March 9, 2026 • 30 mins
In the inaugural episode of Built To Scale with CRC-Oyster, host Michael Durette, Managing Principal and Chief Revenue Officer of CRC-Oyster, sits down with Founder and Managing Partner Mitch Avnet and Managing Principal Buddy Doyle. Together, they reflect on the origins of their respective legacy organizations and the strategic acquisition that brought them together under CRC-Oyster. The discussion explores the current regulatory landscape, the priorities and pressures facing clients today, and the opportunities ahead as CRC-Oyster continues to grow and evolve in 2026 and beyond.
CRC-Oyster: Compliance Risk Concepts / Oyster Consulting
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SPEAKER_01 (00:02):
Welcome to the Built to Scale podcast with CRC
Oyster.
This is the new rebranded OysterStew podcast following the
acquisition of Oyster Consultingby Compliance Risk Concepts.
(00:26):
Good afternoon and thank you somuch for joining us today.
My name is Michael Durett, and Iam a managing principal and
chief revenue officer at CRCOyster.
And I'm lucky enough to bejoined today by Mitch Avnet, who
is the founder and managingpartner of CRC Oyster, and Buddy
Doyle, who is another managingprincipal at CRC Oyster.
What I thought today would be avery interesting conversation
(00:48):
given the combination of legacycompliance risk concepts and
oyster consulting.
So, Mitch and Buddy, thank youso much for joining me today.
It's a pleasure to be here.
Thanks so much, Michael.
Absolutely.
So, Mitch, want to just kind ofkick it off on the discussion.
And I thought it would be reallyimportant to talk about, you
know, where CRC Oyster is today,just how we got here.
(01:11):
And really just wanted to haveyou and Buddy talk a little bit
about the legacy organizationsand then combining and what it
is to look for into 2026 andbeyond.
So with that, Mitch, you know,just really want to hear from
you, you know, who was and whois CRC Oyster?
SPEAKER_02 (01:28):
So all great questions.
And we probably are going totake these in sort of a modular
way as we make our way throughthe session, because I think as
we talk through how we got hereon our own and here we are today
together, I think it there aresome very compelling scenarios
and stories to tell here.
I started Legacy CRC in Januaryof 2013 with my partner Joe
(01:51):
Kelly.
And buddy, jump right in here.
But what was your launch date?
It was about five years prior, Ithink.
SPEAKER_03 (01:59):
October 1st, 2008.
So think auction rates, andthat'll probably bring you to
the right period of time.
SPEAKER_02 (02:06):
Breaking the buck.
So you have two businesses whogrew on their own organically
since inception.
And, you know, from a legacy CRCperspective, when we launched,
we really came at the marketfrom more of an institutional
(02:27):
capital markets perspective,given what I had done for most
of my career prior to launchingthe company.
And Buddy and I actually kneweach other and peripherally
worked together on a number ofinitiatives while we were both
at our legacy company, FirstUnion and then Wachovia.
But what was really compellingfrom my perspective is both
(02:49):
companies are really addressingthe same segments of the market,
but two different sorts ofclients, where we, as I said,
really were really focused onthe institutional side of the
business.
And Buddy, your background andand oyster's background is very
strong on the wealth managementside of the equation.
SPEAKER_03 (03:11):
Yeah, it was really, really nice to look around and
see Mitch and and the businesshe had built at CRC and the
focus that that again, samemarketplace in the broker
dealers, investment advisors,but a different segment within
that that industry that we werefocused on that really made for
(03:31):
a nice coming together of twoorganizations.
SPEAKER_02 (03:49):
So everybody here has been in the seat doing the
job, either within a brokerdealer, an asset management
firm, or even at a regulatorybody.
So that's super compelling, Ithink, not only from a
go-to-market standpoint, but interms of what that means to our
clients, because we are aplug-and-play solution at the
(04:12):
end of the day, because all ofus have been there and done
that.
And I think that's a much easierplace to come from with a client
in terms of gaining their trust,their respect, and the belief in
what you're doing, versus comingat it from being a career
consultant, never having sat aday in the seat of the people
that you're supporting.
But you know, Buddy, I'm sureyou have a view on that.
SPEAKER_03 (04:34):
Yeah, our entire organization was built about uh
hiring experienced industrypractitioners that can not just
tell you what you need to beconcerned about or where to
focus your attention, but canprovide you with that practical
knowledge and expertise on howto implement the thing that the
(04:54):
regulators are focused on or theindustry's focused on in a in a
truly practical way, balancingfinancial concerns, operational
concerns, and and thegovernance, risk, and compliance
concerns that we all face as anindustry and putting it together
to really move our clientsforward in the best path and
(05:17):
allow them to have theinformation to make the best
decisions they can make.
SPEAKER_01 (05:21):
Yeah, and I think it's really interesting, right?
So, buddy, the the auction ratesin October of 2008 and Mitch in
2013, right?
So both individuals grew theirrespective companies.
When you look at the acquisitionearlier this year, why now?
What does it say about where thecombined organization is going,
(05:44):
right?
And we talk a lot about theshared philosophy, but you know,
Mitch would love your thoughtshere as to building the business
from 2013, buddy building thebusiness from 2008.
In 2025, the combinedorganization, what does it say
about the business today andthen also moving forward?
SPEAKER_02 (06:03):
So I I think, Michael, we should address it
from a marketplace standpointfirst rather than from a company
standpoint.
If you look at the market forcompliance professional
services, it's a dislocatedmarket.
And we know who the players are,large and small.
But when we brought these two50-person companies together and
(06:23):
created a 100-person pluscompany, it really establishes
us as a platform play now in away both organizations were not
previously.
Oyster ran a great business, weran a great business, but it
takes us now to the next level.
And one of the things that I'vesaid frequently in terms of my
desire to do this transactionand join together with Oyster is
(06:46):
it really solidifies ourposition as the middle market in
the compliance services space.
And I think that gives us andour clients more options than
they would normally have.
And we can scale up to gotoe-to-toe with the largest
consultancies.
