Print this article

North America Executive Moves - July 2012

Eliane Chavagnon

3 August 2012

TAG Associates, a New York City-based multi-client family office, appointed Jonathan Bergman as managing director. Bergman serves as portfolio manager to client accounts and conducts investment manager diligence. He will also join the investment committee, reporting to chief executive David Basner.

Bergman was latterly chief investment officer at Palisades Hudson Financial Group, where he has spent the last 15 years and oversaw the strategy and management of client investment portfolios and chaired the investment committee.

HoyleCohen, a San Diego-based SEC-registered investment advisor, expanded its women’s practice and promoted Elisabeth Cullington, who co-founded the women’s group, to managing director across the firm.

Janet Acheatel was appointed as co-leader of the women’s practice, and comes on as a full-time member of the advisory team. Acheatel used to work at Brandes Investment Partners before going into semi-retirement, during which time she also worked as an independent contractor for HoyleCohen, helping to launch the women’s practice.

In addition to her new role as managing director of the firm, Cullington will continue to lead the practice along with Acheatel.

HoyleCohen also brought in financial advisor Bridget Grimes from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.

BNP Paribas subsidiary Bank of the West made changes to its management team, appointing president and chief operating officer Maura Markus as manager of its regional banking and wealth management business.

Markus joined the bank in 2010 from Citibank, where she was head of international retail banking in the global consumer group. In addition to her new role, she will manage marketing and the “increasingly important area of multi-channel banking,” Bank of the West said.

In other changes, Thibault Fulconis, the bank’s vice chairman for finance and chief financial officer of its holding company, BancWest Corporation, will become vice chairman for commercial banking and consumer finance. He will maintain responsibility for corporate development.

Meanwhile, Duke Dayal will take over as CFO of the holding company, and was promoted to senior executive vice president. Markus, Fulconis and Dayal will report to Michael Shepherd, chairman and chief executive of Bank of the West and BancWest Corporation.

Wells Fargo hired Rich Baich as chief information security officer - a role in which he will oversee the firm’s security vision, strategy and programs designed to secure customer and company information.

Baich will join in late summer from Deloitte and Touche, where he led the global cyber threat and vulnerability management practice.

Baich has also worked in numerous executive security positions within the public and private sectors, including at Pricewaterhouse Coopers, ChoicePoint, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Additionally, he served in the US Navy for 20 years as an information warfare officer, cryptology officer, and surface warfare officer.

New York-listed BlackRock added Fabrizio Freda and Jessica Einhorn to its board of directors, effective immediately and as of October respectively.

Freda is president and chief executive of the Estée Lauder companies, and Einhorn previously worked at the World Bank for 20 years, concluding her time there as managing director.

Einhorn’s former roles also include positions at the US Treasury, the US State Department and the International Development Cooperation Agency of the US. She has also been a director of Time Warner, and also serves as a director of the Peterson Institute for International Economics and the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Flemington, NJ-based Insight Financial Services appointed Steven Druckman as a wealth advisor within its new Somerville, NJ, office - a role in which he will develop and implement advanced planning strategies for clients.

Druckman began his financial services career in 2005 at Prosperian Wealth Management, developing and implementing financial and estate planning strategies for clients.

New York-listed Northern Trust added Timothy Mertz as a senior private banker and relationship manager within its Washington DC office.

At Northern Trust, Mertz will lead the banking team which provides clients with deposit and credit solutions, as well as commercial credit.

Before joining Northern Trust, Mertz spent three years as a wealth management team leader for PNC Bank in Bethesda, MD. He also served in managerial and banking roles at BNY Mellon and Bank of America for over two decades.

Minneapolis–based White Oaks Wealth Advisors appointed Nick Chimerakis as senior planning and tax advisor.

In his new role, Chimerakis will advise family office clients, as well as overseeing the family office accounting functions. For the past six years he has worked at Deloitte, focusing on tax compliance and planning.

