M&A activity continues to reshape the wealth management industry as firms pursue scale, succession solutions, expanded capabilities, and competitive differentiation. Join William Bruckner, Vice President, Strategic Client Consultant, for an analysis of Fidelity's 2026 mid-year M&A report and the trends influencing buyers, sellers, and investors across the marketplace. Drawing on the latest transaction data and industry insights, this session will explore what today's deal environment may signal for firms evaluating growth and strategic opportunities.
During the webinar, we will explore:
• Key trends driving wealth management M&A activity during the first half of 2026.
• The continued impact of private equity and repeat acquirers on the deal landscape.
• How firms are leveraging M&A to achieve scale, expand capabilities, and support long-term growth.
• Considerations for firm leaders evaluating acquisition, succession, or partnership opportunities in today's market.
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Gil Haddad is a chief investment officer and head of Advanced Strategies and Research in the Quantitative Research and Investments division at Fidelity Investments. Fidelity Investments is a leading provider of investment management, retirement planning, portfolio guidance, brokerage, benefits outsourcing, and other financial products and services to institutions, financial intermediaries, and individuals. QRI supports our investors with timely and actionable insights, manages systematic products and solutions, and enables scale through adoption of common platforms.
In this role, Gil is responsible for the alpha capture strategies and data science efforts to continue to drive growth for the firm across our equity, fixed income, and multi-asset class strategies. In addition, his team leads the research effort of harnessing generative AI for investment applications.
Prior to assuming his current role, Gil led initiatives at Point72’s center book and the data-driven investment group, and Balyasny Asset Management prior to that. Before that, he worked at Schlumberger, where he launched the data science organization and held multiple leadership roles. Gil joined Fidelity in 2021.
Gil earned his Bachelor of Engineering from American University of Beirut, his Master of Science from University of Wisconsin-Madison, and his PhD from University of Maryland, College Park.
Karishma Kaul is a CIO, Systematic Fixed Income Strategies in the Quantitative Research And Investments Division at Fidelity Investments. Fidelity Investments is a leading provider of investment management, retirement planning, portfolio guidance, brokerage, benefits outsourcing, and other financial products and services to institutions, financial intermediaries, and individuals. QRI supports our investors with timely and actionable insights, manages systematic products and solutions, and enables scale through adoption of common platforms.
In this role, Karishma is responsible for overseeing research and portfolio management of Fidelity’s systematic Fixed Income Active Strategies and continuing to expand the firm’s systematic capabilities and product offerings.
Prior to assuming her current role, Karishma was a member of Blackrock’s Systematic Fixed Income team where she was a Systematic Portfolio Manager/Researcher focused on generating risk adjusted alpha across various credit mandates using quantitative models and short-term market opportunities. She also has extensive experience building systematic strategies across credit (HY/IG), Multi sector, Munis and ESG. Prior to Blackrock, Karishma worked at Barclays Capital and TD Securities building analytics and pricing models for vanilla and exotic interest rate derivatives.
Karishma joined Fidelity in 2022 and has been in the financial industry since 2008.
Karishma earned her bachelor's degree from Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute and her master's degree from Cornell University.
William Bruckner is a vice president and strategic client consultant for Fidelity Institutional Wealth Management
Services (IWMS), which offers wealth management firms access to the investment, technology, and platform solutions they need to serve their investor clients and grow their businesses.
IWMS is part of Fidelity Institutional® (FI), a division of Fidelity Investments that offers investment insights, strategies, and solutions, as well as trading and prime brokerage services, to a wide range of wealth management firms, asset managers, and institutional investors. Fidelity Investments is a leading provider of investment management, retirement planning, portfolio guidance, brokerage, benefits outsourcing, and other financial products and services to institutions, financial intermediaries, and individuals.
In this role, Mr. Bruckner is responsible for consulting with wealth management firms across a range of topics
including accelerating growth, building scale, and strategic planning. In addition, he leads Fidelity's mergers and acquisitions program.
Prior to joining Fidelity, Mr. Bruckner held a variety of wealth management roles at BNY Pershing, Merrill Lynch and Wachovia where he was responsible for consulting, relationship management, and business development.
Mr. Bruckner received a bachelor of science degree in business administration from Elon University and holds a certificate from the SIFMA / Wharton Securities Industry Institute. In addition, he is a Certified Financial Planner professional and holds the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Series 7, 24, and 63 licenses.
Pranay Kirpalani is a research analyst and portfolio manager in the Equity division at Fidelity Investments. Fidelity Investments is a leading provider of investment management, retirement planning, portfolio guidance, brokerage, benefits outsourcing, and other financial products and services to institutions, financial intermediaries, and individuals.
In this role, Mr. Kirpalani is responsible for providing research and recommendations on several stocks across Global Infrastructure. Additionally, he serves as portfolio manager of Fidelity Infrastructure Fund, Fidelity Select Utilities Portfolio, Fidelity VIP Utilities Portfolio, and Fidelity Advisor Utilities Fund. He is also a co-manager of Fidelity Telecom and Utilities Fund, FIAM Small/Mid Cap Core Commingled Pool and FIAM Small/Mid Cap Core Utilities Sub Portfolio. As a member of Fidelity’s Stock Selector Large Cap Group, he is also responsible for managing the utilities sleeves for various diversified sector-based portfolios.
He has been in the financial industry since 2013.
Mr. Kirpalani earned his Bachelor of Arts in economics from The University of Pittsburgh
Ford O’Neil is a portfolio manager in the Fixed Income division at Fidelity Investments*. Fidelity Investments is a leading provider of investment management, retirement planning, portfolio guidance, brokerage, benefits outsourcing, and other financial products and services to institutions, financial intermediaries, and individuals.
In this role, Mr. O’Neil serves as the co-lead manager for Fidelity and Fidelity Advisor Strategic Dividend & Income Funds, Fidelity and Fidelity Advisor Strategic Income Funds, Fidelity and Fidelity Advisor Strategic Real Return Funds, Fidelity and Fidelity Advisor Sustainable Core Plus Bond Funds, Fidelity and Fidelity Advisor Total Bond Funds, and Fidelity VIP Strategic Income Portfolio. He also co-manages Fidelity and Fidelity Advisor Multi-Asset Income Funds, Fidelity Total Bond ETF, Fidelity VIP Investment Grade Bond Portfolio, and various institutional taxable bond portfolios.
Prior to assuming his current position in August 1992, Mr. O’Neil was an analyst in Fidelity’s Asset Management division. In this capacity, he was responsible for the electric utility sector.
Before joining Fidelity in 1989, Mr. O’Neil was an associate in the Investment Banking department at Advest, Inc., where he advised corporations on capital raising. He has been in the financial industry since 1985.
Mr. O’Neil earned his Bachelor of Arts in government from Harvard College and his Master of Business Administration from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
