April, May and June were busy on the North American wealth management front, with firms such as Raymond James being standouts in terms of moves.

Wealth advisor Jason Fertitta and his team created a new wealth manager, called Americana Partners, partnering with Dynasty Financial Partners. Fertitta worked at Morgan Stanley from 2008 as a managing director and private wealth advisor, overseeing more than $6 billion of client assets. Based in Houston, Fertitta is the the firm's president, and heads a team of 11 professionals including several financial advisors. The advisors are: Billy Busch, senior managing director, based in Austin; formerly executive director, private wealth advisor, Morgan Stanley;  Robert Wellington, chief financial officer, based in Houston; formerly SVP, private wealth advisor, Morgan Stanley; Sheldon Busch, CFP®, managing director, based in Austin; formerly VP, financial advisor at Morgan Stanley; Josh Caltrider, CIMA®, MD, based in Dallas; formerly VP, financial advisor from Morgan Stanley; Johnathan Schnitzer, private wealth advisor, based in Houston; and Ben Athens, private wealth advisor, based in Houston.

Argent Trust Company appointed Steve Gutermuth as senior vice president and wealth advisor in its Louisville office. He reports to Nicole Nally, Argent’s Kentucky market president. Gutermuth, who has provided investment and financial services to high net worth clients for 30 years, concentrates on new business development, investments and comprehensive advisory services.

Citi Private Bank created the new role of chairman for its North America private bank. It named existing senior figure Tracey Warson to the post. Warson, head of Citi Private Bank, North America, continued as a member of the global leadership team and reported to Peter Charrington. Warson moved back to San Francisco to build the bank's partnerships in California. At Citi since 2010, Warson previously worked at US Trust, taking on a senior western region role and then, in 2014, becoming American region head. She created the Office of the Client Experience, and led development projects such as Leadership For Tomorrow. Separately, the private bank's Law Firm Group became a distinct segment, led by Naz Vahid, who reports to Charrington. 

Financial advisor Pete Babilla, overseeing around $100 million of client brokerage and advisory assets, joined HighPoint Planning Advisors, a firm using platforms of LPL Financial. He was previously at Morgan Stanley. Babilla operates from the Downers Grove, Illinois office, one of HighPoint’s eight locations.

US-based digital financial planning and services firm Facet Wealth appointed Paul Martin as its chief technology officer. Martin most recently served as CTO for Workspace.com. Prior to his role at Workspace, Martin led Sequoia Software. His role involved leading the business to an initial public offering; Sequoia was eventually bought by Citrix Systems.

RBC Wealth Management appointed former Raymond James figure, Harold "Chip" Green, a financial advisor and senior vice president. Based in the Sugar Land office, Texas, he manages about $120 million in retail and institutional assets, equating to $1.1 million in production. The Texas complex is led by Andy Teller.

International law firm Butler Snow opened its latest office in Charleston, South Carolina, adding Kenyatta L Gardner, Stephen P Groves and Bradish J Waring. The lawyers practice with the firm’s tort, transportation and specialized litigation group.

David Williams, who manages the ESOP fiduciary services team at Argent Trust Company in Atlanta, was appointed to the fiduciary advisory committee of the ESOP Association. The trade organization advocates and educates people about employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) — a form of retirement plan often offered at closely-held companies which give employees an ownership interest.

Raymond James appointed Pedro Suriel as vice president, diversity and inclusion. His role involves partnering with the leader of the Financial Advisor Networks (Network for Women Advisors, Black Financial Advisors Network, and the Pride Financial Advisors Network) and chairing the Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Group). Suriel joined from diversity and inclusion consulting firm Cook Ross, where he was managing director of client services. He previously served as managing director/partner of Accenture’s diversity and inclusion practices in North America, the culmination of more than 20 years with the firm.

Raymond James recruited a team of advisors - Gus Panos, Jason Firek, CFP®, and John Gaynor, CPFA, CRPC® - to join its employee broker/dealer business in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The advisor trio operates as Panos Firek Wealth Management. They joined from Merrill Lynch, where they previously managed more than $400 million in client assets and had over $4 million in annual production. Other joiners were financial planning consultant Jennifer Pulcini, senior client service associate Nicole Yates, and practice business manager Amanda Fredericks. 