Union Bank named its executive vice president and head of wealth markets, Dennis Mooradian, as president and chief executive of HighMark Capital Management, the bank’s asset management subsidiary.

Mooradian, whose new role is effective from August 1, replaces current president and CEO Earle Malm. Malm joined HighMark in 2002 and is now retiring, but will stay on in an advisory capacity until September.

As well as president and CEO, Mooradian will also serve as chairman of HighMark’s board of directors.

New York's BNY Mellon further reinforced its wealth management business, adding a trio of wealth professionals to its Chicago, IL, office.

Julie Pully, Catherine Schulze and Lee Woolley bring BNY Mellon’s total number of staff in Chicago to 19, up from 12 a year ago when the wealth manager acquired the asset management business of Chicago-based Talon Asset Management.

“We intend to sustain that robust growth by adding two more positions in the coming months,” said regional president Michael DiMedio.

In her new role, Pully, who for the past eight years managed $700 million in assets as a senior portfolio manager at Northern Trust, works with clients on their wealth and investment planning strategies.

Meanwhile Schulze, a private banking specialist, serves high net worth clients, a role which also involves helping the firm expand its banking business throughout greater Chicago. Schulze is latterly of BMO Harris Bank in Barrington, IL, where she served for 18 years, most recently as vice president and senior private banker within the private client group.

Woolley also joins from Northern Trust, having worked there for the last 20 years, most recently as a managing director, leading the national advisory services group. At BNY Mellon, he works alongside DiMedio on sales and marketing efforts throughout the region.

Alison Carnwath resigned from her role on the board of Barclays, the UK-listed bank, citing personal reasons.

Carnwath was a non-executive director and head of the remuneration committee, as well as sitting on the nominations committee.

Dynasty Financial Partners, the US wealth management firm, took on industry veteran John Sullivan as senior vice president of RIA and transition services, based between Chicago, IL, and New York.

Sullivan is a veteran of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney/Citigroup, where he spent over 20 years in high net worth wealth management roles. Most recently, he was director of wealth planning centres - a national role geared toward helping financial advisors meet their clients' needs.

At Dynasty, he is responsible for supporting divisions focused on the transition of new advisor teams, as well as ongoing practice development with existing network firms.

Minneapolis-headquartered US Bank appointed Gailyn Johnson as chief operating officer for US Bank Wealth Management.

Johnson was most recently a senior managing director at Wells Fargo Advisor's direct financial solutions business, responsible for multi-channel investment services for mass affluent customers. She was with Wells Fargo for 23 years, based in San Francisco. During her time there she was also COO for Wells Fargo Wealth Management, leading a number of initiatives such as internet access to accounts.

Going forward, she will lead technology, operations and corporate shared services across all wealth management business lines at US Bank, reporting to Mark Jordahl, president of the wealth management business. She also joins the wealth management executive committee.

BNY Mellon appointed Preston Came as senior director within its Naples, FL, wealth management office - a role in which he will work closely with portfolio managers and wealth strategists to serve high net worth clients in the region.

Came reports to managing director Paul Dresselhaus. The firm said he has over 15 years of experience in private law and wealth management, serving entrepreneurs and executives, as well as foundations, trusts and multiple generations of HNW families.

Philadelphia-based Janney Montgomery Scott brought in Christopher Willett - a producer with over $200 million in client assets - as executive vice president of investments in its Atlanta, GA, branch.

Willett joined Janney from Morgan Keegan, where he was a managing director for the last six years. Overall he has been in the industry for over 30 years, and brought with him a team of account executives - Patricia Fleury, Steve Edwards and Geoffrey Deller. They joined the office managed by Jeff Paulsen.

Birmingham, AL-based law firm Christian & Small took on Thomas Krebs, who was most recently senior counsel to the House Financial Services Committee, as a partner to lead and expand its securities practice group.

Before working as senior counsel to the House Financial Services Committee in Washington, DC, Krebs served as assistant director and deputy general counsel of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, where he spearheaded a number of the investigations arising out of the financial crisis.

