Veteran wealth management executive Mark Ostroff joined Lazard Wealth Management as a managing director, Family Wealth Report has learned. FWR is the sister publication of WealthBriefing.

Mr Ostroff is expected to be a key player in Lazard's effort to build out its new private wealth management subsidiary, which was launched in June.

Mr Ostroff will report to Thaddeus Shelly, chief executive of Lazard Wealth Management, who was a former colleague of Mr Ostroff’s when both men worked at Goldman Sachs.

A Lazard spokesperson confirmed Mr Ostroff’s hire, but declined further comment.

Industry observers said the move signaled Lazard’s plans to build out a wealth management unit had not been derailed by the death of the firm’s dynamic former chairman and chief executive Bruce Wasserstein, who had championed the move but sadly died in October.

“If there was any question that Lazard was going to hesitate about moving forward with wealth management, the answer is obviously no,” said Jeff Spears, chief executive of the San Francisco-based consulting firm Sanctuary Wealth Management. “The key is hiring proven industry professionals, and that’s exactly what Shelly is doing. Ostroff has a proven sales track record, which is exactly what a de novo business needs.”

Alternative investments have been a specialty of Mr Ostroff. He headed GoldRock Asset Management, an alternative investment management company owned by Cantor Fitzgerald in New York and co-founded Zenith Asset Management, a Los Angeles-based fund-of-funds firm, Graystone Partners, a hedge fund advisory firm and WealthPlace, another alternative asset management firm.

In addition to a stint at Goldman, Mr Ostroff has also held executive positions at Morgan Stanley and Weiss, Peck & Greer.

In October Mr Shelly hired Sharon Klein as a managing director and head of wealth advisory in charge of trust and estate planning for Lazard Wealth Management. Ms Klein had been a senior vice president at Fiduciary Trust Company International.

Mr Shelly joined Lazard in June from Bessemer Trust, where he was a senior managing  director and regional head of  the mid-Atlantic, South and Southeast regions.

In November Ken Jacobs succeeded Mr Wasserstein as Lazard chairman and chief executive. He had been  chief executive of Lazard North America.