Raymond James appointed Debbie Smith to join its employee broker/dealer business in Atlanta, Georgia. Smith joined Raymond James from SunTrust Investment Services, where she previously managed approximately $200 million in client assets. Joining her at the firm’s Atlanta Buckhead office is Deborah Hassan, senior registered client service associate. They serve families, retirees, business owners, women executives and non-profits with investment management and long-term financial planning services.

The chief investment strategist at Raymond James, Jeff Saut, retired. Saut is 69. The firm’s investment strategy team is led by chief investment officer Larry Adam, who joined in November 2018. He was previously Deutsche Bank’s CIO for the Americas and global chief investment strategist.

A group of advisors in Texas collectively overseeing more than $240 million in assets joined Raymond James. The advisors, based in Corpus Christie, are Bruce Hoffman, Michelle Orcutt and Matt Paul; they join Raymond James Financial Services, which is the firm’s independent broker/dealer. The advisors formed a new partnership, Coastal Bend Wealth Partners. Their clients include business owners, retirees, families and individuals. Joining them at the firm is Barbara Inman, senior client associate.

Raymond James also appointed Gregg Stupinski as manager of Raymond James & Associates’ North Florida Complex. Stupinski joined RJA from Morgan Stanley, where he previously served as complex director in Southwest Florida. Prior to that, Stupinski spent 11 years as a successful financial advisor with Smith Barney in Sebring, Florida, before moving into branch manager and regional sales manager roles in 2006.

Saltmarsh, Cleaveland and Gund, a CPA-led business advisory firm in the south eastern US, appointed Wynne E Baker as a director in its financial institution advisory group. Baker, who has more than 40 years of industry experienced, advised financial institutions through stages from consulting on how they obtain bank charters to buying failed banks from the FDIC, for example. He specializes in advisory services, relationship management, industry training and public speaking for the firm.

Buck, a consulting, administration, and technology services firm specializing in pensions and employee benefits, announced a range of appointments. Peter Dean joined from Broadstone as a senior investment consultant. Jamie Patterson joined from PwC as a principal and senior investment consultant. For over 20 years, Patterson has been advising clients on strategic investment issues. Jenny Richards joins from BBS as a senior consulting actuary. Stuart Cameron joined from XPS as a principal and senior benefit consultant.

Bank of America Private Bank made two hires to bolster its work in the area of philanthropy and the non-profit sector. It hired a senior institutional sales director in the Southeast market, as well as an institutional sales director in the Mid-Atlantic market. Ben Clark and Ryan Robinson, the new appointees, report to Bernard Reidy, national philanthropic sales executive. 

Clark joined Bank of America’s Southeast team as a senior institutional sales director, based in Ponte Verde, Florida. Clark has over 18 years of experience in the institutional investment services marketplace and joined the firm in 2015 as a member of Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Global Institutional Consulting Group. Prior to joining the firm, Clark served under SunTrust Bank for 16 years, holding various senior-level posts in their Institutional Investment Solutions division.

Robinson joined the Mid-Atlantic team as an institutional sales director, working with Clark and Lawson. Most recently, Robinson was a regional director at SEI where he was responsible for working with non-profit clients in the Central North and Southeast United States. Robinson is based in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.

Macquarie Capital, the corporate advisory, capital markets and principal investment arm of Australia-listed Macquarie Group, named Mark Buchanan as managing director and head of North American family office coverage.

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Buchanan has nearly 20 years of experience advising public and private clients on strategic transactions such as mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity capital raisings, financings, as well as principal investing. He built a leading family office franchise at BMO Financial Group, where he was an MD focused on private enterprises. Before BMO, he held advisory positions at Credit Suisse.

Dynasty Financial Partners appointed Eric Castillo as chief technology officer, reporting to Ed Swenson, the firm’s chief operating officer. He previously worked from the RIA, Stelac Advisory Services, where he was chief technology and operating officer. During his 12 years there, he designed and developed a custom, integrated wealth management platform covering data aggregation, reporting, rebalancing, operations, CRM and compliance. Earlier in his career, he worked as a financial advisor at Morgan Stanley and in emerging markets institutional sales at Lehman Brothers. He received his BA from Harvard University.

