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Summary Of North American Executive Moves In Wealth Management - August 2013

Tom Burroughes

9 September 2013

A dominant job market theme in August was the rapid hiring of BNY Mellon and its wealth management arm. It also announced it will close a Ligonier, IN, office on November 15, 2013, as more clients conduct banking business online.

Nashville, TN-based Avenue Bank hired Jennifer Shepard as a vice president and private client banker, while it brought in Stuart Hunter to support the new medical and professional private banking unit. Shepard has more than 20 years of banking experience working at Regions Bank. Hunter, meanwhile, joined as a banking assistant from SunTrust, where he has served in a similar role since 2007. 

Calamos Investments, announced the departure of James Boyne, president and chief operating officer, effective September 30.

Greenwich, CT-headquartered investment advisory firm, Cedar Ridge Partners, made three hires within its investment management team. Pascal Roduit joined as director of risk management and he will also be member of the investment committee. He was previously at New York-based fund-of-hedge-funds manager Rock Maple Funds, where he was the chief risk officer and the director of quantitative research. Daniel Keating and Stett Trippe also worked at Rock Maple Funds and joined the portfolio management team and the investment committee.

Chicago, IL-headquartered Ziegler, an investment bank and full-service brokerage firm, appointed Justin Frys as a senior vice president and branch manager of Ziegler’s Minnetonka, MN, office. Frys, with more than 15 years of advisory experience, has worked in the areas of asset management, retirement preparation, investment planning and insurance planning, having held positions at several Wall Street and boutique investment firms. 

Brokerage firm Stifel, Nicolaus & Co added financial advisor Stephen Knudson as a first vice president of investments within the its Billings, MT, private client group.

Knudson spent the last 20 years at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney , where he served clients who had $112 million in assets.

The firm also made two hires in Ohio and Pennsylvania from Robert W Baird and Janney Montgomery Scott. In Conshohocken, PA, Mark Kaskey, W Jason Beard and Robert Cellucci joined the private client group from Janney, while Joshua Weiland joined the Dayton, OH, office from Baird.

New York-listed Heartland Financial USA named Bryan McKeag as its new chief financial officer following the departure of John Schmidt in July. Schmidt left the firm to become CFO at another company outside of the financial services industry.

McKeag starts his new role on September 23, 2013, reporting to Lynn Fuller, Heartland’s chairman, president and chief executive. He will have oversight of all corporate finance, accounting and investment operations of the company.

McKeag most recently served as executive vice president – corporate controller and principal accounting officer for Associated Banc-Corp.

Corning, NY-based Market Street Trust Company, the multi-family office, appointed Christian Girts as director of client service, reporting to Beth Landin, vice president of client and strategic relationships. Girts manages high net worth client relationships for both individual and trust accounts. He works with individual and family group clients on financial and estate planning and advise clients on fiduciary issues. Prior to joining Market Street, Girts was a financial advisor with Wells Fargo Advisors in Scranton, PA.

RBC Wealth Management added Brian Post, senior financial associate, to the Eagle, ID, office, where he joined the King Miller Barrios & Boe Investment Group.

Post is responsible for trading and the management of client portfolios, in addition to being a member of the investment committee. Prior to joining RBC Wealth Management, he was a senior research analyst at Roth Capital Partners in Newport Beach, CA, where he developed and led the firm’s small-cap mining and resources research practice.

San Francisco, CA-headquartered Union Bank hired Melissa Gough as a regional director of its private bank unit. Gough will manage private banking activities across the Central Coast, working with wealth management teams in Montecito and in Santa Barbara, Monterey and Ventura counties. Gough is based in Santa Barbara and reports to senior vice president and Central Coast regional managing director Leo Hamill.

GoldenTree Asset Management appointed Brian Marshall as managing director in the firm’s business development group, based at GoldenTree’s New York headquarters. Prior to joining GoldenTree, Marshall was a managing director in structured credit products at Barclays Capital, a position he held since 2008.

Philadelphia-headquartered Lincoln Financial Group appointed two investment management executives to fill newly-created positions. Andrew Yorks joined as senior vice president, serving as the head of markets and investment strategy, while Scott Pelkola joined as senior vice president and head of fixed income. Both report directly to Ellen Cooper, executive vice president and chief investment officer of the investment management group.

