October was a brisk month for North American moves and hires, with standout changes at iCapital, BNY Mellon, Raymond James, among others.

Endurance Advisory Partners, a US financial services firm based in Dallas, appointed a raft of senior figures to roles ranging from private equity to investment banking. The business is led by chief executive Stephen Curry.

The appointees:

Steven Patrick: A finance and strategy executive with more than 30 years of experience. Specialties: capital raising, M&A, liquidity, loans and securities, mortgage banking, MBS, GSE relationships, valuation, fixed income, credit, risk management and analytics.

Joseph Siegel: A senior corporate and investment banking professional with over 35 years of experience building credit platforms and generating revenue through banking advisory services. He has advised clients in leveraged finance, syndicated finance, private banking, credit and client management. Most recently, he served as Chief Banking Officer at a $2 billion regional bank. Prior to that, he was responsible for Corporate and Investment Banking Corporate Lending in North America for both BBVA and Compass Bank. 

Larry Gordon has worked in senior executive roles within the financial services industry for more than 25 years across the three lines of defense: customer facing; compliance; and independent review. 

Scott Flowers has almost 40 years in banking, with a specialty in retail and small business. 

Chad Patton has more than 25 years of work experience in the private equity and financial services industries. In recent years, he served in the C-suite at three of the top 20 residential mortgage banks in the country and was focused primarily on turnaround situations.

JP Morgan elected Phebe N Novakovic as a director of the company. Novakovic served as chairman and chief executive of General Dynamics Corporation from 2013. Since joining GDC in 2001, she served in several executive roles including president and chief operating officer, and executive vice president for Marine Systems. In addition, Novakovic serves on the boards of Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern University, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation, and the National Military Family Association.

Fiduciary Trust International appointed Julia C Wirts, as a portfolio manager. Wirts was most recently an investment advisor at Hawthorn, PNC Family Wealth® in Philadelphia. Previously, she was a portfolio analyst and international investment manager at Philadelphia International Advisors, a spinoff from the Glenmede Trust Company. Wirts began her career as an associate at The Pew Charitable Trusts in Philadelphia.

Investment firm Cambridge Associates appointed Charles B Grace to join its private client practice. Grace, who serves as managing director of family enterprise solutions, is based in New York, where he reports to Mary Pang, head the global private client practice. Grace has been active for 20 years in the family office community advising ultra-wealthy families and serving multigenerational families and family offices. He is joining CA from the Family Office Exchange. Prior to FOX, he spent almost 10 years working at $1 billion multi-family and single-family offices.

FlowStone Partners, an investment firm focused on private equity, hired Mark Phillip as managing director, having previously worked at MatlinPatterson Asset Management, the credit platform.

Raymond James welcomed financial advisor Stuart “Stu” Malakoff to its independent advisor channel – in Bend, Oregon. Malakoff joined Mainspring Wealth Advisors – affiliated with the Raymond James business - from Merrill Lynch, where he managed more than $170 million in client assets. Joining him are registered client associate Awbrey Gould and branch associate Vicky Malakoff.

The firm welcomed financial advisor Mark Parker to Raymond James & Associates. Parker joined from UBS Financial Services, where he previously managed about $220 million in client assets. He joined RJA’s Memphis Ridgeway office, which is managed by David Rains and is part of the Memphis complex led by Field Norris. Parker was joined by senior financial planning consultant Ashley Towler and the team operates as Parker Wealth Advisory of Raymond James.

Raymond James said Roark Head, CFP®, and his team joined its independent advisor channel – in Fairbanks, Alaska. Head joined Raymond James and Concurrent, an advisor-owned partnership of independent practices affiliated with RJFS, from Wedbush Securities in Fairbanks, Alaska, where he managed more than $300 million in client assets, including outside assets, for a variety of clients. Joining Head were Deborah Combs, client services associate, and Austin Head, registered client service associate. Together the team operates as Head Retirement & Wealth Strategies.

The US firm also appointed Kirk Abrahamson and David Gray to join the firm’s employee advisor channel in West Des Moines, Iowa. Both men had previously worked at RBC Wealth Management. Raymond James welcomed advisors Scott Southerland, Jeff Cox, Mark Whitley and Josh Holby, collectively managing over $678 million in client assets, to Pinnacle Asset Management. PAM is the wealth management arm of Pinnacle Financial Partners and is affiliated with Raymond James. Through their new alignment, the Pinnacle advisors serve clients through Raymond James Financial Services from offices throughout Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Georgia.

