A summary of industry moves in the Americas during the month of May, 2014.

Irvine, CA-headquartered First Foundation, which cancelled its proposed initial public offering of common stock, made a round of hires across Imperial Valley, Los Angeles and San Diego, CA.

In Imperial Valley, the firm hired Robert Valenzuela as a private banker and vice president of First Foundation Bank, a wholly-owned subsidiary of First Foundation.

Fluent in Spanish, Valenzuela has over 10 years of experience in the financial and client services industries, having previously worked at Wells Fargo Financial and Union Bank.

Meanwhile, James Fenton joined as a private banker at the firm’s West Los Angeles office and will serve as vice president at First Foundation Bank.

Prior to joining First Foundation, Fenton worked at Charles Schwab and Ameriprise Financial as a regional banking manager and regional director, respectively.

Lastly, First Foundation added two private bankers in San Diego: Joubin Rahimi and Neel Pujara.

Rahimi’s clients will include individuals, families, businesses and non-profits in the region. He was previously a private banker at First Republic and Comerica Bank in San Diego.

Pujara is a former entrepreneur and wealth management advisor, as well as banker; before joining First Foundation, he co-founded a stock brokerage firm that helped investors in India gain access to the US markets. Previously, he was a relationship manager at Bank of America and wealth management advisor at Merrill Lynch.

Formerly part of the professional banking team at Nevada State Bank, Rita Vaswani joined The Private Bank by Nevada State Bank team as vice president and private banking relationship manager, focused on high net worth clients.

Vaswani has more than two decades of banking experience and also a strong background in healthcare and gaming.

Raymond James & Associates, the traditional employee broker-dealer of Raymond James Financial, added to its Richmond, VA, office with the appointments of advisors Robert Wood, Robert Wood, Jr, and Carlton Brown.

The team, known as Wood Asset Management of Raymond James, joined from Wells Fargo Advisors, where they had annual fees and commissions of approximately $2 million.

Ninety per cent of the team’s business is in investment advisory discretionary business.

Robert Wood, senior vice president, investments, has more than 30 years of industry experience, having held high-level positions at firms such as Prudential Securities and Wells Fargo prior to joining Raymond James. He, along with his son, formed their team in 1998 while affiliated with Prudential Securities.

Robert Wood, Jr, also senior vice president, investments, has served as general partner for the team and in his current role handles equity and fixed income investments, client relations and marketing initiatives.

Brown, vice president of investments, is a 30-year industry veteran and former estate planning attorney. Prior to joining the team and affiliating with Raymond James, he worked as an attorney and held management-level positions at several firms.

Lola Wright, senior client service associate, whose responsibilities include opening client accounts, moving funds and assisting with client services, also joined the team.

Chicago, IL-based Evanston Capital Management, an alternative investment manager, appointed Carl Gargula as vice president of business development – a new role at the firm.

Gargula will be responsible for marketing in the RIA, family office, bank, broker-dealer and financial intermediary channels.

He joined from William Blair & Company, where he was latterly senior regional director for the Eastern US and previously manager of the firm's wealth management services and strategic planning areas.

Perella Weinberg Partners, the global advisory and asset management firm, brought in Robert Steel as chief executive.

Joseph Perella, who founded Perella Weinberg Partners and was CEO, will continue as chairman, while co-founders Terry Meguid and Peter Weinberg remain as co-head of asset management and head of advisory, respectively.

Steel’s career spanning almost 40 years in financial services includes public and private sector experience. Most recently, he was New York City’s Deputy Mayor for Economic Development under Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

As CEO of Wachovia Corporation in 2008, he oversaw the sale of the bank to Wells Fargo & Co and served on the Wells Fargo board of directors until 2010. From 2006 to 2008, he was the Under Secretary for Domestic Finance at the US Department of the Treasury. Prior to entering government service, he spent nearly 30 years at Goldman Sachs, rising to become head of global equities.

US Bank named Jason Stamm as central region president for its high net worth Private Client Reserve, succeeding Mike Ott, who was promoted to president of the PCR last October.

Prior to his promotion, Ott served as central region president and Twin Cities market leader for the PCR.

