Rob Thomas, CFA^®, CFP^®, CFS^®

Designations and licenses

Rob holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation and is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional and a Certified Fund Specialist®.

Experience and education

As managing director, Rob uses his more than 30 years of wealth management and investment experience to provide strategic insight to his team, clients and business partners. Prior to Mariner, he held positions with U.S. Trust Company, State Street Bank and another independent registered investment adviser.

Rob has a bachelor’s degree and an MBA from Pennsylvania State University. He is a member of the Financial Planning Association, the CFA Institute and the Institute of Business and Finance.

Accolades

Rob was named to Forbes’ Best-In-State Wealth Advisors list, ranking #2 in Pennsylvania in 2024, #1 in 2022 and #5 in Pennsylvania – West in 2021. He was also ranked #1 in 2026, 2025, 2024, 2023 and 2021, #2 in 2022 and #3 in 2020 in Pennsylvania on Barron’s Top 1,500 Advisors (formerly 1,200 Advisors) list. Rob is a frequent lecturer on topics such as modern portfolio theory, portfolio management strategies and fee-based asset management. In addition, he has been published in various financial periodicals, including Financial Planning and the Journal of Accountancy.

Personal interests

Rob is chairman of the board of St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy. He is also involved with State College Food Bank and Knights of Columbus. In his free time, he enjoys cheering on Penn State and the Pittsburgh Steelers, traveling, golfing and fishing.

Rob’s Office

Best-In-State: Advisors are selected for the Forbes rankings by SHOOK Research. Rankings for 2021, 2022 and 2024 were published in February 2021 and April 2022 and 2024 and were based on June 30th data, including 1- and 5-year periods. The ranking is based on an algorithm of qualitative and quantitative data, rating thousands of wealth advisors with a minimum of seven years of experience and weighing factors like revenue trends, assets under management, compliance records, industry experience, and best practices learned through telephone and in-person interviews. Portfolio performance is not a criterion due to varying client objectives and a lack of audited data. The ranking is not indicative of future performance, and there is no guarantee of future success. For additional information, visit www.forbes.com. 

Top 1,500 Advisors (formerly Top 1,200 Advisors): Advisors are ranked and organized on a state-by-state basis. Barron’s rankings for 2020-2026 were published in March of each award year based on the previous year’s September 30th data, including 1- and 5-year periods. No fee was paid for participation in the rankings; however, some advisors have paid a fee to receive expanded profile features on the ranking website. The rankings are based on data provided by individual advisors and their firms. Barron’s publishes rankings based on regulatory databases were used to cross-check the data provided. The formula Barron’s uses to rank advisors is proprietary, but the formula features three major categories of calculations: Assets, Revenue, and Quality of practice. Investment returns are not a component of the rankings because an advisor’s returns are dictated largely by the risk tolerance of clients. The ranking is not indicative of future performance, and there is no guarantee of future success. For additional information, visit www.barrons.com.