And we're so flexible and nimblethat we can go down market too
and really serve the clientsthat ultimately got us to where
(07:09):
we're going, the uh on the CRCside, the emerging to the middle
markets players.
So I think it's a verycompelling sort of story, and it
has resonated very well in themarket.
SPEAKER_01 (07:20):
And along those lines, buddy, kind of looking at
the partnership and looking atthe merger of the two firms,
when you were looking atpartners that were out there,
what brought you or what whenyou looked at Legacy CRC, what
was it that kind of just madesense to you?
SPEAKER_03 (07:38):
We actually hired the investment bank back in
March of 24 to start exploringthe marketplace as we looked at
how we would grow going forwardand started looking for that
partner to build the scale thatwe had an infrastructure to
support and uh trying to findthat right partner with the same
(07:59):
mindset about client service,the same mindset about the
hiring experienced people anddelivering those products and
services to an industry that wehad been in ourselves and felt
really good about the approachthat we had put together.
And so as we were going throughand evaluating potential
(08:20):
partners, that was top of mindfor the founders of Oyster, for
the shareholders as well.
And we are an employee-ownedcompany.
So to go from employee ownershipto institutional ownership, you
obviously wanted to make sureyour people were aligned and
that the cultures were alignedto move forward.
And so that was a big componentof what we were looking for.
(08:43):
As Mitch mentioned earlier, wehad worked together in the past.
So there was already afoundation there to build on of
personal relationships that wefelt like we could take this
corporate relationship andreally move it forward together
in a way that you just can't doapart.
SPEAKER_01 (09:02):
Absolutely.
And as we've gotten through andinto the integration of the two
firms, I think it's reallyimportant that people realize
that it's the people within theorganization that make the
combined entity so special.
And it's the long-term tenureand experience of both legacy
CRC and Legacy Oysterconsultants who have sat in the
(09:24):
seat, who have done those jobsand have had long-story careers
where they're able to providethat advice that they had
in-house to our clients on anoutsourced basis.
So if we take a look and kind ofpivot a little bit and we look
at our clients today, right?
Buddy, if we look at thedifferent break in the different
makeup of the legacyorganizations, under one
(09:46):
umbrella, it's a unifiedplatform.
And if we look at kind of thedistinct verticals that legacy
oyster serviced, you know,certain areas of advisory and
consulting services, you know,would love, would love some
color on that as you've builtthat business and that practice
kind of to the marketplace, whatthe combined organization can do
(10:07):
on the advisory and consultingservices side.
SPEAKER_03 (10:10):
Yeah, I think we had this belief out there, a core
fundamental belief that uhgovernance, risk, and compliance
programs don't usually fail inthe plan and the testing and the
policies and procedures.
They fail in execution.
And the rules and regulationsare built not for the manual,
but for how you open an account,how you place your orders into
(10:33):
the market, how you execute andreport those trades.
And so we had built out throughour strategic planning and
execution team a group thathelps our clients implement the
recommendations that our GRCconsultants were making in a
really practical sense.
And I think that bringing thatskill and expertise to CRC and
(10:58):
bringing some of the CRC skillsand expertise around trading and
markets to Oyster, it's reallyallowed us to better serve those
constituents where air wealthmanagement clients are putting
orders into the marketplace andthose are getting routed and
executed to have the tacticiansthat CRC has, as well as people
(11:20):
that Oyster had running tradingdesk and things like that, it
really makes a difference to theclient.
There is an advantage to doingit with a vision to cross the
entire organization.
And so I think bringing that tothe table was something that I
think Mitch really liked aboutwhat we were doing.
And the SaaS software offeringof Oyster Solutions, which is
(11:45):
also really designed to help youoperationalize your governance,
risk, and compliance program andmake it efficient.
SPEAKER_01 (11:53):
And Mitch, if we think about the combined
organizations, one of the thingsthat our firm does, which most
in the industry do not do, isworking on an outsourcing
principle basis and thenproviding that capacity support.
So when you think about thecompliance program services, the
registration support, and thenthe supervisory principle CCO
(12:16):
support that we have for ourfirms, how do you look at that
and what differentiates CRCOyster than the rest of the
marketplace?
SPEAKER_02 (12:23):
I think anytime you hold yourself out there and are
willing to take supervisoryprinciple related risk, it
really comes down to your beliefin the quality of not only your
people and their ability toaffect those roles, but it's
also in terms of the types ofclients we work with and we want
to work with.
A lot of our decisions aroundproviding supervisory principles
(12:47):
are easy at the end of the daybecause most of our clients who
utilize us in that capacity areutilizing us for the end-to-end
support that we provide.
And in most situations, itstarts with initial registration
of that client.
So they want to become a brokerdealer, they want to become an
ATS, they want to become aninvestment advisor.
(13:07):
Those are easier decisions tomake for us because we're
building the program for them.
Now, does that mean we won'ttake on this risk if a client is
already existing in the marketand they have a need?
Um, I'm gonna say we definitelywant to have that conversation,
but we have to also be verycomfortable with the client's
(13:28):
business model, their culture,and their risk profile because
we want to make sure it's a goodfit and makes the most sense
from a risk managementstandpoint across the board.
The other thing I'll add is it'sone thing for companies to say
that they'll provide people tofulfill these roles.
It's another thing to have theskill set and the expertise to
(13:50):
really understand what theseroles entail.
So we don't only take onoutsourced chief compliance
officer roles, we take outsourceor fractional financial
operations principle.
We clear equity research, we doinvestment banking supervision
and oversight.
So we can fulfill all the roleswhere they're high value, but
(14:14):
many organizations don't needthose individuals on a full-time
basis.
And so when we align withclients who recognize the value
and how hard it would be to findthat skill set in the
marketplace for the price point,we can provide it.
And with the backing of 100people to support those
individuals, it's very hard toargue with our rationale here.
SPEAKER_01 (14:37):
And I think especially as the financial
services industry moves moretowards outsourcing functions,
right?
If it's the outsourced chiefcompliance officer or the
outsource chief investmentofficer or chief technology
officer, we've seen a massiveinflux over the last several
years on both legacyorganizations.
