Trust co. taps family-office group's Bell to replace Boston-bound Mitchell. Multibank holding company Northern Trust has made Steven Bell president of its Northern California region. Bell had been head of the Northern Trust Wealth Management group which serves the specialized needs of ultra-high-net worth individuals and family offices.

Meanwhile Dennis Mitchell, the man whom Bell has replaced at the helm of the trust company's business in wealth hubs like San Francisco and Silicon Valley, will now be head of business-development at the firm's office in Boston.

Home sweet home

Northern Trust spokeswoman Rebecca Hayne says the moves accord with the executives' personal wishes. Bell is based in Northern California; the company's family-office group is based at Northern Trust's headquarters in Chicago. Mitchell, who lived for many years in Maine, has "strong ties" to New England.

Bell now reports to Kevin Rochford, Northern Trust's Western regional head.

"We're extremely pleased that Steve is leading our Northern California business development and operations," Rochford says in a Northern Trust press release. "He is one of the company's most admired and knowledgeable executives of the complex investment, reporting and planning needs of very wealthy individuals and family offices."

Bell has held a number of positions since he joined Northern Trust in 1982. Before he was made head of its Wealth Management group in 2003, Bell was in charge of client service for the group; before that he was the group's head of sales and marketing. Earlier in his career he was instrumental in bringing Northern Trust's private banking business to California.

In another move, Northern Trust has hired former U.S. Trust advisor Penny Weeks as a senior private banker in its Boston office. She reports to Lee Woolley, president of Northern Trust Massachusetts.

Schwab recently agreed to sell U.S. Trust to Bank of America.

Northern Trust has 84 offices in 18 U.S. states and international offices in 13 locations in North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. On 30 September 2006 Northern Trust had $3.3 trillion in assets under custody and $667 billion in assets under management. -FWR

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