SAN DIEGO — Mark Hoaglin, most recently senior vice president of credit unions at LPL Financial Institution Services, has left his post at the broker-dealer giant to start his own business.
Hoaglin, the former CEO of XCU Capital Corp., the credit union-owned broker-dealer and investment advisory firm purchased by LPL, told Credit Union Times he left LPL Financial on Nov. 1 after roughly 15 months of service. In 2007, LPL created a new role for Hoaglin, who was charged with helping the broker-dealer build more alliances with credit unions. While there, he also headed a 10-member credit union advisory council to discuss service improvements and legislative and regulatory issues.
LPL spokeswoman Jennifer Gill confirmed that Hoaglin left the firm on Oct. 31 and was replaced by Jim Norwood, senior vice president. Norwood has been with LPL for 13 years and has been instrumental in building relationships with credit unions during his tenure, Hoaglin said.
"It was really never my intention to stay with LPL for the long term," Hoaglin said. "Part of the deal was to help them get their credit union focus developed there."
Founded in 1987 by then Xerox Federal Credit Union, now the $757 million Xceed Financial CU, XCU Capital was initially owned by 10 credit unions. Xceed Financial later sold its 99% stake to eight credit unions and one corporate. Hoaglin served as XCU Capital's interim CEO after his predecessor, Mark Allen left the company in 2005 and was made the permanent CEO in June 2006. When LPL bought XCU Capital in August 2007 for $3.62 million, all but one of its 24 credit union clients made the transition over to LPL. The broker-dealer serves more than 200 credit unions.
Hoaglin is now putting his energy into his new business. The holding company Native Son Ventures is in the early stages of formation. Discussions are underway with a small broker-dealer for a possible acquisition, he added. Hoaglin is also considering a business coaching service for credit unions and banks that need help turning around their investment programs and with general business management. The company's name will be different from the holding company's, Hoaglin said. A Web site is scheduled to be up and running in January.
"It's been my goal for quite some time to run my own business. I enjoyed my time at XCU. My career has always involved helping to start a company or have to turn around a company," Hoaglin said.
Looking back, Hoaglin acknowledged that he hoped XCU Capital "would have lasted longer than it did," however he respected the board's decision to want to take the CUSO in another direction. Hoaglin is still convinced that aligning with LPL was the right move especially given the current shakeups within the financial sector.
"You're either going to have to be a small niche broker-dealer or very large," Hoaglin said. "If you're somewhere in the middle, the costs are outrageous. If you're not doing at least $50 million [in assets under management], it's hard to compete."
And, LPL's 200-plus credit unions need not worry about their existing relationships, he assured.
"LPL has the resources to weather the storm. If I'm a credit union, I wouldn't worry about [the firm] cutting back on services."
–msamaad@cutimes.com

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Former XCU Capital CEO Leaves CU Exec Role at LPL to Launch Startup

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