And being able to staff thataccordingly with people that
(15:00):
have been there and done that inthose in-the-seat roles really
kind of lends huge value to ourclients and then to the
marketplace in general.
SPEAKER_02 (15:10):
You you just made a really good point.
And it's something that I reallywant to sort of put a finer
point on.
You mentioned outsourced chiefinvestment officer, outsourced
chief technology officer.
We can do all of these things,no matter what role you're
satisfying, my belief system,and I know Buddy believes this
(15:32):
too.
All roads point to compliance,right?
And so core to who we are inboth legacy organizations is
compliance.
But what we've done in terms ofthat core strength is built a
full service consultancy wherewe can serve in all of these
front office roles in acommercially viable manner and
(15:52):
at the end of the day, work toensure that the client is
protected from a regulatory andcompliance standpoint.
SPEAKER_01 (16:00):
Absolutely right, buddy.
And if you think about eitherOyster Solutions or SPE, those
are industry practitioners thathave different experience than
our outsourced chief complianceofficers.
And so that offering, that fullservice, full suite offering
that we can provide to financialservice firms really does
(16:21):
separate CRC Oyster from themarketplace.
SPEAKER_03 (16:24):
It really does.
And our experience working withlarge and complex organizations
trying to implement rules andregulations to smaller clients
who outsource thatimplementation to us.
It allows us a perspective onthe marketplace that you just
can't get.
Even if you are in a largeorganization, you work inside
(16:47):
that organization to make thatorganization better.
But by working with teams likewe have, we're able to look at
the marketplace and say therule's the rule.
The products are the products.
But it's how you implement thatrule with your structure, with
your tolerance for risk, withyour client base, and the
(17:08):
products that you sell to yourclients are used to implement
their goals and objectives andhelp them get where they want to
be.
That perspective comes fromworking with hundreds of clients
throughout the marketplace toreally get an understanding of
how that market interacts withyour organization, how
(17:29):
regulators will interact withyour organization, and how to
best prepare yourself to getthrough this profitably and in a
risk-managed, well-managedbusiness.
SPEAKER_01 (17:40):
Absolutely.
And if you think about thecombined organization servicing
and providing support to over athousand clients, and when we
look at our client base ofhaving less than 10 overlaps
between the legacyorganizations, it goes to show
that these are standaloneorganizations combined into one,
which provides that unmatchedsupport and being able to
(18:05):
understand what our clients areneeding, looking for, and how to
be able to support them in amanner which allows them to run
profitable, successfulbusinesses within the rules and
regulations that financialservices industry participants
have to stay within.
So, buddy, if we kind of pivot alittle bit and we look at uh
2026, right?
Because we're we're kind ofwalking down the road to very
(18:27):
quickly into 26, what mattersmost, not only for our clients,
but I think for the overallmarketplace itself, what are the
things that you're focused onand looking at as high priority
items that firms should belooking at and how we can help
them?
SPEAKER_03 (18:44):
Well, I think there's a couple of things going
on out there.
One is the regulatoryenvironment is shifting.
It always is.
It's never stagnant.
And sometimes it's loosening,sometimes it's tightening.
And it's making sure that ourclients are ready for that
pendulum to swing both ways asthey're looking forward.
(19:05):
And that they're going into theopportunities that are
presenting themselves in themarketplace with their eyes open
into what that looks like asthey truly get into the
implementation side of things,and that they have their best
information that we can providethem on where we see the market
(19:27):
going, where we see technologygoing that supports that, and
trying to line this up again tohelp our clients grow and be
successful.
And that's really what it'sabout is helping our clients
grow and be successful by doingthe things that they do to serve
their clients and the way theydo it in the best way they can.
SPEAKER_01 (19:48):
Absolutely.
And Mitch, from your point ofview, the conversations that
you're having with industryexecutives, founders, leaders,
what are you talking to themabout?
What are you looking at for thisyear and just in general?
SPEAKER_02 (20:03):
Given what we do for a living, there's always going
to be a shiny new object out onthe horizon.
And whether it's AI, whetherit's digital assets, or whatever
the new flavor of the day maybe, I think what's really
important is for our clients tobenefit from our expertise in
(20:25):
dealing with whatever comes downthe pike.
Having been doing this now for30 plus years, and that's what's
really compelling too on anotherfront.
We have a lot of adults in theroom in CRC OISER.
Most, if not all of us, havelived through several cycles
within the economy.
(20:45):
And, you know, when I look backto the internet bubble, right,
and when the internet was goingto be the end all be all of
everything at that moment intime, one of the things that I
always try to think about is toBuddy's earlier point with that
pendulum, this too shall pass,right?
But it'll become part of theeconomy, it'll become part of
(21:08):
the business process.
And what regulators need to do,like with any new shiny new
object, is they have to figureout how to regulate it, right?
And so regulators and complianceofficers, by nature, have to be
close followers.
And so we pride ourselves onbeing close followers.
And as things continue to emergein the marketplace from an AI
(21:29):
perspective or a digital assetperspective, the types of
conversations I'm having withour clients and prospects is
what are they doing?
They can't stick their head inthe ground and say, well, we
don't use it.
You're using it whether you knowit or not on the AI front.
Digital assets, as these becomemore and more normalized and
(21:49):
make their way through thefinancial system, that's a good
thing because it'll eradicatethe levels of fraud that we see
in new and interesting markets.
And what's going to happen?
The fraudsters will go to thenext shiny thing, next shiny
object first, and then everybodyelse will catch up.
That's the world we live in.
So when I look at 2026, it'sreally providing good guidance,
(22:11):
advice, and support to those whoare dipping their toe, want to
dip their toe, don't know how todip their toe, and really
benefiting from what I think isa great repository of
information across our thousandplus client base where we can
anonymize sort of where peopleare in the industry.
(22:32):
And depending on where you'reliving in the risk spectrum, you
tell us where you want to be,and we'll help you build the
mitigants and the controlsaround that.
SPEAKER_03 (22:41):
Yeah, I think when you look at the marketplace and
Mitch got into AI a little bit,and we've got a lot of clients
that have invested in AI.