Capital Guardian brought in two new teams to its independent channel from Woodbury Services, after hiring a new director for the channel from Woodbury in June. Ed Kirkland and Dianne Odom both joined Capital Guardian.

Cedar Brook Financial Partners brought in Jennifer Falb as chief experience officer - a newly-created role in which she will ensure that all aspects of the client experience is of the highest standards, as well as boosting the employee experience.

Falb joined from Cornerstone Capital Advisors, a Uniontown, OH-based personal financial planning and wealth management firm.

Wells Fargo added five advisor teams to its independent retail brokerage arm in June, boosting the business in New York, New Jersey, Florida, California and Connecticut. The teams manage $1.3 billion in client assets collectively.

In Melville, NY, Steven Dichter and Philip Pappas, who previously worked for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, set up their own practice, the Dichter Pappas Wealth Management Group, affiliated with Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network . The group manages $204 million in client assets and generated $1.2 million in annual revenue last year.

In Florham Park, NJ, Jack Wiener and David Hammer set up Florham Park Wealth Advisors, an independent firm affiliated with FiNet. Wiener was previously an advisor at RBC Wealth Management, while Hammer was with Oppenheimer & Co. The New Jersey practice has $1 million in production and $175 million in assets under management.

In Punta Gorda, FL, advisors Michael Landsberg, Lew Bennett and Anthony Dubbaneh make up Landsberg Bennett Private Wealth Management, a practice with $4.2 million in production and $493 million in assets under management. The team latterly worked at Merrill Lynch.

In Pasadena, CA, Floe Financial Partners joined FiNet. The team is comprised of Robert Floe, Kenneth Sanchez, Lee Wolfe, and Marjan Neyestani-Khazra, who came from LPL. The practice has $3 million in production and $382 million in assets under management.

In Middletown, CT, Middlesex Wealth Management Group affiliated with Wells Fargo. The group, made up of Jim Venditti and Jamie Oliver, was previously with CCO Investment Services. It has $1.2 million in production and $109 million in assets under management.

Lloyds TSB Private Banking appointed Jorge Kalledey as head of its high net worth Latin America business - a newly-created role in which he will shape and drive the bank's strategy in what it believes is an important market.

Based in Miami, FL, Kalledey will retain responsibility for teams across Geneva, Miami and Montevideo, reporting to HNW director Martin Fricker.

Capital Guardian brought in industry veteran Luis Alegre - latterly a vice president at AllianceBernstein - as managing director of international investments in Downtown Miami.

At AllianceBernstein, Alegre managed $330 million of assets for affluent domestic and international individuals, as well as global institutions. He also developed its small- and mid-size domestic and international banking business.

Alegre is multilingual and has been a senior executive in the financial service and telecommunication industries for 26 years.

Dallas, TX-based Tolleson Private Wealth Management, an independently-owned affiliate of Tolleson Wealth Management which serves ultra high net worth families, promoted its managing director, Richard Joyner, to president.

Joyner has over 25 years of experience in advising UHNW families. Prior to joining Tolleson, he was a tax partner and director at Ernst & Young in Dallas. Additionally, he served as a member of the Investment Management Consultants Association’s board of directors for nine years, and continues as a member of its wealth management committee.

New York-listed Blackstone, an alternative asset management and advisory business, appointed Joe Baratta as head of global private equity, based in New York.

Baratta currently heads the firm’s private equity team in Europe and is a member of the executive committee. In his new role - effective from September - he will also join the management committee. He joined Blackstone’s private equity business in 1998, moving to London in 2001 to help open its office there and establish its European private equity business.

Citadel Investment Group appointed John Rustum as a managing director to lead its Americas distribution effort.

Rustum - latterly a marketing executive at DE Shaw Group - will focus on distribution of Citadel's Kensington and Wellington funds as part of his overall responsibility for Citadel Asset Management's funds.

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney strengthened its advisor workforce across the US, adding former Bank of America Merrill Lynch and UBS Wealth Management Americas broker teams who previously managed over $4 billion in client assets.

