With a big-news story at Hightower – a new CEO and the departure of its predecessor – February was an eventful month in the North American wealth management sector.

In unquestionably the largest story of the month, Bob Oros left Hightower as CEO and it replaced him with a Goldman Sachs lifer, Larry Restieri, most recently CEO of Ayco, the Goldman unit that manages portfolios of corporate executives.

Billy Obregon was appointed as head of private clients Americas and CEO of Vontobel Swiss Financial Advisers. Obregon, based in New York, has over 20 years of experience in the financial industry and a track record in wealth management and advisory services. Prior to joining Vontobel SFA, Obregon worked at Deutsche Bank, where he was responsible for covering US and Latin American clients.

Louisiana-based Argent Financial Group appointed Dan Bryan as senior vice president and director of trust services in its Atlanta office. Bryan has more than 35 years of financial services experience, primarily in trust and wealth management. Prior to this, Bryan worked at Regions Bank, where he served as fiduciary business leader and senior vice president in its private wealth management division. Before that, he spent 17 years at SunTrust Bank as fiduciary executive and senior vice president. He reports to chief investment officer John McCollum.

Citi Private Bank appointed Chris Biotti, a former Bank of America Private Bank senior figure, as its North America team head. Biotti, who has more than 25 years’ private banking and wealth experience, worked at BoA’s private bank for 13 years, most recently as Northeast division executive. Previously, Biotti held management positions in private banking for Neuberger Berman and Lehman Brothers in San Francisco. Earlier in his career, Biotti played professional ice hockey. 

The US business of international financial advisory firm Hoxton Wealth appointed a former senior US regulator Justin Burse as its new US compliance chief. Burse most recently served as the Deputy Commissioner and then the Acting Commissioner for the Kentucky Department of Financial Institutions, where he oversaw regulated entities, including banks, credit unions, investment advisors, broker-dealers and the mortgage industry.  

Hoxton also opened its first office in Mexico City with a team of four. The team is led by newly-appointed country manager Aaron Vickery. Vickery started his career in finance in 2003 working as an analyst for St James’s Place in London. He divides his time between the US and Mexico helping professionals and high net worth families to build and protect their wealth.

Rockefeller Global Family Office, the wealth management division of Rockefeller Capital Management, added Meyer DeMartini Wealth Partners, based in San Francisco. The group used to work at Merrill Lynch Private Wealth Management. Meyer DeMartini is led by managing director and private advisor Lorna Meyer. The group also includes senior vice presidents and private advisors James DeMartini, Andrew Meyer and William Meyer, and vice presidents and senior client relationship managers Becky Chen and Keri Chan. The team reports to Brian Riley, Western divisional director of Rockefeller Global Family Office.  

Tolleson Wealth Management appointed Peter Chilian, an experienced industry figure, as its new president and chief investment officer. Chilian joined the firm’s board in 2024. Following more than two decades at JP Morgan, Chilian’s most recent tenure was as managing director and head of Texas coverage at BDT & MSD Partners.

Private Advisor Group, a US wealth manager, expanded a program designed to help advisors scale up their businesses. As part of the change, PAG added John Farnham as a director of advisor growth and engagement. Farnham, who has over 15 years of industry experience, served in business development and relationship management roles at LPL Financial and other large RIA firms. 

Domain Money Advisors, a US financial planning platform and RIA, added three certified financial planners to its roster of professionals: Alicija Dearth, Christine Damico and Michael LaCivita.

Cresset hired Melissa Karetny as executive managing director and chief people officer. Karetny has more than 20 years of experience as a human resources leader. Most recently, she completed a transition role with JP Morgan Chase supporting the integration of talent and human resources processes following the acquisition of First Republic Bank. She is based in San Francisco.

US-based investment house Baron Capital appointed Jamie Stone as global head of product development. He has more than 35 years of experience on Wall Street, including nearly 16 years at Baron Capital. 

Bank of America Private Bank appointed Mike Marino as Georgia market executive. Previously, he worked at JP Morgan Private Bank, where he was vice chairman of its South Atlantic region.

Chicago-based Gresham Partners promoted Irene Zhang to investment director. Zhang, who joined the firm in 2020, is a senior member of the private team reporting to Sean Warrington, partner and head of private investments. Prior to Gresham, Zhang worked in PwC’s Deals practice, advising Fortune 500 clients on complex accounting issues during M&A transactions. 

Luma Financial Technologies appointed Jeff Schwantz joined as its chief growth officer. Schwantz, who has worked in platform strategy, sales leadership, and successor success for 25 years, has served in executive roles at Pershing, Morningstar, eMoney and, most recently, as chief revenue officer (CRO) at Advisor360. 

