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Summary Of Industry Moves In The Americas: May 2015
Eliane Chavagnon
9 June 2015
Wilmington Trust hired John Barrett as managing director and senior private client advisor within its Norwalk, CT, office. Barrett, who brings 20 years' experience in the financial industry, was previously a private client advisor at US Trust. Before this, he was a managing director at First Republic Bank. In his new role, Barrett will offer wealth management advice to clients in Connecticut, Westchester County, and New York City. Bryan Polley was appointed as a wealth management advisor at the Private Client Reserve of US Bank in Minneapolis, MN. Polley was previously a senior investment consultant at Allodium Investments, working with high net worth clients and institutions. Rob Hauswirth was named as a Chicago, IL-based managing director at CTC | myCFO - a part of BMO Financial Group that works with ultra high net worth clients. Hauswirth has over 20 years of industry experience and most recently worked at Oxford Financial Group - an RIA and multi-family office - where he launched the Chicago office and led a team focused on developing Oxford's brand, engaging new clients and advising existing clients. Before that, he held senior advisory roles within Arthur Anderson’s private client services group and at Gresham Partners. In his new role at CTC | myCFO, Hauswirth will oversee new client engagement across the enterprise as well as working on client experience initiatives. BNY Mellon Wealth Management promoted Michael Goldberger to wealth director in Newport Beach, CA, where he reports to regional president Shannon Kennedy. Goldberger is charged with developing new business relationships with the firm’s strategic partnership accounts to drive growth in Southern California. Previously, he worked at BNY Mellon Investment Management in New York as an inside wholesaler, responsible for selling the firm’s Dreyfus family of mutual funds. Wealth management firm Aspiriant named eight new principals across the US. The individuals were: Baird named a new private wealth branch manager in Portland, ME, while also adding a financial advisor in Columbus, OH. In Portland, Eric Pronovost joined as a senior vice president, branch manager and financial advisor while in Columbus Robert Gorman starts as a director and financial advisor. They previously worked at UBS and Morgan Stanley respectively. Donald Heberle is to succeed Lawrence Hughes as chief executive of BNY Mellon Wealth Management on June 30. After 24 years at the company, Hughes has decided to retire from his CEO role, but will continue working at the firm in an advisory role within the investment management unit. Heberle – who joined BNY Mellon in 1997 – will be based in New York and continue to direct the long-term growth and expansion strategy that the wealth management leadership team has been driving for the past two years. He is currently executive director of client advice and international wealth management, a role in which he also oversees the firm's family wealth advisory, and wealth and estate strategist groups. In previous roles he was executive director for the family office and international wealth management businesses; director of investment strategy for private wealth management; and he also developed the firm's tax-managed equity investment process. California-based Miracle Mile Advisors appointed Scott Mullen as a managing director within its advisory team. Before joining Miracle Mile Advisors, Mullen was partner and managing director of Biltmore Family Office, which is based in North Carolina, where he served on the firm's investment committee. Before that, he was president and chief operating officer for over ten years at MFI Capital, a single family office in Austin, TX. Prior to that, he spent over 11 years at Salomon Smith Barney as senior vice president of investments and senior portfolio manager. He began his investment career at Drexel Burnham Lambert in Beverly Hills, CA. RBC Wealth Management recruited the high net worth-focused Brandenberger Group in Austin, TX, from Southwest Securities. Financial advisors Bob and Billy Brandenberger joined RBC with Irving Reyna, an investment associate. The team has a specialty in fixed income, with $225 million in assets under administration. Jory Sandusky was named as managing director of client experience at US Bank's Ascent Private Capital Management business, which caters to ultra-wealthy individuals and families. This is a new role at the firm. Based in San Francisco, CA, Sandusky will help ensure “operational smoothness” by providing high-quality and thoughtful client care and events. He has a strong background in implementing client experience programs in the wealth management and transportation industries, and has also managed communication and events programming for a philanthropic organization in San Francisco. US Bank made two hires at its Private Client Reserve in Madison, WI: Beth Prestine as a private banking management director and John Sylla as a wealth management advisor. Prestine will lead the banking team in Madison and oversee lending and deposit services