Nashville, TN-based wealth management firm Truxton Trust appointed John Diffendal as vice president and portfolio manager to its wealth management team.

Before joining Truxton, Diffendal was a managing partner and senior securities analyst with BB&T Capital Markets. Prior to this, he was a partner with JC Bradford & Company in Nashville, where he served as director of research.

BBVA Compass named William Helms, who previously led the firm’s wealth management business, as vice chairman of the board of directors. Helms previously oversaw BBVA Compass’ private banking, asset management, international wealth management, broker-dealer activities and registered investment advisors. Jeff Talpas, a member of the bank's management committee who has overseen the retail line of business, leads the newly-combined wealth and retail banking group.

Lewiston, NY-headquartered Princeton Equity Partners, the independent financial services firm, launched an office in Austin, TX. The firm provides financial services including tax-aware investment strategies, investment management, retirement planning strategies and wealth management.

The Denver, CO-based Financial Planning Association appointed Edward Gjertsen as its 2014 president-elect for a one-year term. Gjertsen’s term as president-elect begins on January 1, 2014, succeeding incoming FPA 2014 president Janet Stanzak.

CliftonLarsonAllen Wealth Advisors, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CliftonLarsonAllen, named George Hostal as a senior wealth advisor in Phoenix, AZ.

Hostal has nearly 20 years of experience in the financial services industry and specializes in investments. He began his career at Bank One Trust Company.

New York City-headquartered Cohen & Steers hired Vince Childers to lead the firm’s real assets investment strategies. This was a newly created role. Childers joined from AllianceBernstein, where he co-managed $2.3 billion in real assets investment strategies, including the AllianceBernstein Real Asset Strategy Fund.

A former New Jersey-based Morgan Stanley Wealth Management advisor team – The Rasweiler Group - joined UBS in Florham Park, NJ. The group has $4.8 billion in assets under management and a T-12 production of $10 million. Members include: John Rasweiler, John Cusate, Jack Riley, Micheal Jordao, Jesse Kent and William Burke.

Florida-headquartered FineMark National Bank & Trust added private bankers Christina Lunsford, Terri Caple and Patrick Kellard to its Naples office, according to local media. Lunsford joined FineMark as a relationship banker, having previously worked as a vice president at Gibraltar Private Bank & Trust. She has also been a private banking officer for Northern Trust Bank of Florida, as well as at SunTrust Bank. Caple also joined as a relationship banker. Prior to joining FineMark, Caple was a private banking manager and senior vice president at M&I Bank.

The Private Client Reserve of US Bank appointed Scott Fitzgerald as wealth management advisor in New York, among several other hires. Fitzgerald, with more than 11 years’ financial experience, joined the PCR from HSBC, where he served as a senior relationship manager. He previously held the role of relationship manager at City National Bank, and personal banker - managing affluent client relationships - at JPMorgan Chase.

The firm also hired Ruth Granen as a vice president and personal trust relationship manager in Seattle, WA, while Tina Cain was appointed vice president and trust officer in St Paul, MN, and Christopher Kurimay joined as a wealth management advisor in Chicago, IL. Earlier in the month it appointed Amy Kane as a senior family wealth advisor in Denver, CO, while naming Christopher Turoci as a wealth management advisor in Los Angeles, CA.

BBVA Compass, the Sunbelt-based subsidiary of Spain’s BBVA, hired Mark Chiappara as a senior private banker in its US private wealth management unit.

In his new role, Chiappara will serve ultra high net worth clients and select private institutions in the US. Prior to joining the firm, Chiappara held senior positions at Deutsche Bank, Bank of America, Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs.

Dallas, TX-based Tolleson Wealth Management, which serves ultra high net worth families, promoted Philip Durst to chief investment officer. Prior to joining Tolleson, Durst served within the investment management divisions of both INVESCO and John McStay Investment Counsel in Dallas.

The Texas- and Massachusetts-headquartered wealth management solutions company, Placemark Investments, added two new vice presidents to its investment advisory solutions team. Scott Smith and Michelle Barbiere joined the company's development team in furthering the firm’s unified managed account platforms for independent advisors. They will be based in Chicago, IL, and Evergreen, CO, respectively. Smith has 15 years of experience in financial services, having previously served as vice president of sales at Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services, and as relationship manager at Schwab Advisor Services in New York City. Barbiere has 21 years of experience working with RIAs and fund managers, including positions as vice president of business strategy at Merrill Lynch and relationship manager at Schwab Advisor Services.

