“Randy has experience with business strategy and expertise in investments that complements the intellectual capital already at Signature,” says Anne Shumadine, Norfolk, Va.-based Signature’s president and CEO. “With the addition of Randy's expertise, Signature now offers an even more valuable service to our clients.”

Instruments and entry points

Webb was with Bank of America for 17 years, latterly focused on capital raising and M&A in the mid-cap space.

After years at a large institution, Webb says the chief advantage of working at a small firm – Signature had about $1.5 billion in assets under advisory at the end of 2004, according to the latest Family Wealth Alliance survey of U.S. multi-family offices – “is the chance to match the goals and objectives of our client base with best-of-breed solutions. We’re about as platform neutral as you get.”

Webb says his background as an investment banker meshes nicely with his new role as an advisor to wealthy families. “It’s in the understanding of the variety of instruments and entry points for investment” as well as insights into the structure of many kinds of family-owned businesses that his old calling may come into play at Signature.

In fact, as many of Signature's client-families are first-generation wealth acquirers, investment banking may be “applicable now more than ever” to those grappling for the first time with matters related to succession and business-transition, Webb adds. –FWR

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