for individuals and corporate clients. Prior to joining the PCR, Prestine was a director for banking in the northern states region at BMO Private Bank. Meanwhile, Sylla will provide wealth management services, leveraging the expertise of team members and resources available at the PCR. She was previously managing director of BMO Private Bank in Madison, responsible for the management and direction of private banking, trust services, investment management and financial planning. John Mirsepahi and his team, The J M Group, joined Merrill Lynch's flagship Rockefeller Center office in New York City from Morgan Stanley. Mirsepahi was appointed as a managing director and senior portfolio manager and brought with him Matthew Cali as a first vice president; Matthew Zamora as an investment analyst; and Joanne Zaman as a client associate. He will report to complex director Michael Simonds. The J M Group advises on equity and fixed income investments, liability management, professional money managers and alternative investments for the ultra high net worth, high net worth and family office market. Focus Financial Partners, the international partnership of independent wealth management firms, said it has made ten new hires at the holding company level since 2014 – five of which were announced last month. The newest executives leading M&A efforts for RIAs and breakaway teams included Justin Ferri as managing director of Focus Connections, which is aimed at advisors transitioning into the independent space. Ferri was most recently a co-founding principal at Principium Ventures, a boutique private equity firm specializing in impact-oriented businesses. Before that, he was managing director and global head of Merrill Lynch’s alternative investments division. Meanwhile, Eric Amar, Molly Bennard, Scott Holsopple and Sukanya Kuruganti were brought in as vice presidents of business development. Amar was formerly head of strategy and innovation at The Guardian Life Insurance Company and before that an associate principal at McKinsey & Company. Bennard joined from AXA US, where she was head of strategic initiatives and, before that, was an associate at the investment banking arm of Morgan Stanley. Holsopple was latterly head of product and business development at The Mutual Fund Store while Kuruganti was most recently director of corporate development and M&A at Barclays in the US, UK, Western Europe and South Africa. Earlier, Kuruganti was a vice president at Citigroup in New York, covering the US and Asia-Pacific. First Foundation, which serves wealthy individuals and businesses, rolled out a property and casualty insurance brokerage solution. The launch coincided with the appointment of Tony McIntosh, who will lead the build-out as managing director. McIntosh was previously marketing director and client executive at Barney and Barney, a provider of insurance solutions owned by Marsh and McLennan. McIntosh will oversee the development of the platform as well as the integration of insurance services within First Foundation's banking, wealth management and trust businesses. William Blair & Company, a global investment banking and asset management firm, hired three financial advisors at its Boston, MA, private wealth management group. Barbara Cummings, Robert Kjellman and Carl Young, along with investment resource associate Karen Eames, all joined from Boston Private Wealth, which was formed after the acquisition of Banyan Partners by Boston Private Bank. The team will serve high net worth individuals and families, business owners, foundations and endowments. Evercore Wealth Management appointed Darlene Marchesani and Kirsten Weisser as wealth advisors and managing directors from Wilmington Trust and Mechanics Bank, respectively. Marchesani was previously a senior fiduciary advisor and before joining Wilmington Trust in 2011 held senior fiduciary roles at Wells Fargo and PNC. In her new role at Evercore she is based in Wilmington, DE. Weisser spent the last eight years as a wealth management executive at Mechanics Bank, having previously been a senior fiduciary officer in San Francisco, CA, at US Trust Company. She is now based in San Francisco. A team of three with strong backgrounds in the high net worth space joined Chubb Personal Insurance. Jennifer Celmer, Robert Haibi and Eric Shanks were appointed to management roles at Chubb after working in personal operations at Fireman's Fund Insurance Company. Celmer will serve as a global underwriter for CPI's Signature client segment while also managing the custom solutions team. Celmer served as HNW segment leader for personal insurance at Fireman's Fund, having previously worked at AIG Private Client Group. As marketing manager for national brokers, Haibi will manage relationships with CPI's national broker and agent partners. At Fireman's Fund, he was the personal insurance national distribution executive and also previously worked at AIG Private Client Group. Meanwhile, Shanks, a market segment manager, will be involved with marketing, services, underwriting and business strategy for the Signature business. Most recently, he oversaw the product management and HNW underwriting departments