They've started experimentingwith these tools, maybe
utilizing these tools for theiroperational needs, and they
haven't quite figured outmachine learning operations yet
(23:01):
and how that's different thanthe way things used to be.
And so one of the things thatI'm excited about is that we
have seen these implementationsof digital assets, of different
kinds of marketplace, predictivemarkets, alternative investments
kind of shifting around.
And as you do that, you needexperts in this to really help
(23:22):
you do that correctly.
You think about it, Tiger Woodshad a swing coach when he was
winning every tournament.
If you're doing well in thisbusiness, it's a good time to
get that advice from a partythat is objective on how you're
implementing it to really helpyou understand where you're
great at it, where you could usesome help on it.
(23:44):
There's nothing like anawareness there to really make a
project successful.
And we're seeing a lot ofclients implement AI without
that return that they've beenlooking for.
And the more they do that, themore they need people like us to
help them get that done.
SPEAKER_02 (24:00):
One of the things that I've seen, and and you're
you're 100% spot on, buddy, buta lot of these folks who are
starting to implement and andtry new and different things, in
a lot of instances that I'veseen, don't even have a policy
statement on what they want todo with AI in their
organization.
And I think even if you utilizeor leverage CRC Oyster or
(24:26):
another professional servicesorganization, just to figure out
where you want to live andbreathe in this space, at least
at the onset, will then driveeverything else rather than
having to reverse engineer apolicy based on all the stuff
that you've allowed into yourenvironment with no controls
around it.
SPEAKER_03 (24:46):
Yeah, it's a lot like social media was where no,
we don't do social media exceptthe people that work there are
all on social media.
And I think that's where if youdon't do AI, the people that
work for your firm are using AI.
SPEAKER_01 (25:00):
And I think that's why proactive preparation
constantly beats reactiveremediation, right?
And it's staying ahead andunderstanding where the industry
is going and then leveraging thepartnerships that our clients
use with CRC Oyster to be ableto think about that in the most
compliant manner, understandingthat the business moves forward.
(25:23):
Regulation sometimes lags,sometimes leads, but really
staying within that frameworkallows for a successful
organization.
SPEAKER_03 (25:30):
Having been the independent consultant under so
many regulatory orders andsettlements and things like
that, it is much better to dothis in advance than after the
enforcement action or after theerror.
Not that we're not very good atremediations, but we prefer to
keep people, you know, on thestraight and narrow or you know,
if you're in the gray, we'llcome get you and pull you into
(25:53):
the light.
SPEAKER_02 (25:53):
It's what we always talk about as the pay me now or
pay me later scenario.
Paying me now is a lot lessonerous on you, especially um if
you're regulatorily mandated toto bring in an independent
consultant.
It changes the whole tenor ofthe undertaking.
It does.
SPEAKER_01 (26:13):
So, Mitch and Buddy, thank you so much for spending
some time talking a little bitabout the history of the legacy
organizations, the combinationof the two firms, and moving
forward, the kind of sharedvision of CRC Oyster.
One final question as we wrapup, which would be as we look to
the next few years, what's instore for CRC Oyster and what's
(26:37):
in store for us in the servicesand execution that we provide to
our clients?
Mitch, I'll let you kick thatone off.
SPEAKER_02 (26:44):
That's a big question.
So, what's in store for CRCOyster?
I I think one of the things thatI'm so excited about is as we
make our way through thisintegration is to get to the
ultimate or whatever perceivedfinish line we have in terms of
completing the integration.
(27:04):
And most of that is justintegration of back office
systems, which all those plansare are pretty much in place and
ready to execute.
That's nice to be able to putbehind ourselves because what we
have been focused on, inaddition to, and in a lot of
ways more importantly, is reallyintegrating our teams and
(27:26):
figuring out how to leverage thesynergies within both legacy
organizations.
So I think as we look forward tothe year to come and thereafter,
I think we're we've onlyscratched the surface together.
And we hit the ground runningtogether the day we inked the
deal.
And what I would would like topoint to is Buddy and I worked
together for 10 months, amongother many important people, to
(27:49):
get this deal to close.
And the grounding principle inthis for me was and is we really
wanted to work together.
And as tough as any integrationcan be, and they're all tough.
I don't care what anybody saysto you, as tough as any
integration can be, what I comeback to at the end of every day
is we want to be doing thistogether.
(28:11):
We are doing this together, andwe're going to succeed together
because we're seeing it already.
But like I said, we have so manygreat things ahead in terms of
this business combination.
And I think the more time wehave together in the market,
it'll become clearly evident toany and all who are watching.
So I'm very excited about that.
(28:31):
We're going to continue to groworganically.
We're going to continue to lookfor opportunistic, tuck under
sort of acquisitions, what welike to call aqua hires.
And, you know, in the fight fortalent, we're looking for
talented people.
We'll continue to look fortalented people.
But at the end of the day, wehave a really strong fundamental
core business here.
(28:52):
And anything we build togethergoing forward is really building
upon that strong foundation thatwe've both had in our legacy
organizations and even more sonow together.
And Buddy, final app, bat, finalthoughts.
SPEAKER_01 (29:05):
Anything to add to that?
SPEAKER_03 (29:06):
Yeah, I think CRC was a firm that helped clients
achieve best practices.
Oyster was a firm that helpedclients achieve best practices.
Together, we've got the best ofthe best practices, and we're
going to unleash that into themarketplace with a talented team
of individuals.
And I think we've already made astatement in the marketplace in
(29:29):
terms of quality, in terms ofconsistency and value that we
can provide to our customers.
It has changed as we cametogether.
And it was good before, but itis a higher level now.
And so I think as we go forwardtogether, I expect to see great
things happening at C or COyster.
I expect all the news to be goodfor our clients.
(29:52):
And it's a really exciting timefor us.
We're recording this six monthsafter the transaction closed.
And I think if we were recordingthis six months from now, we'll
be equally as excited about one,what we've accomplished, but
two, about the future that wehave together.