Scottsdale, AZ-headquartered Gentry Wealth Management hired two wealth advisors, Dave Humphrey and Taiya Thompson, in Las Vegas, NV. Humphrey, with nearly 20 years’ experience working with high net worth families, specializes in retirement planning, wealth preservation, and estate planning. Prior to joining Gentry Wealth Management, Humphrey spent 18 years with Fidelity Investments. During his tenure with Fidelity he worked in Utah, RI, New Hampshire, and Nevada.

Thompson has more than 16 years’ experience in financial services and previously worked within Fidelity’s private client group - as vice president and senior account executive.

Calamos Investments appointed two co-portfolio managers, Jeremy Hughes, and Chris Langs, to its investment team. Hughes and Langs worked together at Aviva Investors overseeing high-yield assets and join Calamos with more than 40 years of combined investment experience.

The Securities and Exchange Commission named Eun Ah Choi as managing executive of the Division of Investment Management. Choi serves as the division’s point person on a range of business, operational and administrative functions. 

She joins from Washington, DC-based law firm Hogan Lovells.

New York-headquartered Fiduciary Trust Company International promoted Carin Leong Pai to executive vice president and director of equity management, while also making two senior hires. Pai has been with the firm since 1996 and now oversees its team of equity portfolio managers while managing client portfolios. Amy Kong joined the firm as managing director and senior portfolio manager of equity management, responsible for managing equity portfolios for individuals, families and institutions.

Kong was previously a senior portfolio manager at US Trust.

Birmingham, AL-based Sterne, Agee & Leach, a privately-owned investment banking and brokerage firm, established a four-strong emerging markets group, based in New York. Mario Rappoport, Harry Wool, Mike Santiago and David Cortes have over 40 years of combined experience in sales and trading of emerging market fixed income products.  

Rappoport, managing director of trading, previously worked at Bear Stearns and Jefferies, responsible for trading and selling EM products – primarily in Latin America and Eastern Europe. Wool, also managing director of trading, launched the EM debt group at Miller Tabak. There, he focused on Latin America, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, African and Asian markets. Santiago, senior vice president of sales, started the EM group at Jefferies. He previously held senior EM sales roles at Wachovia Securities, Prudential Securities and Lehman Brothers. Cortes, senior vice president of sales, worked at various Brazilian institutions such as Banco BTG Pactual and Banco Itau, trading and selling Brazilian EM debt to institutional clients.

Raymond James made David Patchen, a regional director for the firm’s independent broker/dealer, Raymond James Financial Services, senior vice president of education and practice management within the private client group, with effect from September 1. Prior to his regional management role, Patchen was a financial advisor and recruiter for RJFS.

BMO Private Bank hired Julianne Getty as a senior private banker in Chicago, IL. Getty, who has worked in Chicago her entire career, focuses on business development and the relationship management of high net worth clients. She is based in downtown Chicago and joins a team of over 30 BMO Private Bank professionals serving the Greater Chicago Area. BMO Private Bank also appointed Michael Mihm as vice president and senior financial planner in Wisconsin. Based in Milwaukee, Mihm will serve clients throughout southeast Wisconsin. 

Virginia-based Cardinal Bank promoted William Mundy as senior vice president and executive managing director of Cardinal Wealth Services. Mundy joined Cardinal in 2010 as managing director of CWS.

Evercore Wealth Management, a subsidiary of Evercore, appointed Jewelle Bickford as partner and wealth advisor. Bickford based at the firm's headquarters in New York and report to Jeff Maurer, chief executive of Evercore. She joined from GenSpring Family Offices, where she served as a senior strategist.

Janney Montgomery Scott, the Philadelphia, PA-headquartered wealth management and investment banking firm, appointed Peter Price as senior vice president/complex manager of the firm’s Maine and New Hampshire complex. Price, with nearly 30 years of financial services experience, began his career in 1984 as a managing director at Livada Securities.

Market Street Advisors, a technology and services firm which targets the investment management industry, recruited Emil Polito as chairman of its advisory board.

Polito was formerly a senior managing director and partner at American Independence Financial Services, where he was head of the firm’s private wealth management division.

Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management, made a number of senior hires in recent weeks, announced that former senior Credit Suisse executive Felipe Godard will join as a managing director and head of wealth management, Latin America, effective October 1. Godard will be based in Geneva and report to Haig Ariyan and Chip Packard, co-heads of wealth management, Americas, and into the executive management board of the Swiss banking entity, chaired by Marco Bizzozero, CEO, Deutsche Bank Switzerland, and head of wealth management for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. At Credit Suisse, Godard was head of advisory, solutions and investments for the Latin American Private Bank.

New York-listed Envestnet, a provider of wealth management technology and services to financial advisors, added Cynthia Egan to its board of directors.

Egan most recently served as president of retirement plan services at T Rowe Price, having retired in December last year. At T Rowe, Egan was also a member of the Operational Steering Committee; a board member of the T Rowe Price Trust Company; and chair of the T Rowe Price Women’s Roundtable. Egan previously spent 18 years at Fidelity Investments.

BMO Private Bank, part of BMO Financial Group, appointed Michael Mihm as vice president and senior financial planner in Wisconsin. Based in Milwaukee, Mihm serves clients throughout southeast Wisconsin. In other recent hires at the firm, earlier in the year BMO Private Bank added Bill Sperling, Patricia Bostrom and Bill McAleer to its local advisory board in Seattle, WA.

Baird hired four veteran financial advisors within its private wealth management group in Chicago, IL, Baltimore, MD, and Edina, MN, with combined assets under management of $330 million. In Chicago, the Andersen Group has $165 million in AuM and is comprised of Richard Andersen, senior vice president, and Eric Andersen, vice president. Dan Phillips, senior vice president, joins Baird in Edina with $105 million in AuM, while further East in Baltimore John Huynh, vice president, joined with $60 million. The Andersen Group and Phillips are latterly of UBS Financial Services; Huynh is formerly of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney . 

Focus Financial Partners added Grand Rapids, MI-based investment advisor, LaFleur & Godfrey, to its roster of wealth management firms. LaFleur & Godfrey has around $400 million in client assets.

Mercer Island, WA-based wealth management firm Paracle Advisors hired Cherish Sutull as a financial advisor. Cherish has around 15 years of experience in the financial services industry and most recently served as an investment advisor at Harris myCFO, providing investment strategy and advice to ultra high net worth families.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch recruited a new advisory team from Wells Fargo in the shape of Paul Akre and Laurie Tebon. Akre, who joined Wells Fargo in 2003, previously worked at Morgan Stanley for three years and before that at Merrill Lynch for nearly two decades.

In a move to expand the firm’s East coast presence, TD Wealth Private Client Group, the wealth management unit of TD Bank, made three senior appointments to its' private banking offices. Steven C. Truitt and Sherry A. Varrelman were hired as senior vice president and regional wealth leader for the Metro DC region and for the Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey and Central New Jersey Region respectively, while Michael Iacobucci was promoted to senior vice president and regional wealth leader for Northern New England.

Truitt has 30 years of banking experience. Prior to joining TD Wealth, he served as senior vice president and managing director at SunTrust Private Wealth Management, where he led the Northern Virginia/ Washington, D.C., regional wealth services team.

Varrelman has served in the Wealth Management Group of BNY Mellon as managing director and market president for New Jersey, having previously worked in a similar role at Wachovia. Iacobucci has been promoted from his position as a relationship manager for TD Wealth in the Boston market, having previously worked at SunTrust Private Client Services and Wachovia Wealth Management.

Wedbush Bank, the Los Angeles, CA-based private bank, named V Charles Jackson as chairman and chief executive, responsible for developing new product lines and identifying growth opportunities. Jackson replaced Scott Racusin as CEO and fills an empty position as chairman. Jackson previously served as the West Coast CEO of Boston Private Bank & Trust Company and was an executive director for The Mellon Financial Group – West Coast.

Clearbrook Global Advisors, a privately-held, independent investment management firm, appointed two senior industry professionals, Michael Mahoney and Thomasin Bentley, as the firm continues to expand its business development and marketing team. Mahoney, with more than 30 years’ experience in investment and advisory roles for institutions, pensions, non-profit, foundations and endowments, joined the firm as managing director of business development. Prior to joining Clearbrook, Mahoney was a senior vice president at Pyramis Global Advisors, responsible for business development and client service for Taft-Hartley clients.