Alex Brown, a division of Raymond James, appointed client advisor Joseph M Hubbell to join the firm’s Park Avenue, New York, office. Hubbell has nearly 35 years of industry experience in wealth management, private banking and capital markets. He held several positions in branch management, sales management, investment advisory and institutional fixed income at firms including UBS and JP Morgan Securities. 

Ethic, a US-based asset manager focused on ideas such as environmentally sustainable money management, appointed former Goldman Sachs senior figure Alex Papageorgis as its new head of quantitative investments. Papageorgis is based in New York City. At Goldman Sachs he spent his career to date working in its quantitative investment strategies segment, a group in the investment management division. Most recently he served as a vice president within QIS’ customized beta strategies team, managing bespoke smart-beta, tax-efficient, environmentally and socially responsible portfolios for ultra-high net worth and institutional clients.

Advisor Steve Melen joined the broker-dealer and corporate registered advisor platforms of LPL Financial. He joined from Morgan Stanley, where he served about $100 million of client brokerage and advisory assets.

LPL Financial brought O&R Partners, made up of California-based financial advisors Dave Olivieri CFP® and Wes Rowlands, to its broker-dealer and corporate registered investment advisor platforms. The advisors managed approximately $155 million of client brokerage, advisory and retirement plan assets. They joined from VOYA Financial.

AdCap, a family office based in Cleveland, Ohio, appointed Chaya Slain as chief investment officer. She previously worked at another family office, Parkwood, from 2007. Slain was a director at Parkwood. Prior to this, she was an associate at Goldman Sachs from 1998 to 2003. The family office was founded and is now headed by entrepreneur Joel Adelman.

Boston Private appointed Colleen Graham as general counsel. Graham was previously at NextGen Compliance, a legal and compliance advisory firm she founded and led as CEO. She reports to Boston Private chief executive Anthony DeChellis. Prior to her time at NextGen Compliance, Graham, who has more than 30 years of experience in regulatory, legal and compliance fields, founded and was co-CEO of Signac, a fintech joint venture between Credit Suisse and Palantir Technologies. She has worked at Credit Suisse, serving as managing director and head of compliance for the Americas among other executive management roles in private banking and global markets.

Fiduciary Trust Company International appointed Michael A Cabanas as regional managing director for its South Florida office in Coral Gables. Linda Krouner, his predecessor as regional managing director, now splits her time between Fiduciary Trust’s offices in Coral Gables and New York. Cabanas originally served as a business development officer for Fiduciary Trust International of the South from 2006 to 2013, and re-joined the firm as managing director and head of relationship development in 2016. Earlier in his career, Cabanas was executive vice president and head of wealth management at Coconut Grove Bank. He also held senior banking positions at BNY Mellon Wealth Management and JP Morgan Private Bank.

International accountancy and business advisory services firm EisnerAmper appointed Stanley Barsky as a principal to join its tax group. He will be concentrating on federal income taxation, including issues relating to mergers and acquisitions, transaction advisory services, structuring inbound and outbound investments, and complex client matters. Barsky is based in a New York City and he is a member of the American and the New York State bar associations. He is also a sought-after thought leader for various tax and legal publications.

Lear Investment Management, a Dallas-based investment advisor, appointed James A Warner as managing director. This formalizes a working relationship that started in September last year when Warner started working with Lear on a consultative basis. Warner most recently served as founder and chief executive of Black Ox Advisors, a financial and investment advisory firm. 

American International Group, the US-listed insurer, appointed Kathleen Zortman as president and chief executive of its private client group for general insurance. Zortman reports to Peter Zaffino, CEO of AIG General Insurance and global chief operating Officer, AIG. Based in New York, she also manages the high net worth product lines, including personal auto, homeowners and umbrella policies. Prior to this, Zortman was at QBE Insurance Group where she served as president of property and casualty, North America and oversaw the largest of QBE’s four business lines.

Deloitte US elected Joseph Ucuzoglu as chief executive and Janet Foutty as board chair as part of a leadership succession process that takes place every four years. Ucuzoglu and Foutty succeeded the Deloitte US CEO Cathy Engelbert and chairman Mike Fucci.