SPEAKER_00 (30:09):
Excellent.
Well, Mitch, Buddy, thank you somuch for joining today.
SPEAKER_01 (30:18):
Thank you for listening to today's podcast.
For more information, you canfind us at compliance-risk.com
or oysterlc.com.
Don't forget to subscribe so younever miss an episode.
Take care, and we will see yousoon.
Welcome to the Built to Scale podcast with CRC
Oyster.
This is the new rebranded OysterStew podcast following the
acquisition of Oyster Consultingby Compliance Risk Concepts.
(00:26):
Good afternoon and thank you somuch for joining us today.
My name is Michael Durett, and Iam a managing principal and
chief revenue officer at CRCOyster.
And I'm lucky enough to bejoined today by Mitch Avnet, who
is the founder and managingpartner of CRC Oyster, and Buddy
Doyle, who is another managingprincipal at CRC Oyster.
What I thought today would be avery interesting conversation
(00:48):
given the combination of legacycompliance risk concepts and
oyster consulting.
So, Mitch and Buddy, thank youso much for joining me today.
It's a pleasure to be here.
Thanks so much, Michael.
Absolutely.
So, Mitch, want to just kind ofkick it off on the discussion.
And I thought it would be reallyimportant to talk about, you
know, where CRC Oyster is today,just how we got here.
(01:11):
And really just wanted to haveyou and Buddy talk a little bit
about the legacy organizationsand then combining and what it
is to look for into 2026 andbeyond.
So with that, Mitch, you know,just really want to hear from
you, you know, who was and whois CRC Oyster?
SPEAKER_02 (01:28):
So all great questions.
And we probably are going totake these in sort of a modular
way as we make our way throughthe session, because I think as
we talk through how we got hereon our own and here we are today
together, I think it there aresome very compelling scenarios
and stories to tell here.
I started Legacy CRC in Januaryof 2013 with my partner Joe
(01:51):
Kelly.
And buddy, jump right in here.
But what was your launch date?
It was about five years prior, Ithink.
SPEAKER_03 (01:59):
October 1st, 2008.
So think auction rates, andthat'll probably bring you to
the right period of time.
SPEAKER_02 (02:06):
Breaking the buck.
So you have two businesses whogrew on their own organically
since inception.
And, you know, from a legacy CRCperspective, when we launched,
we really came at the marketfrom more of an institutional
(02:27):
capital markets perspective,given what I had done for most
of my career prior to launchingthe company.
And Buddy and I actually kneweach other and peripherally
worked together on a number ofinitiatives while we were both
at our legacy company, FirstUnion and then Wachovia.
But what was really compellingfrom my perspective is both
(02:49):
companies are really addressingthe same segments of the market,
but two different sorts ofclients, where we, as I said,
really were really focused onthe institutional side of the
business.
And Buddy, your background andand oyster's background is very
strong on the wealth managementside of the equation.
SPEAKER_03 (03:11):
Yeah, it was really, really nice to look around and
see Mitch and and the businesshe had built at CRC and the
focus that that again, samemarketplace in the broker
dealers, investment advisors,but a different segment within
that that industry that we werefocused on that really made for
(03:31):
a nice coming together of twoorganizations.
SPEAKER_02 (03:49):
So everybody here has been in the seat doing the
job, either within a brokerdealer, an asset management
firm, or even at a regulatorybody.
So that's super compelling, Ithink, not only from a
go-to-market standpoint, but interms of what that means to our
clients, because we are aplug-and-play solution at the
(04:12):
end of the day, because all ofus have been there and done
that.
And I think that's a much easierplace to come from with a client
in terms of gaining their trust,their respect, and the belief in
what you're doing, versus comingat it from being a career
consultant, never having sat aday in the seat of the people
that you're supporting.
But you know, Buddy, I'm sureyou have a view on that.
SPEAKER_03 (04:34):
Yeah, our entire organization was built about uh
hiring experienced industrypractitioners that can not just
tell you what you need to beconcerned about or where to
focus your attention, but canprovide you with that practical
knowledge and expertise on howto implement the thing that the
(04:54):
regulators are focused on or theindustry's focused on in a in a
truly practical way, balancingfinancial concerns, operational
concerns, and and thegovernance, risk, and compliance
concerns that we all face as anindustry and putting it together
to really move our clientsforward in the best path and
(05:17):
allow them to have theinformation to make the best
decisions they can make.
SPEAKER_01 (05:21):
Yeah, and I think it's really interesting, right?
So, buddy, the the auction ratesin October of 2008 and Mitch in
2013, right?
So both individuals grew theirrespective companies.
When you look at the acquisitionearlier this year, why now?
What does it say about where thecombined organization is going,
(05:44):
right?
And we talk a lot about theshared philosophy, but you know,
Mitch would love your thoughtshere as to building the business
from 2013, buddy building thebusiness from 2008.
In 2025, the combinedorganization, what does it say
about the business today andthen also moving forward?
SPEAKER_02 (06:03):
So I I think, Michael, we should address it
from a marketplace standpointfirst rather than from a company
standpoint.
If you look at the market forcompliance professional
services, it's a dislocatedmarket.
And we know who the players are,large and small.
But when we brought these two50-person companies together and
(06:23):
created a 100-person pluscompany, it really establishes
us as a platform play now in away both organizations were not
previously.
Oyster ran a great business, weran a great business, but it
takes us now to the next level.
And one of the things that I'vesaid frequently in terms of my
desire to do this transactionand join together with Oyster is
(06:46):
it really solidifies ourposition as the middle market in
the compliance services space.
And I think that gives us andour clients more options than
they would normally have.
And we can scale up to gotoe-to-toe with the largest
consultancies.
And we're so flexible and nimblethat we can go down market too
and really serve the clientsthat ultimately got us to where
(07:09):
we're going, the uh on the CRCside, the emerging to the middle
markets players.
So I think it's a verycompelling sort of story, and it
has resonated very well in themarket.