Advisors James Harris and Pam Ashley joined MSSB’s Charlotte, NC, office from Merrill Lynch. Harris worked at the firm for over four decades, managing some $3 billion in client assets with Ashley.

Also latterly of Merrill are Brent Henry, Dustin Colebank and Mike Hudson, who joined the Rogers, AR, office of MSSB, reporting to manager John Terry. At Merrill they managed $230 million in client assets.

Advisors Javier Vargas and Ramon Perez joined the Houston, TX, MSSB office. At UBS, the pair managed $300 million in client assets.

Meanwhile Sheldon Hechtman and Ellen Klersfeld - who previously managed $211 million in client assets - joined the Boca Raton, FL, branch. They report to manager Michael Higgins.

Additionally, advisor Blane Hammer joined the Wayzata, MN, office. He previously managed $120 million in client assets and now reports to branch manager Peter Keller.

M&I Wealth Management, part of BMO Financial Group, took on Chad Cassinelli as senior vice president and managing director.

Cassinelli is responsible for the management and direction of the team in the areas of private banking, investment management, financial advisors, personal trust and estate settlement services. The firm said he has 15 years of private banking and management experience.

TrustedFamily appointed Wendy Craft, who sits on Family Office Exchange’s advisory board, as head of the Americas office in New York, responsible for driving growth across North America.

Craft previously worked as vice president and general counsel for the Shepperd family, an international investment family based in Zurich, Switzerland. In that role she led a New York office for the family.

Chicago's HighTower brought in the Lerner Group - managing over $600 million for high net worth clients from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney - to lead the firm’s expansion in Chicago's North Shore.

Eugene Lerner, Walter Gondeck and Mingdong Tan joined as managing directors and partners, with over 60 years of combined experience.

Tan was latterly a vice president of wealth management at MSSB, having worked at Morgan Stanley from 2002 until 2008. At HighTower, he is responsible for executing all of the Lerner Group's equity trades.

Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management made two senior hires from Citi Private Bank for its US private bank in Miami.

Carlos Arrizurieta joined as a managing director and private banker. He previously worked at Citi, where he was a managing director and senior private banker. His experience covers investment management, asset allocation, capital markets, trust and estate planning, structured finance and liquidity management. Prior to Citi, he worked at Bank of America and Northern Trust.

At Deutsche he reports to Chip Packard, managing director and head of Deutsche Bank’s US private bank, eastern region.

The second hire was of Rachel Garcia, as vice president and private banker. She was latterly a vice president at Citi Private Bank.

Nasdaq-listed Northern Trust appointed Carl Tannenbaum as its chief economist, succeeding Paul Kasriel, who retired earlier this year.

As head of the firm's global economic research function, Tannenbaum will monitor global economic and political developments, forecast major economic indicators and report his observations to colleagues and clients. He reports to chief credit officer Mark Van Grinsven.

Since 2008, Tannenbaum had served as senior vice president and head of the risk division at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. There, he managed a team diagnosing financial risk, its implication on the broader economy, and policy choices to address it. He also served as head of the risk group in Washington, DC, for one year.

San Mateo, CA-based Franklin Templeton Investments appointed Andrew Ashton and Dennis Rothe to new roles overseeing consultant/gatekeeper relations and investment research for its international and North America advisory divisions respectively.

Ashton, head of the international consultant and research group, will focus on the firm’s global consulting partners and financial institutions outside of North America, working with Franklin Templeton distribution teams internationally. He will work closely with Rothe, head of the North American consultant and research group.  

Rothe was appointed to an expanded role overseeing consultant relations and investment research for broker-dealers, retirement platforms and insurance companies across North America. He reports to Peter Jones, president of Franklin Templeton Distributors and Franklin Templeton Institutional.

John Hancock Funds, the Boston-based mutual fund business unit of John Hancock Financial, appointed Andrew Arnott as president and chief executive, succeeding Keith Hartstein, who announced in May that he planned to retire from John Hancock in September after 22 years with the firm.

