Recent division of Offit Hall left one side shy a chief investment officer. Investment advisory Offit Capital Advisors has named Todd Petzel, a former chief economist of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, as its CIO. Much more recently Petzel held the same title at hedge-fund investor Azimuth Asset Management.

All for one

A press release out of New York-based Offit Capital Advisors has firm chairman Morris Offit and co-CEOs Daniel Offit and Ned Offit expressing, seemingly in unison, their delight at Petzel's appointment. They describe him as "a seasoned market professional" who shares their "vision for this business."

Morris Offit founded wealth-management firm Offitbank in 1983. It merged with Wachovia in 1999. He left Wachovia in 2002 after a falling out with its board: he was opposed to First Union's $13-billion takeover bid for Wachovia. He left Wachovia's board in the summer of 2001; a few months later he was pushed out of the top-manager slot at Offitbank. First Union completed its takeover of Wachovia in 2002.

Early in 2002, Morris Offit and his sons Ned and Daniel joined forces with San Francisco-based wealth-management firm Laurel Management to form Offit Hall Capital Management.

In parting

In July 2007 the Offit family parted company with Offit Hall (now Hall Capital Partners) to found Offit Capital Advisors, leaving CIO Kathryn Hall (CEO and CIO of Hall Capital) behind in the process.

So, in a round-about and way, Petzel is replacing Hall -- at least for the smaller "Offit" part of the Offit-Hall equation.

Before he joined New York-based Azimuth in 2003, Petzel was CIO of Commonfund Group, a Wilton, Conn.-based investment manager to non-profit entities. He was with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange before that, where in addition to serving as chief economist he was in charge of business development. He has also been chief economist of the Coffee, Sugar & Cocoa Exchange (now part of the IntercontinentalExchange, and as a lecturer at the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business.

Petzel was still at Azimuth on 1 October 2007, when he published a market commentary for the firm called "Difficulties Remain."

Petzel says he's looking "forward to applying the knowledge and skills I have developed throughout my career to contribute to" Offit Capital Advisors' success. "The Offit's track record of performance and service, the world-class team [they have] assembled, and the client base that has transitioned to the firm bode very well for our future."

Offit Capital Advisors, which builds investment portfolios for high-net-worth families and non-profits, has assets under supervision of about $4.6 billion.

Hall Capital Partners supervises about $21 billion for a client base with a similar profile, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. -FWR

Purchase reproduction rights to this article.