SPEAKER_01 (07:20):
And along those lines, buddy, kind of looking at
the partnership and looking atthe merger of the two firms,
when you were looking atpartners that were out there,
what brought you or what whenyou looked at Legacy CRC, what
was it that kind of just madesense to you?
SPEAKER_03 (07:38):
We actually hired the investment bank back in
March of 24 to start exploringthe marketplace as we looked at
how we would grow going forwardand started looking for that
partner to build the scale thatwe had an infrastructure to
support and uh trying to findthat right partner with the same
(07:59):
mindset about client service,the same mindset about the
hiring experienced people anddelivering those products and
services to an industry that wehad been in ourselves and felt
really good about the approachthat we had put together.
And so as we were going throughand evaluating potential
(08:20):
partners, that was top of mindfor the founders of Oyster, for
the shareholders as well.
And we are an employee-ownedcompany.
So to go from employee ownershipto institutional ownership, you
obviously wanted to make sureyour people were aligned and
that the cultures were alignedto move forward.
And so that was a big componentof what we were looking for.
(08:43):
As Mitch mentioned earlier, wehad worked together in the past.
So there was already afoundation there to build on of
personal relationships that wefelt like we could take this
corporate relationship andreally move it forward together
in a way that you just can't doapart.
SPEAKER_01 (09:02):
Absolutely.
And as we've gotten through andinto the integration of the two
firms, I think it's reallyimportant that people realize
that it's the people within theorganization that make the
combined entity so special.
And it's the long-term tenureand experience of both legacy
CRC and Legacy Oysterconsultants who have sat in the
(09:24):
seat, who have done those jobsand have had long-story careers
where they're able to providethat advice that they had
in-house to our clients on anoutsourced basis.
So if we take a look and kind ofpivot a little bit and we look
at our clients today, right?
Buddy, if we look at thedifferent break in the different
makeup of the legacyorganizations, under one
(09:46):
umbrella, it's a unifiedplatform.
And if we look at kind of thedistinct verticals that legacy
oyster serviced, you know,certain areas of advisory and
consulting services, you know,would love, would love some
color on that as you've builtthat business and that practice
kind of to the marketplace, whatthe combined organization can do
(10:07):
on the advisory and consultingservices side.
SPEAKER_03 (10:10):
Yeah, I think we had this belief out there, a core
fundamental belief that uhgovernance, risk, and compliance
programs don't usually fail inthe plan and the testing and the
policies and procedures.
They fail in execution.
And the rules and regulationsare built not for the manual,
but for how you open an account,how you place your orders into
(10:33):
the market, how you execute andreport those trades.
And so we had built out throughour strategic planning and
execution team a group thathelps our clients implement the
recommendations that our GRCconsultants were making in a
really practical sense.
And I think that bringing thatskill and expertise to CRC and
(10:58):
bringing some of the CRC skillsand expertise around trading and
markets to Oyster, it's reallyallowed us to better serve those
constituents where air wealthmanagement clients are putting
orders into the marketplace andthose are getting routed and
executed to have the tacticiansthat CRC has, as well as people
(11:20):
that Oyster had running tradingdesk and things like that, it
really makes a difference to theclient.
There is an advantage to doingit with a vision to cross the
entire organization.
And so I think bringing that tothe table was something that I
think Mitch really liked aboutwhat we were doing.
And the SaaS software offeringof Oyster Solutions, which is
(11:45):
also really designed to help youoperationalize your governance,
risk, and compliance program andmake it efficient.
SPEAKER_01 (11:53):
And Mitch, if we think about the combined
organizations, one of the thingsthat our firm does, which most
in the industry do not do, isworking on an outsourcing
principle basis and thenproviding that capacity support.
So when you think about thecompliance program services, the
registration support, and thenthe supervisory principle CCO
(12:16):
support that we have for ourfirms, how do you look at that
and what differentiates CRCOyster than the rest of the
marketplace?
SPEAKER_02 (12:23):
I think anytime you hold yourself out there and are
willing to take supervisoryprinciple related risk, it
really comes down to your beliefin the quality of not only your
people and their ability toaffect those roles, but it's
also in terms of the types ofclients we work with and we want
to work with.
A lot of our decisions aroundproviding supervisory principles
(12:47):
are easy at the end of the daybecause most of our clients who
utilize us in that capacity areutilizing us for the end-to-end
support that we provide.
And in most situations, itstarts with initial registration
of that client.
So they want to become a brokerdealer, they want to become an
ATS, they want to become aninvestment advisor.
(13:07):
Those are easier decisions tomake for us because we're
building the program for them.
Now, does that mean we won'ttake on this risk if a client is
already existing in the marketand they have a need?
Um, I'm gonna say we definitelywant to have that conversation,
but we have to also be verycomfortable with the client's
(13:28):
business model, their culture,and their risk profile because
we want to make sure it's a goodfit and makes the most sense
from a risk managementstandpoint across the board.
The other thing I'll add is it'sone thing for companies to say
that they'll provide people tofulfill these roles.
It's another thing to have theskill set and the expertise to
(13:50):
really understand what theseroles entail.
So we don't only take onoutsourced chief compliance
officer roles, we take outsourceor fractional financial
operations principle.
We clear equity research, we doinvestment banking supervision
and oversight.
So we can fulfill all the roleswhere they're high value, but
(14:14):
many organizations don't needthose individuals on a full-time
basis.
And so when we align withclients who recognize the value
and how hard it would be to findthat skill set in the
marketplace for the price point,we can provide it.
And with the backing of 100people to support those
individuals, it's very hard toargue with our rationale here.
SPEAKER_01 (14:37):
And I think especially as the financial
services industry moves moretowards outsourcing functions,
right?
If it's the outsourced chiefcompliance officer or the
outsource chief investmentofficer or chief technology
officer, we've seen a massiveinflux over the last several
years on both legacyorganizations.
And being able to staff thataccordingly with people that
(15:00):
have been there and done that inthose in-the-seat roles really
kind of lends huge value to ourclients and then to the
marketplace in general.
SPEAKER_02 (15:10):
You you just made a really good point.
And it's something that I reallywant to sort of put a finer
point on.
