Jon Beatty leads Schwab Advisor Services, the part of Charles Schwab that provides custody, trading and support to more than 16,000 independent advisory firms with more than $5.8 trillion in assets. A Schwab lifer who joined in 1997, he took over the division in 2024 after a decade-long succession plan.
From Great Western to Schwab
After a bachelor's degree in political science from Wittenberg University, he was a registered representative with Great Western Securities. At Schwab he worked in relationship management and sales for fee-based advisers, and as head of national sales and relationship management he helped turn the sales role into one built on consultative selling. He holds FINRA Series 7, 9 and 10 registrations.
A Decade-Long Handover
He rose to chief operating officer of Advisor Services, and he and its longtime head, Bernie Clark, worked on a succession plan for about ten years. "In the last five years, we made all the decisions about the business together so that when the transition happened, there would be continuity," he has said. In May 2024 Schwab picked him as Clark's successor and put him on its executive council. Tom Bradley, who ran TD Ameritrade Institutional for almost two decades, reports to him as chief client officer.
Continuity for Advisers
"The last thing advisors want is disruption and unexpected change, right?" he said after taking over. He oversees more than 3,000 Advisor Services employees and has talked about how the best firms use technology, including AI, to grow without losing personal service.
He has spent almost three decades in the same division, most of it serving the advisers he now leads it for. His promise to them is the one he learned from that long handover: nothing should change that they did not ask to change.