New York-based Fred Alger & Company appointed Kate Stafford, CFA, as vice president, director of alternatives business development. Among other roles, she has prime responsibility for Alger’s distribution efforts in the family office space. Stafford worked in the alternative investments industry for more than 16 years. Most recently, she served as head of investor relations at Tenaron Capital Management and prior to that held the same position at WCG Management.

Pacific Northwest-based firm Firenze Wealth Management joined the broker-dealer and investment advisor platform of LPL Financial. The advisors at Firenze are Carrie Mullins, Sara Tanner, Susan Perry, Sierra Swidrak, Davis Siliga and Kalin Rooney. The team, which joined from Foresters Financial, oversees about $390 million of client brokerage, advisory and retirement plan assets.

Facet Wealth appointed Tyler Craig as its new planning team lead. Craig is a 14-year veteran of Vanguard and senior manager of its Personal Advisor Services business. Most recently, he led the mass affluent and high net worth teams of Vanguard’s Personal Advisor Services, managing more than 11,000 clients and over 100 CFP® professionals on the West Coast.

Argent Trust Company hired Morgan Henry Gearhart as vice president and trust officer in the company’s Birmingham office. She reports to Ken Alderman, president of Argent Trust. Prior to this, she worked at Regions Financial in Birmingham, where she had been a trust officer since 2014.

Rockefeller Capital Management appointed Charles Royce as a senior advisor to the Rockefeller Global Family Office. Royce has more than five decades of experience in the financial services industry.

PineBridge Investments, the asset management house, named former Soros Fund Management senior figure Tracie E Ahern as chief financial officer. Ahern replaced David Kolker, who until recently held the role since 2010. Ahern, based in New York, reports to PineBridge chief operating officer Michael J Karpik. Ahern has more than 28 years in the investment management industry.

Cushing® Asset Management, a US investment advisor focusing mainly on energy and natural resources firms, appointed John Alban as chief executive. Alban has more than 30 years of industry experience, mostly recently as partner and chief operating officer at the firm. Cushing is based in Dallas, Texas.

May
LPL Financial said financial advisors Brian Davis and Brian Remson joined the firm, aligning with existing firm Credent Wealth Management. The advisors are certified financial planners. Davis and Remson reported having served approximately $110 million of client brokerage and advisory assets and joined from Raymond James Financial Services.

Glenmede, the privately-held US wealth manager, appointed Suzanne Weston as relationship manager for wealth advisory in its Palm Beach, Florida office. Weston reports to Howard Wilson, regional office director of Florida. She previously worked at Chilton Trust Company, where she was senior vice president and head of fiduciary services from 2016. 

CAIS, a technology firm linking financial advisors and managers of hedge funds, private equity and other alternative investments, added four senior-level team members. Marco Riedl joined as chief product officer, Young Yu was appointed as managing director of corporate development to focus on the expansion of CAIS’s strategic partnerships and third-party platform integrations, Nicholas Millikan was appointed as director of investment strategy, and Chris Crawford was appointed as chief operating officer. Riedl has over 14 years’ experience of working with digital products, most recently at eBay as the director of Mobile Product and Technology. Yu has worked in investment banking and business strategy, having previously worked at UBS, Deutsche Bank, RidgeWorth Investments, and most recently, Fosun Group.

Raymond James brought in financial advisors Giovanni Duran, Joseph Cataldo and Nick Penna, to its independent broker/dealer arm. They are based in Basking Ridge, New Jersey. The advisor trio operate as IronRidge Wealth Management Group. They joined from Morgan Stanley, where they managed approximately $520 million in client assets. Lauren Lamartine, client services manager for IRWMG and RJFS registered sales assistant, has also joined them.

LPL Financial said Texas-based father-son practice Brookshire and Brookshire Wealth Management joined its broker-dealer and corporate registered investment advisor platforms. Brent and BJ Brookshire, father and son, respectively, reported having served approximately $100 million of client brokerage and advisory assets. They joined from Merrill Lynch.