Meanwhile, succeeding Arnott as head of John Hancock Investment Management Services is Leo Zerilli, vice president. Zerilli is responsible for all internal and third-party asset manager relationships across the John Hancock and Manulife investment platforms in the US and Asia, as well as guiding the investment product development, product management and market research strategies for IMS. He joined John Hancock in 1997. He most recently served as executive vice president of John Hancock IMS.

New York’s BNY Mellon hired Thomas Fay to head its regional wealth management office in Providence, RI, and join a senior management team focused on expanding business throughout New England.

Fay reports to New England regional president Vicary Graham, overseeing a team of wealth professionals concerned with business development, portfolio management, private banking and client service for high net worth investors in southeast New England.

Prior to joining BNY Mellon, he spent three years at Citizens Bank as head of private bank and trust, and chief investment officer.

Separately, the firm appointed Dan Gosselin as chief executive of BNY Trust Company of Canada and head of its corporate trust business in Canada.

Based in Toronto, ON, he reports to Sonia Chaliha, head of client and business development for Latin America and Canada for BNY Mellon Corporate Trust.

Prior to joining BNY Mellon, Gosselin was as an advisor to the president of the private client division at Mackie Research Capital.

American International Group elected Morris Offit as a director until the 2013 annual shareholders meeting, as well as chairman of the board’s finance and risk management committee.

Offit is currently chairman of Offit Capital, a wealth management advisory firm, and was co-chief executive of Offit Hall Capital Management from 2002 to 2007. He was also the founder and former CEO of OFFITBANK, a private bank, between 1990 and 2001. Offit previously served as an AIG director from 2005 until his retirement from the board in 2012.

The fee-based advisory network United Capital Financial Advisers bolstered its management team with the addition of three industry veterans.

Sheri Smith joined as vice president of sales and lead generation, while Jim Zahradnick and Brian Church start as director of recruiting and director of East Coast recruiting respectively.

The firm said the trio will help “solidify” its multi-million dollar commitment made at the start of 2012 to help its offices grow organically, as well as via recruitment.

Smith is responsible for creating marketing programs, designed to generate qualified leads, prospecting tools, as well as client conversion and retention systems. She has previously worked at Householder Group Financial Advisors, Charles Schwab Advisor Services and New York Life.

Zahradnick latterly spent 24 years at Raymond James Financial Services. At United Capital, he will be based in Parker, CO, working to attract independent advisors and advisory firms to United.

Meanwhile, joining Zahradnick in the advisor recruitment effort is Church, based in Nashville, TS. Church previously worked at AXA Advisors as divisional vice president. There, he also led sales, recruiting and distribution for operations in Tennessee.

Nasdaq-listed Northern Trust named Laura Mandel as president of the Northern Trust Company of Delaware, succeeding Daniel Lindley, who in May was appointed managing director of the firm’s global family and private investment offices group for the EMEA and APAC regions.

Mandel, who starts her new role immediately, will relocate from Chicago to Wilmington. She has 25 years of experience in trust and investment management for high net worth individuals and families and now leads the regional bank's overall strategy, as well as helping clients make use of the wealth transfer advantages afforded by Delaware trust law.

Previously, Mandel served as a senior fiduciary relationship manager at Northern Trust and has been with the bank for over 12 years.

Sandy Flockhart retired from the board of HSBC Holdings, stepping down from his role as non-executive director, along with relinquishing his positions as chairman of HSBC Bank and director of HSBC Bank Middle East.

Flockhart, who is suffering from ill health, stepped down as an executive in April of this year after a 37-year career with HSBC. He was most recently chairman of the bank’s EMEA operations, having previously been chief executive of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation up to 2009.

An announcement naming his successor will be issued in due course, a spokesperson for the bank told this publication.

The registered investment advisory firm Concert Wealth Management brought in four veteran advisors managing some $100 million in client assets.