Based in Minneapolis, MN, Stamm will oversee a team of over 350 investment, trust, private banking, and financial planning professionals serving HNW individuals and families. He will work with other PCR market leaders across Chicago, IL, Kansas City, MO, Madison, WI, Milwaukee, WI, Minneapolis, MN, St Paul, MN, and St Louis, MO.

Stamm has worked in the financial services industry for 21 years, having been with BMO Private Bank and its predecessors since 1996. In his most recent role as regional president there, he led the business operations and talent integration for the private bank of BMO, Harris Bank and M&I in the north-central region.

Rochester, NY-based Focus Financial Partners firm, LVW Advisors, recruited Joseph Zappia from Wells Fargo Advisors to launch LVW Family Wealth, a platform designed to provide wealth management and financial planning services to affluent families and family offices.

In his former role at Wells Fargo, Zappia was managing director and senior portfolio manager of The Zappia Investment Group, managing around $400 million in private client assets.

Ted Garofola joined him at LVW so that the pair can continue providing financial planning, investment advisory, trust and estate planning, tax planning and insurance solutions to private clients. Zappia and Garofola have nearly 50 years of combined experience serving private clients.

The Sacramento, CA-based Ezzell Group became the fourth team to join the HighTower Network, which launched last year and helps breakaway advisors transition to independence.

Members of the network can manage their own staff and maintain control of the “day-to-day details” of their business, while accessing the firm’s broker-dealer platform and being affiliated with the HighTower brand.

Jason Ezzell, managing director and dounder, and Alec Fisher, senior manager, joined from Merrill Lynch and oversee nearly $300 million in client assets.

Canada-based Aston Hill Asset Management hired portfolio manager John Kim within its investment team as well as making two senior sales hires.

Kim joined Aston Hill most recently from Sentry Investments and has 20 years' experience in the investment industry, managing Canadian equities. A new Canadian total return fund for which he will be the portfolio manager is currently in development.

Meanwhile, Karl Palmen was appointed as vice president of sales in Vancouver, while Marco Manocchio, also vice president of sales, will be based in Montreal, Quebec (Quebec was previously covered from the Toronto office).

Palmen joined Aston Hill from NexGen Financial, where he spent eight years as vice president of sales. Prior to NexGen, he spent 12 years at CI Investments, most recently as a vice president of sales.

Manocchio spent the last six years at BMO Global Asset Management as vice president of regional sales, prior to which he held sales roles at Montreal-based fund companies including OpenSky Capital and TAL Fund Management.

Birmingham, AL-based Sterne Agee, the US privately-owned financial services firm which also provides trust and private client services, announced a new executive management team.

Eric Needleman became chairman of Sterne Agee Group and chief executive of Sterne Agee & Leach, while Linda Daniel, an employee for 33 years and board member, was named vice chairwoman.

Henry Lynn, one of the firm's longest-serving employees, board member and former chairman will continue as chairman emeritus. The holding company board also appointed Sal Nunziata as CEO and president of Sterne Agee Group. He replaced John Holbrook.

Bios

Needleman joined Sterne Agee in January 2009 as head of the fixed income credit division and then in 2012 became head of fixed income. He has over 18 years’ experience in the credit markets.

Prior to joining, he was co-head of US market making and head of high yield sales, trading and research at KBC Financial Products. He started his career at Lehman Brothers and subsequently worked at Granchester Securities (the high yield division of Wasserstein Perella). In addition to his current role at Sterne Agee, Needleman also covers institutional accounts for high yield sales.

Nunziata is currently CEO and president of Sterne Agee and chairman and co-CEO of FBC Mortgage, a Sterne Agee Group company. Prior to co-founding FBC Mortgage, Nunziata was senior vice president and district manager at First Horizon Home Loans. Earlier, he was vice president at American Heritage Mortgage Corp from June 1989 until October 2003. American Heritage was acquired by First Horizon Home Loans in October 2003.

Manchester Capital Management hired Daniel Goldstein as a senior managing director in Montecito, CA, tasked with advising clients on wealth management and family office services.

The firm said Goldstein’s experience running a single family office will allow the firm to offer a broader range of related services.

Founded in 1993, MCM is a boutique wealth management firm with a 33-strong team advising wealthy families across the US. The firm has offices in Manchester, VT, Montecito, CA, Charlottesville, VA, and New York, NY.

