Next-Gen + Best-in-State · rank 77 · Columbia, South Carolina · listed firm: Merrill Wealth Management
Identity & firm
- Firm — Merrill Wealth Management (high)
- “MERRILL LYNCH, PIERCE, FENNER & SMITH INCORPORATED” — sec_finra_regulatory
- Parent company — Bank of America (high)
- “From our offices in Columbia, South Carolina, and Charlotte, North Carolina, our team brings you the breadth of Merrill and Bank of America on a boutique-like and customized level.” — firm_official
- Firm type — wirehouse (high)
- “MERRILL LYNCH, PIERCE, FENNER & SMITH INCORPORATED” — sec_finra_regulatory
- Team name — Ellison Kibler (high)
- “"@type":"Organization","name":"Ellison Kibler","telephone":"(803) 733-2130"” — firm_official
- Team size — 41 (medium)
- “Ellison Kibler wealth managers and financial advisors bring together more than 600 years of combined experience.” — firm_official
- CRD — 5795448 (high)
- “"individualId": 5795448, "firstName": "THOMAS", "lastName": "KIBLER", "bcScope": "Active", "iaScope": "Active"” — sec_finra_regulatory
- Years experience — 11 (high)
- “"daysInIndustryCalculatedDate": "11/18/2014"” — sec_finra_regulatory
- Designations — — (medium)
- “Senior Vice President, Senior Financial Advisor” — firm_official
Book of business
- Team AUM ($M) — 12500 (high)
- “"teamAssets":"$12.5B"” — forbes_shook
- Account minimum ($M) — 2 (high)
- “"Minimum account size for new business":"$2M"” — forbes_shook
- Typical client net worth ($M) — 13.5 (high)
- “"Typical Net Worth of Relationships":"$2-25M"” — forbes_shook
- Client niche — affluent families, corporations, endowments and foundations (high)
- “Ellison Kibler was formed in 1983 with the goal of providing a superior wealth management experience and unsurpassed client service to affluent families, corporations, endowments and foundations.” — firm_official
- Custodians — gap: not_applicable
- Fee model — fee_plus_commission (medium)
- “"bcScope": "Active", "iaScope": "Active"” — sec_finra_regulatory
Positioning & marketing
- Website url — https://advisor.ml.com/sites/sc/columbia-sc/ek (high)
- Value proposition (verbatim) — Ellison Kibler was formed in 1983 with the goal of providing a superior wealth management experience and unsurpassed client service to affluent families, corporations, endowments and foundations. From our offices in Columbia, South Carolina, and Charlotte, North Carolina, our team brings you the breadth of Merrill and Bank of America on a boutique-like and customized level. Through our core principles of teamwork and trust, we strive to enhance the financial lives of our clients to achieve their desired personal and financial outcomes. (high)
- “Ellison Kibler was formed in 1983 with the goal of providing a superior wealth management experience and unsurpassed client service to affluent families, corporations, endowments and foundations. From our offices in Colu” — firm_official
- Differentiators — more than 600 years of combined team experience, navigating markets continuously since 1983, boutique-like and customized service backed by Merrill and Bank of America scale, core principles of teamwork and trust, distills wealth complexity into clear findings (high)
- “Ellison Kibler wealth managers and financial advisors bring together more than 600 years of combined experience. We have navigated the markets since 1983 and can apply the collective wisdom from that experience to our gu” — firm_official
- Content marketing — occasional (medium)
- “2026 Midyear Outlook Webcast” — firm_official
- Has podcast — no (medium)
- “2026 Midyear Outlook Webcast” — firm_official
- Books published — 0 (medium)
- “Senior Vice President, Senior Financial Advisor” — firm_official
- Linkedin url — https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-kibler-a123b138/ (medium)
- “Thomas Kibler - Merrill Lynch Wealth Management | LinkedIn” — social_or_third_party_db
- Social presence — linkedin_active (low)
- “Thomas Kibler - Merrill Lynch Wealth Management | LinkedIn” — social_or_third_party_db
- Press awards — Barron's Top 250 Private Wealth Management Teams (2024-2026), Barron's Top 100 Private Wealth Management Teams (2022-2023) (high)
- “"award":["Forbes "America's Top Wealth Management Teams High Net Worth" (2023-2025)","Forbes "Best-in-State Wealth Management” — firm_official
Visual brand
- Has distinct logo — no (medium)
- “"@type":"Organization","name":"Ellison Kibler","telephone":"(803) 733-2130","image":"https://a.mktgcdn.com/p/brrVWhs3fGRscEbD8Iw8EpqwXDn6yAXRCZTbeOoFVkA/3853x1284.jpg"” — firm_official
- Logo url — gap: not_found_after_search
- Visual brand notes — Merrill corporate template: white ground, dark-gray rules and #646464 UI accents, clean sans headings at 32px, wide team-banner photography and heritage office imagery. No team-specific mark or palette. (medium)
- “class="hiddenflex flex-col Hero bg-white border-t border-t-brand-gray-300"” — firm_official
