Edward Simmons, Gibson Wilkes, Blake Wilkes and Michael Simmons join as managing directors and partners and spent more than 30 years combined at Merrill Lynch.

Edward Simmons was a Barron's Top 1,000 Financial Advisor in 2010 and 2009, and the Simmons Wilkes Group was among Barron's Top 50 advisor teams in the US in 2009.

In addition to her role as an advisor, Gibson Wilkes will assume a leadership role on the GIS Steering Committee.

Joining her on the GIS Steering Committee is Pamela Rosenau as co-chair, Michael Bapis, David D'Amico, Larry Gilbert and Justin Towey.  Matthias Paul Kuhlmey, head of GIS, is also co-chair of the Steering Committee.  

Headquartered in Chicago advisor-owned HighTower caters to high net worth and institutional clients. It has corporate centers in New York and San Francisco and offices around the country.

As previously reported by FWR, the firm signed on to Guggenheim Partners’ recently launched Guggenheim Investment Advisory Solutions, earlier this month.