For 20 years prior to joining, Goldstein advised ultra high net worth families across Europe and in the US on their liquid investments, businesses, structuring, direct real estate investments, family dynamics, yachts, concierge services and philanthropy.

For 15 years, he was a director of a global single family office principally located in Europe, with activities spanning Europe, the US, Africa and India. Previously, he was the investment analyst on a two-person team managing a $1.25 billion portfolio for a US family foundation.

UBS Wealth Management Americas appointed financial advisor Stephen Davis in Westlake Village, CA, from Merrill Lynch.

At Merrill – where he spent the last 21 years - Davis managed around $500 million assets and had a T-12 production of $2.6 million.

At UBS, he reports to Louis Skertich and operates as The Davis Group.

AIG Advisor Group, a network of independent US broker-dealers, welcomed back Allison Couch and appointed her to the newly-created role of executive vice president of national sales.

Based in New York, Couch will report to Erica McGinnis, president and chief executive of AIG Advisor Group.

She will be responsible for the development and implementation of sales and distribution strategies across the network. She will also work closely with business development across the network’s four broker-dealers: FSC, Royal Alliance, SagePoint Financial and Woodbury Financial.

Couch began her career as a financial advisor and managing executive at Royal Alliance, where she spent ten years. She then became vice president of business development, and later senior vice president and head of business development, at FSC Securities.

Couch most recently served as managing director of wealth management at Cetera Financial Group, where she was responsible for overseeing advisory sales and growing product sales. Before that, she spent time at LPL Financial as senior vice president, leading the business consulting team.

Focus Financial Partners, the US partnership of independent wealth management firms, welcomed Quadrant Private Wealth, a Pennsylvania-based independent registered investment advisor.

Quadrant was launched by former Merrill Lynch advisors Herman Rij, Jason Cort, Kori Lannon and Brian Cort - who managed more than $750 million in client assets - through Focus Connections, a program that helps wirehouse teams transition their business and launch their own independent wealth management firms.

Prior to forming Quadrant, the founding partners worked as a team at the Rij, Cort, Lannon & Associates Group at Merrill Lynch. Their new firm will serve high net worth individuals and families, as well as businesses and other organizations.

Rij was with Merrill Lynch for over four decades and is a founding partner and a private wealth advisor at Quadrant. Jason Cort joined the Rij Group at Merrill in 1997 and has strong knowledge in the areas of wealth structuring/estate planning, liability management and equity strategies. He is also a founding partner and private wealth advisor at Quadrant.

Meanwhile, Lannon joined the Rij Group in 2007 after 13 years in commercial banking. She focuses on portfolio structure with an emphasis on risk management, tax-exempt income and structured/alternative investments. Brian Cort joined Merrill Lynch in 2002 and the Rij Group in 2008. He guides corporate retirement plans, retirement planning and portfolio design.

US Bank’s high net worth Private Client Reserve unit appointed Brad Sawyer as a wealth management advisor in Salt Lake City, UT.

With over 30 years of experience in the financial services industry, Sawyer has strong knowledge in the areas of portfolio and risk management, retirement strategies and team development.

Prior to joining the PCR, Sawyer served as capacity coach with Team Performance Group in Ogden, UT, where he developed financial services teams to better service clients through results and relationship management.

Wells Fargo made a number of advisor hires from Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and UBS Financial Services.

Salem, OR-based Summit Wealth Management, led by financial advisor Richard Lee, along with Brandon Blair, Mike Costa and Barbara Hacke Resch, joined Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, Wells Fargo’s independent financial advisory division for advisors who own their practice.

The advisors are latterly of Morgan Stanley, where they managed over $311 million in client assets and produced more than $1.5 million in annual revenue.

Meanwhile, financial advisor Milton Schwartz joined Wells Fargo Advisors in Sumter, SC, reporting to branch manager Roy Creech and South Carolina complex manager Scott Spang.

Most recently, Schwartz served as branch manager for Merrill Lynch’s Sumter branch, where he managed more than $135 million in client assets and produced more than $1.1 million in annual revenue.  

Lastly, financial advisor David Spell joined Wells Fargo Advisors in Charleston, SC, reporting to branch manager Rod Connell and South Carolina complex manager Scott Spang. He made the move from UBS Financial Services, where he managed more than $86 million in client assets and produced more than $1 million in annual revenue. 

