The latest senior moves in the North American wealth management sector.

BakerHostetler
Denise E Chambliss has joined BakerHostetler’s San Francisco office as a partner in its tax practice group and a member of the private wealth planning team.

Chambliss, who has more than 25 years of litigation experience, has joined from a multiservice law firm, where she was the founding chair of its trust and estate litigation practice group.

In the past five years, BakerHostetler has added more than 125 attorneys in the West Coast in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Francisco and Seattle, for example.

Chambliss represents individual and corporate trustees, as well as executors, beneficiaries, petitioners and respondents, in trust and estate contested matters, including undue influence trust and will contests, defense of breach of fiduciary duty claims, adjudication of accounting objections, financial elder abuse and mediation with negotiated settlements. She is also entrusted by clients to assist with the intricate post-death administration of trusts and estates, accusations of trust mismanagement and creditor claims.

Chambliss received her J D from the South Texas College of Law Houston.

InspereX
InspereX, a tech-driven fixed income and structured products distribution and trading firm, has appointed Scott Mitchell as its CEO, with immediate effect. 

Mitchell is taking over from John DesPrez, who will be retiring after serving as the CEO since his appointment in January 2015. The firm was founded by Tom Ricketts.

With a 20-year career at JP Morgan under his belt before taking on the role, Mitchell has worked in areas such as equity derivatives, cross-asset structured investment sales and marketing. 

The firm said it had a “banner year” in 2024, achieving record results across its fixed income and structured products offerings from issuers including major banks such as Goldman Sachs, US Government-Sponsored Enterprises, and corporate issuers such as Prudential, Ford, and Verizon. 

Among other career points at JP Morgan, he led the build-out of its SI 360 technology platform and also led its investment in the SIMON advisor technology platform. Mitchell served on the boards of SIMON and later iCapital after SIMON was sold to iCapital in 2022.

Prior to JP Morgan, Mitchell worked in equity derivatives for CIBC Capital Markets in Toronto, London, and New York.

CG Financial Services
CG Financial Services, an RIA with more than $4 billion in AuM, has appointed Scott Hiipakka as president and chief operating officer.

Prior to this, Hiipakka was CEO of the Michigan Israel Business Accelerator, a non-profit economic development organization. Hiipakka has extensive leadership experience and is a major general in the Michigan Army National Guard, where he oversees a number of mission operations.

Established in 1998, CG Financial Services encompasses two divisions: CG Advisory Services, an in-house RIA, and CG Advisor Network, a platform designed to support Form 1099 advisors transitioning from wirehouses and independent broker-dealers.