The firm also onboarded financial advisor Renee Hof-Lacey to Raymond James & Associates in Birmingham, Michigan. Hof-Lacey joined the firm from Morgan Stanley, where she previously managed approximately $115 million in client assets for a variety of clients, including business owners, corporate executives (including an extensive network of executives for a large automotive company), families and individuals, retirees, and women investors. Joining her is registered client service associate Bradley Brandon. Together, they operate as Hof-Lacey Wealth Management of Raymond James.

iCapital Network, the global tech platform for alternative investments, made two senior European appointments – both formerly from Deutsche Bank - as part of its non-US expansion drive. It appointed Marco Bizzozero as head of international business, having previously worked as wealth management CEO for UniCredit, the Italian banking group. iCapital also named former Deutsche Bank figure – and a judge for the WealthBriefing European Awards – Tom Slocock. Bizzozero is based in Zurich, while Slocock is in London. 

Bizzozero is head of its international arm and is a member of the iCapital executive committee, reporting to Calcano. In this newly-created role, Bizzozero leads iCapital’s expansion into the European and Asian markets. Before his stint at UniCredit, Bizzozero was with Deutsche Bank for 14 years, where he most recently served as head of wealth management EMEA and CEO of Deutsche Bank Switzerland. 

Slocock joined as managing director and head of international product development and origination, reporting to Bizzozero. Slocock leads the development and launch of new investment products and manage the life cycle of existing offerings explicitly designed for the needs of the international marketplace. Slocock was with Deutsche Bank Wealth Management in London for more than 10 years, most recently serving as head of the global funds group and head of the global investment group. Prior to this, he was CEO of the UK Wealth Management business. Before joining Deutsche Bank, he was with Credit Suisse in London, most recently as managing director and head of international private banking.

Pitcairn appointed a new board member - Kevin A McNerney, a partner with the firm Human Capital Advisors. Prior to joining HCA, McNerney held executive management and board posts in the software, data analytics, and executive search industries. (Human Capital Advisors provides advisory services to CEOs, management teams and boards of directors.) McNerney has more than 30 years of executive management, advisory, and board experience serving public and private technology, human capital, strategic advisory, and executive search services firms.

JP Morgan named a new leader for its private banking business in central and south New Jersey. Managing director Rohit Mehrotra is new market team leader, based in Princeton. He reports to Alma DeMetropolis, president of the New Jersey market leadership team and market manager for the private bank. Mehrotra also leads the healthcare and life sciences franchise for the firm in the East region. 

Eric J Pan, who held senior regulatory posts in the US, was named chief executive and president of the Investment Company Institute. From 2011 to 2019, he directed international regulatory policy at the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Since January, Pan was a managing director at Rock Creek Global Advisors LLC, a Washington-based international economic policy advisory firm. Pan succeeded Paul Schott Stevens, who retired at year-end after more than 16 years as ICI’s president and CEO. 

Thrivent Advisor Network, a wealth managers’ platform, appointed RIA industry veteran Matthew Sines as senior business development officer. Sines joined from Raymond James Financial Services.

T Rowe Price appointed Raymone Jackson as global head of diversity and inclusion. Jackson partners closely with the firm's management committee, Black Leadership Council, employee-led business resource groups (which engage female, LGBTQ+, Black, Latinx, Asian, veteran associates, as well as allies), and other “key stakeholders”. Prior to this, Jackson worked at Morgan Stanley, where he served as national diversity officer for the wealth management businesses. At that firm, Jackson developed and carried out a diversity and inclusion strategy that spanned 600 offices and 20,000 employees. Before this, he spent 17 years with Northwestern Mutual, including serving as director of diversity and inclusion and campus development.

Lido Advisors, an RIA, appointed regular CNBC contributor Gina Sanchez as its chief market strategist. Sanchez worked with Lido Advisors for some time: she collaborated to offer institutional investment services and has been a featured speaker at Lido Consulting’s Annual Family Office Investment Symposium. Sanchez is CEO of Chantico Global, a global consulting firm with offices in Los Angeles and London that advises global pension, foundation, and family office clients. 