Rockefeller Capital Management, which is building out its West Coast presence, added its first members of the San Francisco-based wealth advisory team. Bruce Tenenbaum joined the Rockefeller Global Family Office as a managing director. He was joined by Andy Lam. Both men had previously worked at UBS.

Citi Private Bank appointed Pierre Couture as head of retirement plan solutions for its law firm group. Couture serves as the lead investment counselor and senior expert supporting the group’s institutional businesses. Prior to this, Couture worked at Voya Investment Management in New York where he was a senior vice president and customized solutions specialist. He worked at Voya for 12 years and, prior to that, at Mercer in New York as a pension/investment actuary and senior actuarial analyst.

Michigan Retirement Advisors joined LPL Financial’s broker-dealer and corporate registered investment advisor platforms. The team reported having served approximately $140 million of client brokerage and advisory assets. They joined from FSC Securities Corporation, part of Advisor Group.

Trace Wealth Advisors, led by Peter Heilbron, joined LPL Financial’s corporate registered investment advisor platform. Heilbron reported having served approximately $1.1 billion of client advisory assets. His business is based in Sherman Oaks, California.

Fin-tech specialist InvestCloud named Will Bailey as chief strategy officer to focus on product expansion for the Los Angeles-based firm. In the newly-created role, Bailey heads development on emerging product initiatives. Bailey joined InvestCloud as a founding member in 2010, and will relocate from the group’s London office to be based in San Francisco. He previously led InvestCloud’s EMEA expansion as EVP of Europe and Innovation.

Raymond James brought financial advisors William and Tim Hickey to its employee advisor broker/dealer business. The men operate as Seyle Hickey Wealth Management of Raymond James and joined Raymond James’ Allentown, Pennsylvania, office from Merrill Lynch, where they previously managed approximately $1 billion in client assets and had $3.6 million in annual production.

Spearhead, a US firm serving ultra-high net worth investors, family offices and private placement markets, appointed Chris Fineburg joined Spearhead's team as MD for strategic relationships. Prior to joining Spearhead, Fineburg was employed by Greycourt & Co for 12 years, serving as an advisor on $1.4 billion of discretionary and non-discretionary assets in both US and non-US domiciles. Fineburg specialized in working with structurally complex ultra-high net worth families.  

Calvert Research and Management, which is a subsidiary of Eaton Vance, appointed John K S Wilson as vice president and director of corporate engagement, a newly-formed role based in Washington, DC. He reports to John H Streur, president and chief executive. Prior to this, Wilson was head of governance and research at Cornerstone Capital Group in New York.

California-based PIMCO, the renowned fixed-income management firm with $1.76 trillion of assets under management (as at the end of March) named Nobel Prize winning economist Dr Richard Thaler as senior advisor on retirement and behavioral economics. Dr Thaler, is the Charles R Walgreen Distinguished Service Professor of Behavioral Science and Economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 2017. He is also a co-founder and partner at Fuller & Thaler Asset Management, which uses behavioral finance to manage portfolios of small-cap US equities.

Wescott Financial Advisory Group, which is based in Philadelphia with over $2 billion in assets under management, hired Carrie Delgott as its new chief operating officer and chief compliance officer. Most recently, Delgott led the transformation of Vanguard’s procurement services and accounts payable functions to a new, global enterprise supply management organization as the director of program management.

LPL Financial added advisor Graham Nelson, serving about $130 million of client money, to its B/D and corporate RIA platforms. Nelson joined from Cadaret Grant & Co. Nelson co-founded the Clinton, New York-based Mohawk Valley Capital Management in 2004.

A wealth management team in Florida, overseeing about $331 million in client money, joined Raymond James. The advisors - Marc Hallick, Romain Spell, Tyler Jackson and Andrea Patrick - moved over to Raymond James & Associates, the firm’s traditional employee broker/dealer. 

RBC Wealth Management appointed David Hollenberg to join its Forham Park Office in New Jersey as a managing director - financial advisor. Hollenberg, who has more than 24 years of industry experience, all spent at Merrill Lynch, manages more than $250 million in client assets. Hollenberg graduated from the University of South Florida, and upon graduation was commissioned as an officer in the United States Marine Corps, serving as a Marine Corps Aviator. Other joiners were Debra Barnes, senior business associate, and Lorraine Pescatore, senior client associate.