Integrated Partners, an RIA, promoted Matt Ackermann to chief brand officer. He joined the firm in 2020 as chief content officer.

AssetMark a wealth management platform provider, appointed Doris Meister and Lisa Opoku to join its board of directors. Meister is a financial services CEO with experience in strategy, business transformation, finance, investments, and governance. Most recently, she served as chairman and CEO of Wilmington Trust.

Opoku, chief operating officer at FS Investments, has more than two decades of leadership experience in global financial services. Prior to joining FS Investments, Opoku held senior leadership positions at Goldman Sachs, including global head of the Goldman Sachs partner family office within asset and wealth.

Financial advisor Jeff Impey joined the branch channel of Ameriprise Financial, from LPL Financial, with $130 million in assets in Roseville, California. Impey has more than 18 years of experience in the financial services industry. 

CD&R appointed former Charles Schwab chief financial officer Peter Crawford as an operating advisor to CD&R funds. Crawford spent 23 years at Charles Schwab, holding a number of senior management positions. 

Georgia-chartered Synovus Bank named Walt Deriso as CEO and Hamilton Hilsman as president of The Family Office (TFO) at Synovus, respectively. Deriso reports to Wayne Akins, executive vice president, chief community banking and wealth services officer for Synovus, and Hilsman reports to Deriso.  

Deriso has been with Synovus for nearly a decade, most recently serving as senior vice president, director of strategic growth and family office solutions for TFO. Hilsman has more than 30 years of experience in the financial services industry, with 28 of those years at Synovus. He joined TFO in 2004.

Mercer Advisors appointed Alisa Maute in the newly-created role of executive managing director, head of client development. Maute was previously an executive vice president at LPL Financial where she worked with advisory firms across the country.

Financial advisor Ronnie Sansom joined the independent channel of Ameriprise Financial from Edward Jones with $110 million in assets. His practice is in Andalusia, Alabama and includes branch administrator Karen Philpott.

Milemarker, a technology platform working with independent broker-dealers and RIAs, appointed Kailash Duraiswami as its chief technology officer. Previously, Duraiswami founded Pantenix, an artificial intelligence platform that automates manual data-entry processes for alternative investments. 

Global business advisor EisnerAmper named Dean Peterson as international tax services leader. Peterson has more than 20 years of experience providing tax consulting and compliance solutions for privately and publicly held companies. 

Cetera Financial Group announced that Corporate Plans Retirement Strategies joined Cetera Wealth Partners. CRRS, led by partners Brian Vieselmeyer, Peter Swansen, Jr and founder Gerald M Mirra, provides financial planning and investment advice. The group joined Cetera from Equity Services and operates from White Plains, New York. Cetera Wealth Partners is a community within Cetera Advisor Networks.

AssetMark, a wealth management technology platform for financial advisors, appointed Alex Pape as its new chief technology and product officer. Pape reports to Lou Maiuri, chairman and group CEO of AssetMark. Pape most recently served as the global head of product for BlackRock’s Aladdin Wealth Tech Business. Muk Mehta, chief information officer, continues to report to Maiuri, overseeing the company’s advanced infrastructure, security, and data strategy.

Raymond James
The firm welcomed financial advisors Fred Arbusto and Ryan Vaughn to its independent advisor channel. As South County Financial Group in Wakefield, Rhode Island, the advisors provide financial planning to clients including business owners, families and those nearing or living in retirement. The team was previously at LPL Financial, where they managed around $110 million in client assets.

Anand Subramanian joined as head of private capital markets. Ken Novak transitioned to the newly-created role of head of private markets strategy for the private client group at Raymond James. Novak also serves as co-head of the alternative investments group alongside Chris Butler. The capital markets group is led by Kent Nelson.

Raymond James welcomed financial advisor Matt Schultz to its independent advisor channel, in Watford City, North Dakota.

Schultz joined the team at Midwest Wealth as Western division president, serving clients including business owners, families, retirees and farmers. Previously, he was affiliated with LPL Financial where he managed about $160 million in client assets.

Raymond James welcomed financial advisor Valerie Zwosta to the firm's employee advisor channel in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Zwosta arrived from Wells Fargo, where she managed about $110 million in client assets. She leads Zwosta Wealth Management of Raymond James.

Broadridge, a fintech firm, appointed Larry Conover as vice president, special advisor for proxy and corporate actions. Prior to this, Conover worked at Fidelity Investments, as vice president for the operations and services group. He has worked in financial services for more than 25 years. Based in New York, Conover reports to Swatika Rajaram, senior VP, head of US proxy and post-sale business.