BNY Mellon Wealth Management appointed Michael Dawkins as market president in Atlanta, Georgia. Dawkins reports to Southeast regional president Kent Moegerle. With almost 30 years of fiduciary and investment wealth management experience, Dawkins worked for 10 years with BNY Mellon Wealth Management. Most recently, he was senior director and team leader. Previously, he was a senior portfolio manager with BlackRock and Merrill Lynch Private Investors leading its Atlanta market practice.
 

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Envestnet’s Advisor Services Exchange by Dynasty Financial Partners, aka ASx, hired James Gardiner as director of business development. He reports to ASx president Ed Swenson and his responsibilities will be managing ASx’s existing sales channels and business development outreach. Previously, Gardiner was co-founder and chief operating officer at TPW Investment.

BNY Mellon Wealth Management named Audrianna Sibiski as senior client strategist, based in Menlo Park, California. Sibiski, who works with with high net worth individuals, business owners, founders and corporate executives, reports to Northern California regional president Thomas Fickinger.

Prior to this, Sibiski worked at Bank of America Private Bank where she served as vice president, private client advisor. Prior to Bank of America, she advised US-based businesses on global expansion at both Blick Rothenberg as an international business development manager, and with London & Partners as a territory associate. Earlier in her career, she worked at IPC Systems, Inc in London, guiding financial services companies on the installation of network communications platforms throughout Europe.

BNY Mellon Wealth Management named Greg Teegen as senior client strategist, based in Chicago, and covering the Midwest. Teegen reports to Andy Paterson, Central Region president. With more than 25 years’ financial sector experience, Teegen was previously an executive director at JP Morgan Private Bank where he worked with ultra-high net worth families, family offices, and foundations, advising them on all aspects of their multi-generational wealth. 

New York City-based law firm Robinson Brog named Scott Ahroni as partner. Ahroni joined the firm’s taxation department, where his practice focuses on federal, state and New York City tax controversies, representing clients in federal and state criminal investigations. Ahroni is a noted thought leader in the field of tax law. He is frequently called upon to speak on tax topics and is a prolific author on current issues in the field. Ahroni is an adjunct professor at Queens College, City University of New York, where he teaches graduate courses in state, local business, estate, and gift taxation. 

Argent Financial promoted Sarah Warren to vice president and director of marketing, reporting to Aaron Jack, Argent’s chief development officer. Prior to joining Argent, Warren co-owned Ruston-based Emogen Marketing Group, and joined Argent in 2013 as a marketing director. In 2017, she joined the corporate marketing team, where she helped lead marketing efforts for all Argent subsidiaries.

Chris Martinez, managing director of Oakbrook Solutions, a consultancy and services provider for wealth management firms, stepped down from the firm to focus on the non-profit sector. Martinez, who led the Family Office Practice, guided the firm to win a number of Family Wealth Report awards. He has been a long-standing volunteer and board member of housing and human services organizations, and intends to devote even more time to this area. Martinez has spoken at conferences hosted by this news service. He joined Oakbrook in 2011. Before this, he was MD at The PrivateBank (2008 to 2020) and, prior to that, was MD and chief information officer (2001 to 2008) at Wilmington Trust FSB, formerly Bingham Legg Advisors. He transferred his MD responsibilities to Craig Cook, who took over leadership of the Family Office Practice. 

Fusion Financial Partners, the consulting firm to RIAs, appointed John DiBenedetto as managing director, strategic partnerships. DiBenedetto has more than 25 years’ experience in the sector. DiBenedetto served in a variety of business development and relationship management roles, most recently as head of business development with Astrocyte Research and as advisor, business development with Sytoniq. For almost a decade, he worked with Fidelity Clearing & Custody (formerly Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services), in a number of senior roles.

Wilmington Trust appointed 18 wealth market leaders, wealth advisors, and strategists across US markets including Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Los Angeles, and New Jersey.

The new recruits (in addition to the promoted individuals) were: 

Garrett Alton, wealth market leader (Atlanta), has more than 20 years of wealth management/financial service experience in Georgia and 28 years overall. He joined after 11 years with BNY Mellon Wealth Management.

Dave D’Amico, wealth market leader (Boston). With more than 30 years of investment management experience, he manages Wilmington Trust’s New England region, including all administrative and business development functions for personal trust, investment management, and private banking. He joined from Argent Wealth Management.

Lisa Ligas, director of wealth strategies (Los Angeles), has more than 20 years of experience with financial institutions and joins as part of the Wilmington Trust and M&T Emerald Advisory Services® team. Prior to joining Wilmington Trust, she served as a senior vice president for the family business division at Northern Trust.