Rockefeller Capital Management appointed Elaine Powell as a managing director and senior client advisor to the Rockefeller multi-family office division of the Rockefeller global family office. Powell is based in Rockefeller’s Saratoga Springs, New York office. Prior to this, Powell was a senior client advisor at Ayco, a unit of Goldman Sachs, where she led a team that advised ultra-high net worth clients. 
SunTrust Banks opened a new private wealth management office in Boston. Charles Swarns leads the Boston team. Rick Tesh, a client advisor in the Greensboro, North Carolina office of SunTrust Private Wealth Management, relocated to Boston as part of the New England build-out. He has worked with high net worth clients for more than 20 years, providing investment, credit, insurance and capital markets solutions. Daniel Larsen also joined as a client advisor. Larsen has 20 years of experience serving high net worth families and institutional clients in Boston, most recently with Alex Brown. Larsen specializes in business transition planning, retirement income planning and goals-based financial planning.

SunTrust Banks also added a team of four wealth management professionals to its business in Naples, Florida. The team serve high net worth and ultra-HNW individuals and families throughout Naples, Fort Myers, Bonita Springs and Marco Island. The group is led by Amy West, a certified trust and financial advisor with almost 20 years of wealth management experience. Before that, West was senior vice president and managing director, leading the Florida division of Hawthorn, the UHNW segment of PNC Bank. Joining West were Greg Hunter, Tanya Cutrone and Manon Yost.

UBS made a top-level appointment for its wealth management operations in North America, naming Jolyne Caruso-FitzGerald as divisional vice chair in global wealth management, concentrating on its ultra-high net worth business in the US. Most recently, Caruso-FitzGerald was chief executive of The Alberleen Group, an investment and merchant banking firm she founded in 2010.

Argent Trust Company appointed Alan Tarver as senior portfolio manager, based in Austin, TX. He reports to John McCollum, chief investment officer. A CFA® charter holder, Tarver has more than 20 years of investment management experience, most recently with Frost Bank in Austin and San Antonio. 

TAG, the provider of software and accounting solutions, added the number of staff working on its outsourced offering for family offices. Appointments included Jennifer Silva-Reis (accounts payable supervisor); Jocelyn Pereira (accounts payable lead), and Jana Oles (accounts payable lead). 

Ethic Inc, an asset management platform focused on sustainable investing ideas, appointed exchange-traded fund industry figure Jennifer Grancio to join its advisory board. Grancio has almost two decades of financial services industry experience, having held senior executive positions within BlackRock’s iShares ETF brand for more than 18 years. She went on to lead its US and European distribution efforts, and later acted as global head of marketing and partnerships for BlackRock’s index business.

Raymond James welcomed Houston, Texas-based financial advisors Lori Siegel and Robert Russo to its independent broker/dealer. The duo, advisors and founding partners of Centrix Wealth Partners, joined Raymond James from UBS. At that firm Siegel and Russo managed about $300 million in client assets. Other joiners were senior client service associates Cher Rudolphi and Shelli Cummings, and client service associate Chris Mack.

HarbourVest Partners, a global private markets asset manager, appointed Vinay Mendiratta as a managing director. Based in Boston, Mendiratta focuss on business development with distribution partners in the US to help private clients achieve their private markets objectives. Mendiratta has nearly 30 years of experience in private equity and alternatives distribution in both the wealth management and institutional channels. 

June
Texas-based Salter Financial Group returned to the broker/dealer and RIA platforms of LPL Financial, having come over from Cetera Financial Group. The firm, based in Beaumont, oversees about $100 million in assets. Founded in 2006 by financial advisor Phillip Salter, the firm includes financial advisors Blake Worthey and Clovis Van Houten, as well as assistant Dianne Walker. 

Raymond James brought Justin G Davi, to Raymond James Financial Services (RJFS) – the firm’s independent broker/dealer – in Fort Collins, Colorado. Davis joined from Wells Fargo Advisors, where he previously managed about $120 million in client assets. Upon joining Raymond James, Davis formed Impact Financial Strategies.