Ascent Private Capital Management, US Bank’s ultra high net worth business which caters to clients with at least $50 million in investable assets, made three senior hires in San Francisco, CA. Tom Crotty was named managing director of financial administration. Crotty was previously president of Montgomery Professionals, a San Francisco Bay Area accounting and staffing firm. Stephen Florance was appointed as managing director, investment consulting – a role in which he will help clients create investment portfolios. Florance was a managing director at Hall Capital Partners, responsible for managing portfolios and conducting research across all asset classes. Previously, he worked at BancAmerica Robertson Stephens as a hedge fund accountant. Lastly, Sisi Tran joined as managing director of wealth strategy, charged with advising families on wealth planning matters such as trust and estate planning, tax planning, multi-generational planning, family governance and risk management. 

Tran is latterly of Convergent Wealth Advisors, where she was a director of trust and estate planning in Los Angeles, CA.

Guggenheim Securities, the investment banking unit of New York and Chicago-headquartered Guggenheim Partners, hired veteran insurance analyst Bijan Moazami as a managing director in its Washington, D.C. office. In his new role, Moazami works on the property-casualty insurance sector as part of the firm’s equity research team. Moazami joined Guggenheim from Height Securities in Washington, where he founded the firm’s investment banking practice.

The Hedge Fund Association  appointed wealth consultant Hannah Shaw Grove to its high net worth advisory board. Grove is a founder and executive editor of Private Wealth and the author of 10 books on topics including family offices, hedge funds and wealth management.

Westport Resources of Westport, Conn., hired Eugene Miller as director of family office services, a new role that serves ultra-high-net-worth individuals and families.

Miller joined from Citi Private Bank, where he was director and ultra-high-net-worth private banker.

Michael Hines joined Concord Wealth Management, the Boston agency of the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company, as a financial advisor, according to Financial Advisor. Hines will provide financial planning and advice to individuals, families and small business owners. He also will support the agency’s recruiting efforts in Massachusetts, Maine and Rhode Island.

Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management announced that Richard Glass has joined as US head of small and mid-cap value equities. In addition, Richard Hanlon and Mary Schafer have joined the firm, reporting to Glass. Glass, Hanlon and Schafer are based in New York. Glass reports to Owen Fitzpatrick, head of equities for the Americas.

Citi Private Bank appointed Blair Ege at its Washington, DC office as director and ultra high net worth private banker. She reports to Barbara McCollum, Mid-Atlantic regional market manager. Ege previously worked at BNY Mellon in Washington, DC, where she spent seven years as a senior director. Prior to BNY Mellon, Ege was a managing director at Babson Capital Management.

Former Morgan Stanley Smith Barney advisor Elaina Spilove, who with colleagues had overseen client assets totalling $2.5 billion, joined UBS, according to media reports. Spilove is based in Princeton, NJ. Spilove had worked at the Graystone Consulting business of Morgan Stanley. She had annual revenue production of $1.2 million at Graystone, a Morgan Stanley division. She joined the UBS Institutional Consulting Group with the title of senior institutional consultant.

Morgan Stanley elected Rayford Wilkins to its board of directors. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Wilkins served as chief executive of diversified businesses at AT&T, a position from which he retired in March last year. Before that, Wilkins held a number of senior roles at AT&T and its predecessor company, including group president and CEO of SBC Pacific Bell, and president and CEO of Southwestern Bell Telephone, among others.

Janney Montgomery Scott, the Philadelphia, Pa-headquartered wealth management and investment banking firm, appointed former Morgan Stanley senior manager Vincent Crognale to its Greenville, Del., branch office as first vice president/Wealth Management. Crognale is joined by private client assistant Deborah Carlton. At Morgan Stanley, Crognale worked for 13 years. Prior to that, he worked with Wheat First Butcher Singer from 1995 until 2000.

New York-listed Fifth Third Bank promoted Helene Tolentino to the role of private banker. Prior to her promotion, Tolentino served as a personal banker at Fifth Third Bank, before which she was a financial service assistant at AMSouth Bank.

Further Lane Wealth Management appointed two New York-based advisors, formerly of UBS, to join the firm. The advisors are Stuart Conley and Harvey Spira, both holding the roles of managing directors.