You mentioned outsourced chiefinvestment officer, outsourced
chief technology officer.
We can do all of these things,no matter what role you're
satisfying, my belief system,and I know Buddy believes this
(15:32):
too.
All roads point to compliance,right?
And so core to who we are inboth legacy organizations is
compliance.
But what we've done in terms ofthat core strength is built a
full service consultancy wherewe can serve in all of these
front office roles in acommercially viable manner and
(15:52):
at the end of the day, work toensure that the client is
protected from a regulatory andcompliance standpoint.
SPEAKER_01 (16:00):
Absolutely right, buddy.
And if you think about eitherOyster Solutions or SPE, those
are industry practitioners thathave different experience than
our outsourced chief complianceofficers.
And so that offering, that fullservice, full suite offering
that we can provide to financialservice firms really does
(16:21):
separate CRC Oyster from themarketplace.
SPEAKER_03 (16:24):
It really does.
And our experience working withlarge and complex organizations
trying to implement rules andregulations to smaller clients
who outsource thatimplementation to us.
It allows us a perspective onthe marketplace that you just
can't get.
Even if you are in a largeorganization, you work inside
(16:47):
that organization to make thatorganization better.
But by working with teams likewe have, we're able to look at
the marketplace and say therule's the rule.
The products are the products.
But it's how you implement thatrule with your structure, with
your tolerance for risk, withyour client base, and the
(17:08):
products that you sell to yourclients are used to implement
their goals and objectives andhelp them get where they want to
be.
That perspective comes fromworking with hundreds of clients
throughout the marketplace toreally get an understanding of
how that market interacts withyour organization, how
(17:29):
regulators will interact withyour organization, and how to
best prepare yourself to getthrough this profitably and in a
risk-managed, well-managedbusiness.
SPEAKER_01 (17:40):
Absolutely.
And if you think about thecombined organization servicing
and providing support to over athousand clients, and when we
look at our client base ofhaving less than 10 overlaps
between the legacyorganizations, it goes to show
that these are standaloneorganizations combined into one,
which provides that unmatchedsupport and being able to
(18:05):
understand what our clients areneeding, looking for, and how to
be able to support them in amanner which allows them to run
profitable, successfulbusinesses within the rules and
regulations that financialservices industry participants
have to stay within.
So, buddy, if we kind of pivot alittle bit and we look at uh
2026, right?
Because we're we're kind ofwalking down the road to very
(18:27):
quickly into 26, what mattersmost, not only for our clients,
but I think for the overallmarketplace itself, what are the
things that you're focused onand looking at as high priority
items that firms should belooking at and how we can help
them?
SPEAKER_03 (18:44):
Well, I think there's a couple of things going
on out there.
One is the regulatoryenvironment is shifting.
It always is.
It's never stagnant.
And sometimes it's loosening,sometimes it's tightening.
And it's making sure that ourclients are ready for that
pendulum to swing both ways asthey're looking forward.
(19:05):
And that they're going into theopportunities that are
presenting themselves in themarketplace with their eyes open
into what that looks like asthey truly get into the
implementation side of things,and that they have their best
information that we can providethem on where we see the market
(19:27):
going, where we see technologygoing that supports that, and
trying to line this up again tohelp our clients grow and be
successful.
And that's really what it'sabout is helping our clients
grow and be successful by doingthe things that they do to serve
their clients and the way theydo it in the best way they can.
SPEAKER_01 (19:48):
Absolutely.
And Mitch, from your point ofview, the conversations that
you're having with industryexecutives, founders, leaders,
what are you talking to themabout?
What are you looking at for thisyear and just in general?
SPEAKER_02 (20:03):
Given what we do for a living, there's always going
to be a shiny new object out onthe horizon.
And whether it's AI, whetherit's digital assets, or whatever
the new flavor of the day maybe, I think what's really
important is for our clients tobenefit from our expertise in
(20:25):
dealing with whatever comes downthe pike.
Having been doing this now for30 plus years, and that's what's
really compelling too on anotherfront.
We have a lot of adults in theroom in CRC OISER.
Most, if not all of us, havelived through several cycles
within the economy.
(20:45):
And, you know, when I look backto the internet bubble, right,
and when the internet was goingto be the end all be all of
everything at that moment intime, one of the things that I
always try to think about is toBuddy's earlier point with that
pendulum, this too shall pass,right?
But it'll become part of theeconomy, it'll become part of
(21:08):
the business process.
And what regulators need to do,like with any new shiny new
object, is they have to figureout how to regulate it, right?
And so regulators and complianceofficers, by nature, have to be
close followers.
And so we pride ourselves onbeing close followers.
And as things continue to emergein the marketplace from an AI
(21:29):
perspective or a digital assetperspective, the types of
conversations I'm having withour clients and prospects is
what are they doing?
They can't stick their head inthe ground and say, well, we
don't use it.
You're using it whether you knowit or not on the AI front.
Digital assets, as these becomemore and more normalized and
(21:49):
make their way through thefinancial system, that's a good
thing because it'll eradicatethe levels of fraud that we see
in new and interesting markets.
And what's going to happen?
The fraudsters will go to thenext shiny thing, next shiny
object first, and then everybodyelse will catch up.
That's the world we live in.
So when I look at 2026, it'sreally providing good guidance,
(22:11):
advice, and support to those whoare dipping their toe, want to
dip their toe, don't know how todip their toe, and really
benefiting from what I think isa great repository of
information across our thousandplus client base where we can
anonymize sort of where peopleare in the industry.
(22:32):
And depending on where you'reliving in the risk spectrum, you
tell us where you want to be,and we'll help you build the
mitigants and the controlsaround that.
SPEAKER_03 (22:41):
Yeah, I think when you look at the marketplace and
Mitch got into AI a little bit,and we've got a lot of clients
that have invested in AI.
They've started experimentingwith these tools, maybe
utilizing these tools for theiroperational needs, and they
haven't quite figured outmachine learning operations yet
(23:01):
and how that's different thanthe way things used to be.