Merryll McElwain, senior wealth advisor (Los Angeles), has worked in financial planning for more than 12 years and now supports Wilmington Trust clients in the Western region. She previously served as a senior client strategist with BNY Mellon Wealth Management.

Tony Rogers, senior wealth advisor (New Jersey). With more than 30 years of experience helping entrepreneurs implement sophisticated financial planning strategies, Rogers oversees the development and coordination of all wealth management services in New Jersey. Prior to this, he was a senior director at BNY Mellon Wealth Management covering the New Jersey region.

Robert Whelan, senior wealth advisor (Boston), has more than 35 years of experience in financial services, joining the firm to serve the New England region. He was previously senior vice president for Lido Advisors, overseeing their Boston office.

Scott Wilkins, senior wealth advisor (Atlanta), brings more than three decades of experience in financial services working across the US, Europe, and Latin America. Wilkins now serves clients for Wilmington Trust in the Southeast. He was previously managing partner and owner of Cielo Partners.

Aimee Turner, senior family wealth advisor (Philadelphia). With more than 20 years of professional experience, she begins her second stint at Wilmington Trust, leading a large book of complex, ultra-high net worth client relationships. Turner recently served as a wealth advisor at BB&T for three years, and prior to that, spent 19 years with Wilmington Trust.
 

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Pictet Asset Management opened its first US office in New York City. The office, located at 712 5th Avenue, is led by Elizabeth Dillon. She was joined by Mike Acker, head of key accounts, Nick Mavro, head of US institutional business and Jorge Corro, head of US offshore business. Dillon returned home to New York after spending 19 years working for PAM in Geneva and London, most recently as head of global financial institutions. 

Anglo-American digital asset management firm Wave Financial Group appointed a number of new hires.
Constantin Kogan joined as a managing director. He started his career in finance as a commodity broker for Soreco Trading gaining futures trading experience at CBOT, before founding start-up businesses across multiple industries including digital innovation, marketing and wellbeing. 

Jack Lu. who was appointed as client service analyst, acquired a bachelor degree in financial mathematics and statistics from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Afterwards, he started his career in finance as a California registered investment advisor. Uyanga Batbold joined as a trading analyst. Batbold gained her masters degree in computational finance from Rochester Institute of Technology. Since then she has worked as an investment and risk management analyst in various industries.

Former Goldman Sachs private wealth advisor Gary Hirschberg, chief executive of Aaron Wealth Advisors, added two investment figures to his team. The joiners were investment advisor, Adrianna Stasiuk, and director of investments, Toby Stannard. 

Stasiuk joined from JP Morgan Private Bank, where she managed $500 million in client assets. Stannard was previously an equity portfolio manager at Northern Trust Asset Management, based in Chicago.

Robertson Stephens Wealth Management, the US firm, appointed Seattle-based figure Michael Ridgeway as managing director and wealth manager. Ridgeway has worked in the investment and capital markets sector for 27 years. Previously, he was a founding partner and senior investment committee member at Steelhead Partners, a Seattle-based hedge fund. He was also vice president at NYSE listed Ragen Mackenzie, a firm specializing in research and investment banking with Northwest-based companies. 

The PNC Financial Services Group appointed David L Cohen to join its board of directors. Cohen is a senior executive vice president of Comcast Corporation, where he has had leadership roles covering a broad portfolio of responsibilities over the last 18 years. Prior to joining Comcast in 2002, Cohen served as a partner and chairman of Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, the US law firm. Cohen is active on several boards and board committees.

Dynasty Financial Partners named Joseph D’Agostino as head strategic development at the wealth management advisory network. Relocating from North Carolina to Dynasty's base in St Petersburg, Florida, D’Agostino reports directly to president and CEO Shirl Penney. He is expected to work across the business to increase scale and professionalize services, including technology infrastructure and the firm’s advisor-to-CEO program, designed to give advisors in the network the tools to develop as business leaders. D’Agostino joined from independent asset manager WestEnd Advisors, where he was chief operating officer.

US-listed Eaton Vance named Eric A Stein as chief investment officer, fixed income, for its Eaton Vance Management arm. Stein took over from Payson F Swaffield, who previously announced that he would be retiring. Stein reports to Thomas E Faust Jr, chairman and chief executive of Eaton Vance.