The board appointments are effective immediately.

CircleBlack, the online financial data aggregation platform for financial advisors which launched last year, has made its first ever strategic appointments, hiring Bill Bartzak and Michael Castellano to join its board of directors.

Bartzak is currently a member of the senior leadership team at ABILITY Network, a healthcare workflow services company. Prior to being acquired by ABILITY, Bartzak was chief executive and founder of MD On-Line, which was a provider of technology solutions that helped boost the efficiency of doctor practices. 

In addition, he serves on the board of directors for the Institute of Public Health and Medicine of New Jersey and the board of advisors for Investors Bank.

“I look forward to taking my experiences in building and running a successful technology offering for doctors, to the realm of the independent financial advisor – two fields with many similarities,”  Bartzak said.

Meanwhile, Castellano has extensive executive-level experience in the financial services and wealth management sectors, CircleBlack said.  He currently serves as a director/trustee of the BlackRock Closed-End Fund complex and was previously CFO and managing director of Lazard.

Before Lazard, Castellano held senior management roles at Merrill Lynch & Co from August 1991 to August 2001. Earlier still, he was a partner with Deloitte & Touche.

Click here for an interview with CircleBlack.