for Fireman's Fund's personal insurance division. He too previously worked at AIG Private Client Group. Cleo Chang, former CIO at Wilshire Funds Management, joined American Century Investments as senior vice president and head of alternative investments – a new role at the firm. The news came ahead of the firm's anticipated launch of various liquid alternative mutual funds and new brand - AC Alternatives - for these. Reporting to co-CIO Victor Zhang, Chang will work with co-CIO David MacEwen, American Century sub-advisors and members of the investment management team. HSBC Private Bank appointed Henry Lee as global head of its Alternative Investment Group, alongside his current responsibilities as global head of discretionary. Lee replaces Peter Rigg, who is leaving HSBC. The alternative investment business at HSBC, which has $28 billion in assets under management, has become one of the Hong Kong/London-listed bank’s flagship operations. Its product portfolio includes hedge funds, real estate and private equity. It is understood that HSBC intends to invest significantly in this business line. The asset class heads within the alternative investment business are: Heath Davies, head of research; Simon Garfield, head of portfolio management; Simon Jennings, head of private equity; and Paul Forshaw, head of real estate. They will report to Lee, whose appointment is subject to regulatory approval. Prior to joining the Alternative Investment Group in 2012, Lee headed the alternative investment team for HSBC Private Bank UK from 2007 and managed discretionary mandates and advisory relationships for the bank. Before joining the team in London, Lee was with HSBC Private Bank's alternative investment team in Hong Kong. Prior to HSBC, he worked for Credit Agricole Asia Asset Management in Hong Kong. Philadelphia, PA-headquartered Janney Montgomery Scott, a financial services firm with a wealth management arm, appointed William Blackford as a senior vice president of wealth management in Spartanburg, SC. Blackford joined Janney from Morgan Stanley, where he has worked as a financial advisor for over 34 years. Dena Wofford, also previously of Morgan Stanley, will support Blackford as his registered private client assistant. Scott Welch took over from Todd Thomson, who was interim chief investment officer at Dynasty Financial Partners, as CIO in New York. Welch joined Dynasty's investment committee and reports to Thomson, who is chairman of Dynasty and head of the firm's investment committee. He will work with Michael Moriarty, director of investment platforms, and Tom Petrone, director of capital markets. His specific responsibilities will include investment research, including selecting research partners as well as portfolio managers. Welch joined Dynasty from a wealth management consulting firm called UnconstrainedThought, which he founded in 2014. Before that, he was a co-founder of Fortigent, working as an executive vice president and CIO from 1998-2014. Prior to joining Fortigent in 1998, he spent over 12 years on Wall Street - first at Swiss Bank Corporation and then at The Globecon Group. Tom Joseph joined Chicago, IL-headquartered Grant Thornton as a managing director in the firm’s financial services advisory practice, based in Charlotte, NC. Joseph is tasked with supporting the growth of financial services advisory offerings in the Carolinas practice, which includes Raleigh, NC, and Columbia, SC. Before joining Grant Thornton, Joseph was a vice president and client executive within the financial services and banking unit at North Highland, and before that was a senior vice president and head of enterprise client management process at Bank of America. Cetera Financial Group named Timothy Stinson as national sales manager for wealth management and advisory products and services – a new role at the firm. Stinson was most recently vice president of business development for the southwest region at Northern Trust, responsible for the institutional platform. Before that, he was a senior vice president at Fidelity Investments, managing Institutional Wealth Services , also in the southwest. In his new role at Cetera, Stinson reports to Steve Dunlap, executive vice president of wealth management, based in Los Angeles, CA. Fidelity Charitable, an independent public charity with a donor-advised fund program, is boosting support for its West Coast donors and the advisors who work with them. The organization created three new roles, appointing: Amy Grossman - based in San Francisco, CA - as West Coast vice president for the complex asset group. Grossman will help with donations of non-publicly traded assets such as private business interests, private equity interests and real estate; Jonathan Batista - based in Newport Beach, CA - who has been promoted to vice president and charitable planning consultant. He will guide financial advisors, attorneys and accountants in the Southwest; and Elaine Martyn, as vice president of the private donor group, will lead a group of relationship managers who assist major donors across the US. Grossman joined Fidelity Charitable after 15 years at Credit Suisse, where she was most recently managing director