elevation Point, without updates for market movement or client activity. The release names Kyle Kight, CFA, Alex Armstrong, CFP, and Jamie Packer, CIMA, CPWA, as founding partners, and says the 11-member team includes George Marlow, an investment analyst. WealthManagement.com reported that the team previously operated as Thompson, Kight, Armstrong & Packer at UBS.

WealthManagement.com said Cleros Wealth serves high-net-worth households, endowments and foundations, many of them connected to Fort Worth and Tarrant County over more than two decades. The publication reported that the team chose Goldman Sachs for its research capabilities and its access to asset management, both of which it said matter to Cleros's clients. The release says client assets are custodied with Goldman Sachs Custody Solutions and states that Cleros Wealth Partners and Elevation Point are independent entities, not affiliated with Goldman Sachs.

Elevation Point's Brad Smithy, a founding partner and president of wealth management at the firm, is quoted in the release saying Elevation Point will provide technology, investment solutions and private markets capabilities. Elevation Point's website says Smithy previously spent more than 15 years at UBS, where he was a Divisional Director overseeing more than 1,900 financial advisors. The same site says the division he oversaw had nearly $500 billion in assets under management, a figure for that division rather than for Elevation Point.

Elevation Point was founded in 2024 and describes itself as a minority investor in independent and breakaway advisors. A June 2024 launch release said the firm was formed by Jim Dickson and Mark Penske. Dealroom lists Dickson as the former CEO of Sanctuary Wealth and Penske as chairman of United Atlantic Capital. LinkedIn and PitchBook place the firm's headquarters in Minneapolis, while Dealroom gives Bloomington, and Dealroom also says the firm's capital comes primarily from family offices. An October 2026 release put Elevation Point's investments since June 2024 at firms with about $14.4 billion in client assets under supervision. The firm's growth model, as described in its Mount Yale Capital Group acquisition announcement, calls for a minimum 20% investment in independent firms.

Elevation Point's recent deals follow a similar pattern. Family Wealth Report reported that in June 2025 Elevation Point obtained a minority interest in Family Office Partners, a Lafayette, Louisiana group with roughly $2.5 billion in client AUS, whose leaders were previously UBS-affiliated advisors. That month's coverage also said Emigrant Partners, a specialist capital and advice partner firm, invested in Elevation Point in May 2025, and that Emigrant established a senior debt facility as part of the arrangement. A release distributed through Morningstar stated that in October 2026 Elevation Point supported Truing Capital Advisors, a Las Vegas firm whose group had roughly $750 million in AUS while at UBS.

The sources reviewed do not disclose the size of Elevation Point's investment in Cleros Wealth Partners or the timing of the team's client transitions. The launch adds to a run of UBS teams leaving for independence with Elevation Point backing.

Key facts:
- The team oversaw approximately $3.61 billion in assets under supervision at UBS, per the Cleros Wealth Partners launch release.
- The 11-member team's founding partners are Kyle Kight, CFA, Alex Armstrong, CFP, and Jamie Packer, CIMA, CPWA.
- Client assets are custodied with Goldman Sachs Custody Solutions, according to the release.
- Elevation Point reported in October 2026 that it has invested in firms representing approximately $14.4 billion in client AUS since June 2024.
- Elevation Point's Truing Capital Advisors backing in October 2026 covered a team with approximately $750 million in AUS at UBS.

Why it matters: For advisors weighing a move from a wirehouse, the Cleros launch shows a path that pairs an outside minority investor with a separate custody arrangement and research access. Custody and platform choices are often central to small and mid-sized RIAs, and the pairing of a strategic partner with a large custodian is one structure teams are weighing. Recruiters and firm leaders will want to watch whether the UBS-to-Elevation Point pattern continues.

Sources:
- InvestmentNews: https://www.investmentnews.com/ria-news/ubs-breakaway-cleros-wealth-launches-361b-ria-with-elevation-point/268880
- WealthManagement.com: https://www.wealthmanagement.com/ria-news/ubs-advisors-launch-cleros-wealth-partners
- prnewswire.com: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/3-61b-breakaway-cleros-wealth-partners-begins-road-to-independence-302929319.html
- uk.advfn.com: https://uk.advfn.com/stock-market/share-news/3-61B-Breakaway-Cleros-Wealth-Partners-Begins-Roa/99630974
- morningstar.com: https://www.morningstar.com/news/pr-newswire/20261020ny75909/750m-truing-capital-advisors-launches-in-las-vegas-as-independent-firm-serving-business-owners-families
- wealthmanagement.com: https://www.wealthmanagement.com/latest-news
- prnewswire.com: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/wealth-management-visionaries-jim-dickson-and-mark-penske-launch-elevation-point-announce-pending-acquisition-of-3-4b-mount-yale-capital-group-302183163.html