And so one of the things thatI'm excited about is that we
have seen these implementationsof digital assets, of different
kinds of marketplace, predictivemarkets, alternative investments
kind of shifting around.
And as you do that, you needexperts in this to really help
(23:22):
you do that correctly.
You think about it, Tiger Woodshad a swing coach when he was
winning every tournament.
If you're doing well in thisbusiness, it's a good time to
get that advice from a partythat is objective on how you're
implementing it to really helpyou understand where you're
great at it, where you could usesome help on it.
(23:44):
There's nothing like anawareness there to really make a
project successful.
And we're seeing a lot ofclients implement AI without
that return that they've beenlooking for.
And the more they do that, themore they need people like us to
help them get that done.
SPEAKER_02 (24:00):
One of the things that I've seen, and and you're
you're 100% spot on, buddy, buta lot of these folks who are
starting to implement and andtry new and different things, in
a lot of instances that I'veseen, don't even have a policy
statement on what they want todo with AI in their
organization.
And I think even if you utilizeor leverage CRC Oyster or
(24:26):
another professional servicesorganization, just to figure out
where you want to live andbreathe in this space, at least
at the onset, will then driveeverything else rather than
having to reverse engineer apolicy based on all the stuff
that you've allowed into yourenvironment with no controls
around it.
SPEAKER_03 (24:46):
Yeah, it's a lot like social media was where no,
we don't do social media exceptthe people that work there are
all on social media.
And I think that's where if youdon't do AI, the people that
work for your firm are using AI.
SPEAKER_01 (25:00):
And I think that's why proactive preparation
constantly beats reactiveremediation, right?
And it's staying ahead andunderstanding where the industry
is going and then leveraging thepartnerships that our clients
use with CRC Oyster to be ableto think about that in the most
compliant manner, understandingthat the business moves forward.
(25:23):
Regulation sometimes lags,sometimes leads, but really
staying within that frameworkallows for a successful
organization.
SPEAKER_03 (25:30):
Having been the independent consultant under so
many regulatory orders andsettlements and things like
that, it is much better to dothis in advance than after the
enforcement action or after theerror.
Not that we're not very good atremediations, but we prefer to
keep people, you know, on thestraight and narrow or you know,
if you're in the gray, we'llcome get you and pull you into
(25:53):
the light.
SPEAKER_02 (25:53):
It's what we always talk about as the pay me now or
pay me later scenario.
Paying me now is a lot lessonerous on you, especially um if
you're regulatorily mandated toto bring in an independent
consultant.
It changes the whole tenor ofthe undertaking.
It does.
SPEAKER_01 (26:13):
So, Mitch and Buddy, thank you so much for spending
some time talking a little bitabout the history of the legacy
organizations, the combinationof the two firms, and moving
forward, the kind of sharedvision of CRC Oyster.
One final question as we wrapup, which would be as we look to
the next few years, what's instore for CRC Oyster and what's
(26:37):
in store for us in the servicesand execution that we provide to
our clients?
Mitch, I'll let you kick thatone off.
SPEAKER_02 (26:44):
That's a big question.
So, what's in store for CRCOyster?
I I think one of the things thatI'm so excited about is as we
make our way through thisintegration is to get to the
ultimate or whatever perceivedfinish line we have in terms of
completing the integration.
(27:04):
And most of that is justintegration of back office
systems, which all those plansare are pretty much in place and
ready to execute.
That's nice to be able to putbehind ourselves because what we
have been focused on, inaddition to, and in a lot of
ways more importantly, is reallyintegrating our teams and
(27:26):
figuring out how to leverage thesynergies within both legacy
organizations.
So I think as we look forward tothe year to come and thereafter,
I think we're we've onlyscratched the surface together.
And we hit the ground runningtogether the day we inked the
deal.
And what I would would like topoint to is Buddy and I worked
together for 10 months, amongother many important people, to
(27:49):
get this deal to close.
And the grounding principle inthis for me was and is we really
wanted to work together.
And as tough as any integrationcan be, and they're all tough.
I don't care what anybody saysto you, as tough as any
integration can be, what I comeback to at the end of every day
is we want to be doing thistogether.
(28:11):
We are doing this together, andwe're going to succeed together
because we're seeing it already.
But like I said, we have so manygreat things ahead in terms of
this business combination.
And I think the more time wehave together in the market,
it'll become clearly evident toany and all who are watching.
So I'm very excited about that.
(28:31):
We're going to continue to groworganically.
We're going to continue to lookfor opportunistic, tuck under
sort of acquisitions, what welike to call aqua hires.
And, you know, in the fight fortalent, we're looking for
talented people.
We'll continue to look fortalented people.
But at the end of the day, wehave a really strong fundamental
core business here.
(28:52):
And anything we build togethergoing forward is really building
upon that strong foundation thatwe've both had in our legacy
organizations and even more sonow together.
And Buddy, final app, bat, finalthoughts.
SPEAKER_01 (29:05):
Anything to add to that?
SPEAKER_03 (29:06):
Yeah, I think CRC was a firm that helped clients
achieve best practices.
Oyster was a firm that helpedclients achieve best practices.
Together, we've got the best ofthe best practices, and we're
going to unleash that into themarketplace with a talented team
of individuals.
And I think we've already made astatement in the marketplace in
(29:29):
terms of quality, in terms ofconsistency and value that we
can provide to our customers.
It has changed as we cametogether.
And it was good before, but itis a higher level now.
And so I think as we go forwardtogether, I expect to see great
things happening at C or COyster.
I expect all the news to be goodfor our clients.
(29:52):
And it's a really exciting timefor us.
We're recording this six monthsafter the transaction closed.
And I think if we were recordingthis six months from now, we'll
be equally as excited about one,what we've accomplished, but
two, about the future that wehave together.
SPEAKER_00 (30:09):
Excellent.
Well, Mitch, Buddy, thank you somuch for joining today.
SPEAKER_01 (30:18):
Thank you for listening to today's podcast.
For more information, you canfind us at compliance-risk.com
or oysterlc.com.
Don't forget to subscribe so younever miss an episode.
Take care, and we will see yousoon.
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