Scott Christie and John Aitchison joined Concert Wealth from The Planning Group, a Scottsdale, AZ, wealth management firm. The pair are joined by portfolio analyst Ryan Jennings and client relations assistant James Filtz. The team is based in the firm's Scottsdale branch.

The firm also reportedly added three brokers from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, as well as one each from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and UBS Wealth Management.

Glenmede, the privately-held investment and wealth management firm, took on Lawrence Hatch as the new director of the firm’s Cleveland, OH, office.

The office’s former director, Frank Harding, will focus solely on clients in a senior advisory role.

Hatch joins from the Private Trust Company, where he worked as president, secretary and chief fiduciary officer. In that function, he oversaw the firm’s operations, trust and tax accounting, regulatory compliance and finances, and was directly responsible for the management of all client service, trust administration and investment monitoring. He was also the firm's in-house legal counsel.

In his new job, he will oversee wealth advisory services for high net worth individuals and manage the day-to-day operations of Glenmede's Ohio office. He will lead a team of 20 people and supervise the office’s 184 relationships.

Kansas-based Mariner Wealth Advisors, an independent advisory firm, expanded its wealth advisory team by acquiring a majority interest in the wealth management division of Omaha, NE-based Orizon Investment Counsel.

As part of the acquisition, Orizon’s name will change to Mariner Wealth Advisors, with its systems fully integrated into Mariner’s as soon as is practical.

Lightyear Capital, a New York-based private equity firm, hired Jerry Miller - who was formerly at Morgan Stanley Global Wealth Management - as a senior advisor, as the company targets the wealth management sector.

Miller joined from Van Kampen Investments, where he served as chief executive. Before leading Van Kampen, he was a division director at Morgan Stanley’s global wealth management group and a member of its executive and operating committees. Before Morgan Stanley, Miller was at Merrill Lynch with multiple leadership roles in its investment and wealth management businesses.

San Francisco’s First Republic Bank brought in Samir Kaji and John Cummings for its Sand Hill Road office in Menlo Park, CA, and downtown Los Angeles office respectively.

Kaji, who has 13 years of banking experience, works with venture capital and private equity clients in Silicon Valley. He previously worked at Silicon Valley Bank.

Minneapolis, MN-based US Bank appointed a regional managing director and a senior portfolio manager within Ascent Private Capital Management and the Private Client Reserve - the bank's ultra high and high net worth units respectively.

Joining Ascent - which caters for clients with at least $25 million in assets - is regional managing director Chuck Stutenroth, who is tasked with launching an office in Cincinnati, OH, this summer.

Stutenroth will lead a team of nine, providing UHNW clients with investment management, private banking, wealth impact planning and financial administration in the Cincinnati area.

Meanwhile, senior portfolio manager Jeff Krumpelman reportedly joined the bank's Private Client Reserve, which targets clients with over $1 million in investible assets.

The Securities and Exchange Commission appointed Norm Champ as director of its investment management division, overseeing the regulation of a multi-trillion dollar industry in the US.

Champ succeeds Eileen Rominger, who is retiring. She took up the role in February 2011, after 11 years at Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

Champ currently serves as deputy director for the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations . At the OCIE, he also sits on the executive and operating committees. He previously served as acting head of the broker/dealer, investment advisor/investment company and credit rating agency exam programs, as well as acting chief counsel.

Champ joined the SEC in January 2010 as associate regional director for investment advisor/investment company examinations at the New York office, becoming deputy director of the OCIE in June 2010.

Eaton Vance Investment Counsel, a subsidiary of New York-listed Eaton Vance, appointed William Gillen as vice president of business development.

Gillen will be responsible for enhancing its presence “in the marketplace and overall marketing efforts,” as well as managing select client relationships, reporting to David McCabe, president of EVIC.

Gillen has spent the past 23 years with Eaton Vance Distributors, another subsidiary of Eaton Vance, responsible for the distribution of the firm's mutual funds, separately-managed accounts and alternative investments.