The CFA Institute appointed Margaret Franklin, CFA, as its new president and chief executive, the first time a woman held that role in the 73-year history of the institute. She succeeds CEO Paul Smith. Franklin has been in senior roles in the investment management industry for 28 years, most recently as president of BNY Mellon Wealth Management in Canada and head of International Wealth Management in North America. She has worked at firms including Marret Private Wealth, State Street Global Advisors and Barclays Global Investors.

Rockefeller Capital Management appointed Carissa Morganstein as a senior vice president and client advisor in the Rockefeller Global Family Office. Joining from Ayco, the family office unit of Goldman Sachs, Morganstein is based in the firm’s offices in Saratoga Springs, New York. Morganstein joined Ayco in 2010 and is a graduate of the University of Rochester and received her JD from Pace University School of Law.

Argent Trust Company has opened an office in Baton Rouge, taking its footprint to 12 states. Trust officers David Thibodeaux and Dominique Richard focus on growing Argent’s presence throughout the Baton Rouge metropolitan area, reporting to Louisiana market president Gary Moore. 

Argent Trust Company promoted Mollie Seymour to Birmingham market president. She reports to Argent Trust Company president Ken Alderman and is responsible for directing and managing all fiduciary activity for the Birmingham team. With 14 years of experience in the trust industry, Seymour came to Argent from Regions Private Wealth Management in Birmingham, where she was vice president and trust advisor. She joined Argent in 2018 as senior vice president and trust officer in the Birmingham office.

BMO Wealth Management named Shannon Kennedy as the global head of its family office arm. Kennedy leads the global buildout of BMO Family Office with a team of more than 200 professionals. She has 30 years of wealth management experience, most recently with BNY Mellon Wealth Management where she served as president, US Markets-Southwest.

Legacy Capital, a registered investment advisor based in Arkansas, named Robert C Roberts as chief operating officer, a new role for the firm. After spending eight years as a CPA with KPMG and Arthur Andersen, Roberts joined Baptist Health in 1988 as assistant vice president of finance. In 2008, he was promoted to senior vice president and CFO, and in 2014 was named executive vice president and CFO.

Global consulting organization Sionic, which recently rebranded after the two businesses of Sionic Advisors and Catalyst Development Limited combined, appointed a chief executive, Craig Sher. Sher co-founded Sionic Advisors in 2014.

Fiduciary Trust Company International, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Franklin Templeton, appointed Bryan D Kirk as managing director and trust counsel in San Mateo, California. Kirk joined the firm in June 2015. Prior to Fiduciary Trust, Kirk was a partner at San Francisco-based Botto Law Group. 

Fortis Financial, the parent company of Fortis Private Bank, appointed Lyne Andrich to join the board of directors. Andrich has more than 29 years of experience in the banking industry. Since 1997, she held various positions at CoBiz Financial, most recently as the chief operating officer and chief financial officer prior to its merger with BOK Financial in 2018. 

Active asset manager Polar Capital named Alastair Barrie as managing director, North America, in a newly-created role designed to drive US expansion. Barrie supports CEO Gavin Rochussen to develop Polar's North American business. Barrie joined Polar Capital after a decade at Martin Currie, most recently as head of US wealth management sales. 

Raymond James brought over a group of advisors in Dallas, Texas. Alongside other joiners, they oversee about $835 million in client money. The advisors are David A McBee Jr, Michael M Mikeska, Michael Peschel and Brittany D Smith.

Sam Brownell, founder of Stratus Wealth Advisors (formerly Stratus Capital Management), completed the requirements to become a Certified Valuation Analyst® from the National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts. Brownell, who earned an MBA from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, founded Stratus Capital Management in 2013 as a fee-only registered investment advisory firm.

Balentine, a Southeast-based wealth management firm, appointed Mark Bell as its family offices services and private capital head. A prominent figure in the Atlanta business community, Bell is experienced in asset management, private capital, and family office management. His background includes leadership roles at Diversified Trust, BlueArc Capital, D E Shaw & Co, and McKinsey & Co.
Riskalyze, a California-based firm that helps wealth managers fit clients’ risk tolerances and goals with how portfolios are managed, named Drew DiMarino as executive vice president of sales, and Lori Hardwick as chairman. DiMarino joined the company’s senior leadership team to head its sales organization. Hardwick, a Riskalyze board member for over a year and with a background at major financial firms, expanded her role.