in the US private banking group. Meanwhile, Batista will serve as a local expert for advisors in Southern California, Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico. He joins ten other charitable planning consultants based around the country including Steve Brooks in San Francisco. Lastly, Martyn joined Fidelity Charitable with 15 years of non-profit experience centered on building programs around family philanthropy, impact investing, international grant making and values-based giving. Most recently, she was vice president of development for the Global Fund for Women in San Francisco, CA. Ann Williamsjoined Chicago, IL-headquartered Grant Thornton as a partner and leader of the firm's mid-south private wealth practice, based in Charlotte, NC. Williams has a strong background working with high net worth individuals, multi-generational wealthy families and privately-held business owners. Prior to joining Grant Thornton, she was a senior director at BDO USA, a professional services firm, and before that spent over a decade at KPMG, CliftonLarsonAllen and Wells Fargo. Diversified Trust, the southeast-based wealth management firm, appointed Brook Lester from Deloitte Tax as a principal, based in Memphis, TN. Lester, who is primarily responsible for client relationship management and business development, will also help spearhead estate, gift, trust and charitable planning initiatives throughout the firm's four offices in Atlanta, GA, Greensboro, NC, Memphis and Nashville, TN. In his former role at Deloitte Tax, Lester was a director and southeast region leader focused on estate, gift, trust and charitable planning services for high net worth families and closely-held businesses. LPL Financial brought in David Wright to fill the newly-created role of executive vice president and chief technology officer. Wright, who reports to managing director and chief information officer Victor Fetter, will develop technology solutions with oversight of all LPL's infrastructure operations, strategy and architecture, and technology security. Dynasty Financial Partners added Maine-based Cribstone Capital Management to its network of independent investment advisory firms. Financial advisor Scott Upham co-founded Cribstone around two years ago and now - with partner and investment strategist, Odette Galli - has left Ameriprise to launch Cribstone as an independent RIA. Meanwhile, financial advisor John Duffy joined Cribstone as a partner from LPL. City National Bank hired two advisors to deepen its expertise in the Bay Area. Diane Wakefield joined as a senior vice president and senior private client advisor in Walnut Creek while Scott Wiley joined as a vice president and senior private banker in San Francisco. Wakefield and Wiley previously worked at US Trust and US Bank as a senior vice president and private client manager, and vice president and senior private banker, respectively. Philadelphia, PA-headquartered Janney Montgomery Scott opened a new office in Naples, FL. The firm added three new financial adviosrs from RBC Capital Markets to the new branch in The Sunshine State. They are: Robert Belcastro, first vice president of investments; Thomas Gayer, first vice president of wealth management; and; David Welks, vice president and branch manager. The US-based law firm Venable hired tax and wealth planning attorney Stacey Delich-Gould as a counsel in New York. Delich-Gould represents clients – including private foundations and public charities – on all personal, tax and wealth planning matters. She joined Washington, DC-headquartered Venable from Cahill Gordon & Reindel and before working there was a member of the estates and personal group at Sullivan & Cromwell. Earlier in her career, Delich-Gould was the New York University Tax Policy Fellow at the US Department of Treasury. She has also spent time at Morgan Stanley as a fixed income trader. Bank of the West Wealth Management appointed two new regional managers, dividing its West Coast business into two separate regions: Southern California & Southwest and Northern California & Northwest. The rationale behind the move is to provide “further leadership resources and structure for the growth and client demand in these areas,” California-headquartered Bank of the West said. Edward Mora was promoted to regional manager for Southern California & Southwest and Cheryl Farley was promoted to regional manager for Northern California & Northwest. Mora was previously market leader for Orange County while, also as market leader, Farley drove the development of the bank's Silicon Valley and Palo Alto wealth management team. Bob Mulholland, head of UBS' wealth management advisor group, is retiring from the industry after 36 years. Taking over the reins overseeing UBS Wealth Management Americas' 7,000-strong advisor force in the US, Canada and Puerto Rico going forward will be Brian Hull - currently head of strategic clients and partnerships - as head of client advisory. Jason Chandler, head of wealth management advisors for the east, and Bill Carroll, head of wealth management advisors for the west, will maintain their roles. They will be joined on the WMA executive committee by John