People Moves

Merrill Lynch WM Overhauls Senior Roles, Restructures Divisional Line-Up

Tom Burroughes Group Editor March 30, 2017

Merrill Lynch WM Overhauls Senior Roles, Restructures Divisional Line-Up

The US wealth management house has announce a series of changes across the US, affecting its executive line-up.

Merrill Lynch Wealth Management has made a raft of changes to its senior management amid a restructuring, including promotions for two executives, according to a memo seen by this publication. 

The memo, sent to staff by Andy Sieg, the head of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, announced the following divisional line-up, with six regional units: Northeast, Bill Lorenz; Mid-Atlantic, Lindsay DeNardo Hans; Southeast, Eric Schimpf; Midwest, Paul Lambert; Texas Mountain South, Vince Fertitta, West, Jeff Markham. Two of these figures, Lindsay DeNardo Hans and Vince Fertitta, were promoted, the memo said. Hans was previously market executive of the Philadelphia metro area Fertitta previously was executive at the brokerage’s “Lone Star” market.

Separately, Don Plaus, previously DE for the Southeast), and Ben Prince (previously DE for Southwest, who were division executives, are moving to new roles on the leadership team. Another senior manager, Linda Houston, has decided to retire; she had been DE for New England.

The other changes include:

Jeffrey Tucker (previously DE NYC metro) moves to a new assignment in the coming weeks and Tom Fickinger (Pacific Northwest) is considering new opportunities within the company, the memo said. Jim Dickson (DE, Greater Midwest) is leaving the firm to pursue other opportunities. 

Sieg said he has created a market executive strategy council, made up of a nationally representative group. He said five new roles are being created in the home office, reporting to him. Each of them will be given the task of boosting growth, making the organization more effective and integrating business development activities within Bank of America.

Within the Private Banking & Investment Group and International segment, the memo said that Don Plaus (see above) will lead PBIG. Plaus also assumes responsibility for its international business.
In the Community Markets area, Ben Prince (see above) will take on a leadership role to develop a strategy focused on community markets, the memo said.

Mike Adornetto (previously, MD, Treasury, Fulfillment, Service and Operations) meanwhile, returns as chief operating officer of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management. He has recently been a leader in the Consumer Bank and Global Banking and Markets (GBAM) operations. He has been given overall responsibility for the firm’s client associates, a group comprising 6,500 people. Adornetto is also responsible for the FA desktop, client online and mobile strategy. 

Register for FamilyWealthReport today

Gain access to regular and exclusive research on the global wealth management sector along with the opportunity to attend industry events such as exclusive invites to Breakfast Briefings and Summits in the major wealth management centres and industry leading awards programmes