Previously, DiMarino was head of sales at eMoney Advisor and joined the company in 2010. He led the company’s sales efforts in building the firm prior to its acquisition by Fidelity. Most recently, he led sales and marketing at Apiture, a cloud platform for banks and credit unions. He starts his new role on July 15, based in the firm’s east coast hub in Atlanta, Georgia, and will report to Aaron Klein, chief executive.

Multi-family office Stonehage Fleming, which has recently expanded its reach into the North American market, appointed Darrell King as director to join its global business development team. King previously worked at Royal Bank of Canada. 

Wells Fargo appointed Nico Marais as chief executive and head of Wells Fargo Asset Management, with immediate effect. Most recently, Marais was co-CEO of the asset management business and previously was WFAM president and head of multi-asset solutions. He replaced Kristi Mitchem, who left WFAM in January this year.

The Family Office at Synovus appointed industry veteran D Scott Bowen as director of portfolio management. Bowen was previously senior vice president, director of investments, First Citizens Bank. He reports to Mike Sluder, chief investment officer, The Family Office at Synovus. Bowen has more than 25 years of institutional and private wealth management experience, including service with SunTrust, Wells Fargo, Regions, and Prudential.

Fiduciary Trust Company International, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Franklin Templeton, appointed former UBS senior figure Christine Brown as trust counsel and managing director. She serves clients in Northern California. Brown has more than 15 years of experience advising high net worth individuals and families in Northern California.  

LPL Financial, the investment advisory and broker-dealer house, said advisors Jake Murray, Mike Canavan and Jill Phillips of Teton Wealth Management joined its platforms. The advisors serve about $185 million of client brokerage and advisory assets and joined from Waddell & Reed Financial Advisors.

US wealth management group Tiedemann Advisors expanded its west coast coverage with a new office in Portland, Oregon, adding to its offices in San Francisco and Seattle. Two advisors, Brad Harrison and Kate Donnelly, are based there.

US wealth management firm Cresset brought in four ex-JP Morgan private banking senior managers to join its Minneapolis office. They are Patrick Mahoney, partner and managing director; Dick Hall, partner and MD; Jason Heckler, partner and MD; and Tassy Hannemann, vice president and client relationship specialist. 

Six wealth management partners who collectively were called Luminous Capital – with a total of $17 billion of assets - defected from First Republic Bank to create two separate registered investment advisor firms. David Hou ($4.4 billion), Mark Sear ($2.9 billion), Robert Skinner ($4.1 billion), Alan Zafran ($3.9 billion) and Eric Harrison ($1.9 billion) formed Evoke Wealth in Los Angeles and IEQ Capital in Monterey.

Raymond James hired finance professional Andrew Gitkin as managing director and co-head of the firm’s healthcare investment banking practice. Along with managing director Riley Sweat, Gitkin co-leads the firm’s healthcare investment banking efforts. He is based in Los Angeles. Gitkin joined Raymond James from Piper Jaffray where he led the West Coast biotech investment banking practice.
Prior to Piper Jaffray, Gitkin was an investment banker with Moelis & Company.

Raymond James & Associates, the employee advisor broker/dealer arm of Raymond James welcomed financial advisors William C Miller; Dominick DiBona and Leonard Boniface to its offices in Northeast markets of Garden City, New Haven, and Morristown. Miller joined the New Haven, Connecticut, office from Merrill Lynch, where he managed approximately $160 million in client assets. 
DiBona came to Raymond James’ Garden City, New York, office from UBS, where he managed over $190 million in client assets. Joining him at the firm was senior registered administrative associate Nikki Xanthoudakis. 

Facet Wealth appointed Paul Marino as its new head of advisor partnerships. Prior to this, he was director, national sales and head of RIA and Bank Trust at Russell Investments. Before his time at Russell, Marino served as senior vice president, head of sales, RIA and Bank Trust at Amundi Pioneer Investment Management.