Mathews, who will assume additional responsibility for the Americas global family office and business development group - while continuing to run private wealth management. Vestmark, a provider of wealth management technology, named Tiffany Freitas as its new chief financial officer, succeeding Christine Bodoin, who became chief administrative officer – a new role at the firm. Freitas was most recently vice president of finance at the interactive division of Walt Disney Company. In her new role at Vestmark, she will oversee financial planning, corporate development, accounting and investor relations, reporting to CEO John Lunny. The private client group of Raymond James & Associates, the employee broker-dealer arm of New York-listed Raymond James Financial, appointed three complex managers as part of its expansion in the Northeast and Midwest. Judson Potter was appointed as Connecticut complex manager. Previously at UBS, he served as a financial advisor, branch manager and complex manager. In this role, he oversaw over 40 advisors with $4.5 billion in client assets under management. He will based in Westport, CT. Christopher Leavy was appointed as Northern New Jersey complex manager. He was previously complex manager at Wells Fargo Advisors, where he managed over 65 advisors with approximately $5 billion in assets. Leavy will be based in Paramus, NJ. Gary Sievewright was named as the firm's Wisconsin complex manager. He also joins from Wells Fargo Advisors, where he was managing director of the Greater Milwaukee market, responsible for 95 advisors with over $8 billion of client assets. Sievewright will be based in Milwaukee, WI. California-based First Foundation named David DePillo as president of First Foundation Bank, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company. DePillo has over 25 years of banking and investment management experience, most recently as executive vice president at Umpqua Bank. Warrington Asset Management, an independent but affiliated asset management group within Morgan Stanley for the past 18 years, separated from the bank and is now open as an alternative asset management advisor to new clients. The firm said recent regulatory changes stemming from the financial crisis led it and Morgan to re-evaluate their relationship and to allow Warrington to expand its business outside of the Morgan Stanley Wealth Management network. Dallas, TX-based Warrington is headed by principal trader Scott Kimple, who launched the fund in 1997. Kimple and his assistant portfolio manager Mark Adams have been assembling a team of industry experts including the addition of chief operating officer Greg Fomin, formerly of Blue River Partners and Hunt Financial Ventures. Warrington also has an advisory board so far consisting of Ken Webster, former president and COO of John Henry & Co, and Peter Borish, a long-time CTA and hedge fund manager. Going forward, Warrington will be targeting high net worth individuals, family offices and institutional firms. MarketCounsel, a business and compliance consulting firm, recruited Loren Morris and Bob Powell as director of strategic development and director of special projects, respectively. Morris will help ensure that the firm's services reflect the needs of current or prospective advisors, as well as industry partners. Meanwhile, Powell will work with wirehouse advisors on their journey to independence, among other projects. Morris previously worked at Cantor Fitzgerald, including at its wealth management subsidiary. He has also worked at firms including Dynasty Financial Services, Charles Schwab Advisor Services and Saratoga Capital. Powell spent the last 20 years at Fidelity Investments, most recently within Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services. As well as Morris and Powell, MarketCounsel also brought in Marlene Den Bleyker as director of communications and Joseph Allgor as securities litigation counsel. Hugh McHaffie, a former president of John Hancock Wealth Management, joined Incapital as managing director of the firm's wealth management solutions unit. McHaffie will lead Incapital's development and distribution of unit investment trusts, structured products and annuities through financial advisor, banking and broker-dealer communities. McHaffie led John Hancock Wealth Management for seven years - a division which offers mutual funds, retirement savings products and annuities. He also oversaw John Hancock's investment management services and served as president of the John Hancock Trust and John Hancock Funds II mutual fund complexes. Before that, he was senior vice president of individual business product management at MetLife. BNY Mellon named Jeffrey Radkowski as a wealth director in Pittsburgh, PA. Previously a senior portfolio officer with BNY Mellon Wealth Management, in this new role he reports to managing director Scott Cox. Radkowski’s responsibilities include developing new business relationships with the firm’s strategic partnership accounts. In his prior role, he managed portfolios for affluent and high net worth clients and before joining the firm in 2013 was a financial representative at Northwestern Mutual Financial Network.