The step expands Bruton’s role as national sales manager in Independent Advisor Services to encompass all business consulting and business development for independent advisers, as well as financial planning and registered investment advisory (RIA) services, according to an announcement from LPL Financial.

The company also named Trevor Norton as senior vice president, RIA Services and Financial Planning, with responsibility for day-to-day management and operations of the Hybrid RIA platform and financial planning offerings.  Norton, who will report to Bruton, most recently serving as the company’s senior vice president, RIA Program Management and Financial Planning.

LPL said it expects Bruton to build on the expansion of the company’s Hybrid RIA offering. First launched in late October 2008, the Hybrid RIA platform’s assets under management (AUM) had reached $7.3 billion as of year-end 2009, compared to AUM of approximately $1.3 billion in the beginning of last year (see “LPL Financial Introduces Platform for RIA and Hybrid Markets”). LPL attributes the growth to successful recruitment of wirehouse and large independent advisers with substantial fee- and commission-based business. At year-end 2009, there were 92 RIA firms on the company’s Hybrid RIA platform, representing an average of $80 million in AUM per firm, the firm reported.