MAI Capital Management has acquired Waypoint Wealth Counsel, an Atlanta-based fee-only registered investment advisor managing approximately $490 million in assets, marking MAI’s entry into the Atlanta wealth management market.
Waypoint serves more than 100 households and provides comprehensive financial planning, investment management and financial advisory services.
The firm primarily works with affluent and ultra-high-net-worth individuals and families, including entrepreneurs, business owners, executives and multigenerational families.
Waypoint was founded in 2014 by Brad McGrew and Matthew Woods following careers across brokerage firms, banks and registered investment advisors.
The firm’s investment approach is built around tailoring portfolios to each client’s cash flow requirements, risk tolerance and investment horizon rather than applying a standardized allocation across households.
Waypoint has also expanded its capabilities in alternative investments as clients increasingly seek exposure outside traditional public markets.
The firm has developed two proprietary private investment funds intended to deepen the range of alternative investment opportunities available to clients.
As Waypoint evaluated its next phase of growth, management sought a larger partner capable of providing additional resources without changing the relationship-driven model at the center of its client service approach.
MAI plans to provide Waypoint with access to a broader set of capabilities, including integrated financial planning resources, an institutional family office platform, expanded alternative investment sourcing, lending capabilities and additional operational infrastructure.
The acquisition gives MAI a foothold in Atlanta, a market the firm has identified as strategically important because of its growing population of entrepreneurs, corporate executives, business owners and families with significant multigenerational wealth.
McGrew and Woods will remain with the organization following the transaction.
Both will become Market Leaders at MAI while continuing to lead the Waypoint business and serve existing clients.
Keeping the firm’s leadership in place is intended to preserve continuity for clients while allowing the Waypoint team to tap into MAI’s broader national capabilities.
The combination also provides Waypoint access to MAI’s Evoke ultra-high-net-worth team.
Evoke is expected to provide additional resources for clients requiring more sophisticated family office, investment and wealth planning capabilities.
Waypoint sees the broader MAI platform as a way to increase the amount of time its advisors can devote directly to clients by shifting more operational requirements onto a larger infrastructure.
The combination could also broaden the range of investment products available to Waypoint clients, particularly within private markets and other alternative asset classes.
For MAI, Waypoint adds an established advisory business in a new geographic market while bringing a client base concentrated among the affluent and ultra-high-net-worth segments.
The acquisition fits MAI’s broader strategy of expanding into strategic U.S. wealth markets through partnerships with established advisory teams that can retain local leadership and client relationships.
Waypoint officially joined MAI effective August 14, 2026.
Colchester Partners served as financial advisor to Waypoint, while Arnall Golden Gregory served as legal advisor.
KEY QUOTES:
“Brad, Matthew and their team have built an exceptional firm by combining institutional-caliber services with deeply personalized relationships. That client-first culture aligns naturally with MAI.”
“This acquisition gives us the opportunity to enter a market we have long viewed as strategically important, but finding the right people mattered more than simply expanding our footprint. With Waypoint, we found both an outstanding team and an opportunity-filled market.”
Rick Buoncore (pictured above), Chairman & CEO of MAI Capital Management
“We are always looking for ways to do more for our clients, and after evaluating our options, MAI’s platform stood out as the best way available to us to add to our resources with the backing of one of the industry’s most respected firms.”
“MAI gives us access to comprehensive planning and investment capabilities while allowing us to deliver the individualized advice and portfolio strategies our clients expect. Together, this operational support will help our team unlock greater capacity to focus on serving clients.”
Brad McGrew, Co-Founder of Waypoint Wealth Counsel and Market Leader at MAI Capital Management
“Atlanta is home to a growing concentration of entrepreneurs, executives and generational wealth, making sophisticated, full-service wealth management increasingly essential for the families and business owners we support.”
“Joining MAI allows us to combine the local relationships and market knowledge we have built over more than a decade with the resources of a national firm. Through MAI’s platform, including its Evoke ultra-high-net worth team, we’re looking forward to the added depth and investment expertise, particularly as it relates to delivering on the needs of the clients we are fortunate to serve.”
Matthew Woods, Co-Founder of Waypoint Wealth Counsel and Market Leader at MAI Capital Management
