As financial advisors double down on in-person seminars to drive client acquisition, one marketing tech firm is betting big on infrastructure to make those events more predictable—and more profitable.

AcquireUp, a technology-first seminar marketing company serving financial professionals, has appointed Jim Parkinson as its new Chief Technology and Information Officer. The move signals a deeper push into AI, platform scalability, and data-driven performance measurement for advisors relying on educational seminars as a primary growth channel.

Parkinson will oversee product development, data sciences, IT engineering, and infrastructure, with a mandate to strengthen AcquireUp’s managed marketing services and its proprietary LeadJig platform.

Why This Hire Matters

Seminar marketing isn’t new. What’s changing is how it’s measured, optimized, and automated.

Financial advisors have long used live educational events to build trust and convert attendees into clients. But the operational side—lead tracking, follow-ups, conversion analytics, compliance guardrails—has often lagged behind the sophistication seen in digital marketing stacks.

AcquireUp is positioning LeadJig as a modernized answer to that gap: a platform that brings structured data, workflow automation, and increasingly AI-driven insights to what has historically been a manual and relationship-heavy process.

Parkinson’s appointment suggests the company is serious about transforming that stack into something more scalable—and more defensible.

“Jim’s depth of experience building scalable platforms and leading complex technology organizations makes him a tremendous addition,” said CEO Greg Bogich, noting that Parkinson will help advisors more predictably convert seminars into net new asset growth.

Predictability is the keyword. In wealth management, growth strategies that can’t be measured precisely don’t scale well—and they don’t inspire confidence from compliance teams or enterprise RIAs.

A Cloud and Platform Veteran Steps In

Parkinson isn’t a niche martech hire. His résumé reads more like that of a Silicon Valley infrastructure architect.

He previously spent more than two decades at Sun Microsystems, where he held multiple senior leadership roles, including Senior Vice President of Software Products and Cloud Computing Engineering. During that time, he led the team that built what the company described as the world’s first utility computing platform—a precursor to modern cloud computing models.

Sun Microsystems’ early work in distributed systems and cloud-style infrastructure laid groundwork that would later influence enterprise cloud adoption. That background matters as AcquireUp looks to scale a platform used by advisors across geographies, regulatory environments, and business models.

More recently, Parkinson served as Chief Digital Officer and Executive Vice President of Digital Advertising at Valassis, where he oversaw enterprise technology strategy and digital media initiatives. He also held the role of Chief Technology and Information Officer in the credit card processing industry, leading product and engineering for processing and acquiring platforms.

That combination—cloud infrastructure, digital advertising, and payments—points to a leader comfortable with high-volume systems, compliance-heavy environments, and performance-based business models.

In other words: exactly the type of background needed to evolve a marketing platform serving financial advisors.

AI and the Rise of “Agentic” Marketing Infrastructure

AcquireUp has been vocal about incorporating AI across its operations. Parkinson emphasized plans to enhance both employee workflows and customer experiences using AI, including what the company refers to as an “Agentic AI approach.”

Agentic AI—systems capable of executing multi-step tasks autonomously within defined guardrails—is increasingly becoming a buzzword across enterprise tech. In martech and fintech, its appeal lies in automating complex workflows while maintaining auditability and compliance.

For financial advisors, that could mean:

• Smarter segmentation of seminar invite lists

• AI-assisted follow-up sequences tailored to attendee behavior

• Predictive models for seminar-to-client conversion rates

• Performance dashboards that surface anomalies or compliance risks

If executed well, these capabilities could transform seminars from a relationship-first, data-second tactic into a tightly optimized acquisition engine.

And that’s where Parkinson’s platform experience becomes critical. Agentic systems are only as strong as the infrastructure supporting them—data pipelines, security controls, uptime guarantees, and governance frameworks.

The Broader MarTech Context

AcquireUp operates at the intersection of martech and wealth management—a space that’s heating up as advisors face rising acquisition costs and increasing competition from robo-advisors and digital-first firms.

Unlike pure-play digital lead generation companies, AcquireUp blends managed services with proprietary technology. That hybrid model mirrors broader trends in B2B tech, where software-plus-services offerings are becoming common in vertical markets that require regulatory sensitivity and high-touch engagement.

Competitors in financial advisor marketing have invested heavily in digital funnels, social advertising, and automated nurturing campaigns. What differentiates AcquireUp’s approach is its continued focus on in-person educational seminars, combined with a tech backbone designed to quantify and optimize the entire lifecycle.

By strengthening LeadJig’s engineering foundation, AcquireUp appears to be betting that analog trust-building experiences can coexist with digital-grade analytics and automation.

Infrastructure as Competitive Advantage

The announcement also reflects a wider industry shift: marketing companies are increasingly judged not just by creative output but by technical depth.

Financial services firms, in particular, demand:

• Data security and compliance controls

• Transparent performance attribution

• Integration with CRM and portfolio management systems

• Scalable infrastructure for multi-office enterprises

Parkinson’s background in large-scale systems suggests AcquireUp intends to compete less like an agency and more like a SaaS platform provider with managed services layered on top.

That positioning could make the company more attractive to larger RIAs and enterprise advisory networks that require robust IT governance.

What Comes Next

AcquireUp says it will continue investing in its technology and operational infrastructure to support advisors who rely on seminars as a core growth strategy. Parkinson’s mandate spans product, data science, engineering, and IT—effectively giving him control over the entire technical backbone of the business.

If LeadJig evolves into a more intelligent, AI-assisted operating system for seminar marketing, the company could carve out a defensible niche in a fragmented market.

The bigger question is whether advisors—often cautious adopters of emerging tech—will embrace agentic AI tools in a heavily regulated industry. That adoption curve will likely hinge on one factor: measurable, compliant results.

With a veteran cloud and digital infrastructure executive now at the helm of its technology strategy, AcquireUp is clearly preparing for that next phase.

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