New York-listed City National Bank, the private and business bank, made five hires focused on serving private clients in California's Central Coast region.

Serving clients in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties are senior vice president and regional manager Leo Hamill; private bankers Annamarie Cole and Roy Martinez; Amber Ortiz, a private client advisor; and Susan Rogers, a trust advisor.

The firm said it plans to add office space in the Santa Barbara/Montecito area later this year. For now, the appointees are based in Oxnard, Southern California.

The US wealth management firm Aspiriant appointed John Allen as chief investment officer, replacing  Jason Thomas, who left to start his own firm.

Allen is primarily responsible for leading Aspiriant's overall investment strategy and research group, which is comprised of 12 investment professionals and covers asset allocation, portfolio construction, manager selection and risk management.

Allen, who is based in Los Angeles, CA, has an “extensive background” in private asset management and business development, Aspiriant said. He spent the past five years at Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo & Co in San Francisco, CA.

Cetera Financial Group named Erinn Ford as president of Cetera Advisors, reporting to Brett Harrison, formerly president and CEO of the unit.

Harrison will continue as CEO of Cetera Advisors while assuming an expanded executive role at Cetera Financial Group, reporting to Larry Roth, the newly-appointed CEO of Cetera Financial Group who succeeds Valerie Brown.

Ford has more than 20 years of experience in the financial services industry and joined Cetera Financial Group in 2012 as senior vice president of advisor relations for Cetera Advisors.

Vestmark, a provider of advisory solutions and wealth management technology, appointed Mark Saunders as vice president and director of operations of Vestmark Business Process Outsourcing – a new role at the firm.

Saunders will be responsible for supporting the expansion of Vestmark's Jersey City-based BPO unit and sparking initiatives to enhance the services provided to BPO clients.

He has over 15 years of experience in the industry, having previously served as vice president of wrap operations at Goldman Sachs Asset Management. In that role, he was responsible for daily reconciliation, account opening and servicing, composite performance maintenance and account guidelines monitoring.

William Woodson joined Citi Private Bank from Credit Suisse as managing director and head of the firm’s North America family office group, based in West Palm Beach, FL.

Woodson was previously head of the ultra high net worth and family office business for Credit Suisse’s private bank in North America.

In his new role at Citi, Woodson replaced Stephen Campbell, who was named as chairman for the North America family office group – a role in which he will advise the firm’s biggest family office and foundation clients in North America and globally.

Woodson reports to Peter Charrington, chief executive of Citi Private Bank, North America, and Catherine Weir, global head of the family office group.

Bios

Campbell joined Citi Private Bank in 2011 to build out the firm's North America family office platform, with around 25 years of financial industry experience. Prior to joining, he led investment management and technology organizations for Fidelity Investments in the US, Europe and Asia. He also founded and invested in early-stage venture companies, and was chief investment officer at a family office.

Earlier in his career, Woodson spent a decade in public accounting at Coopers & Lybrand and Arthur Andersen before leaving to run the family office for one of his largest clients. He was also a founding member and managing director of myCFO and worked as a private banker with the Merrill Lynch Private Banking and Investment Group before joining Credit Suisse in 2007 to lead the firm’s multi-family office practice and wealth planning group.

Kai Sotorp is leaving his post as chief executive of the Asia-Pacific region at UBS Global Asset Management to take on top-level roles at Manulife Asset Management in Toronto.

Sotorp has been appointed as president and CEO of Manulife Asset Management, as well as executive vice president and global head of wealth and asset management. He will be based in Toronto, subject to immigration approvals.

This is a new role at the firm that Sotorp will officially take up on July 1. He has 25 years of international financial services and asset management experience, including extensive experience in Asia.

Most recently and since September of 2012, Sotorp worked at UBS Global Asset Management as CEO for the Asia-Pacific region. He was also UBS group managing director and a member of UBS Global Asset Management’s executive committee. Based in Hong Kong, he oversaw $120 billion in assets under management and 495 employees.

Previously, he spent 11 years with UBS Global Asset Management in numerous roles, including: group managing director in Chicago, IL; CEO, Americas, and member of UBS’ group managing board; regional head of Asia-Pacific; and president of UBS Global Asset Management (Japan).

In his new role at Manulife, Sotorp will be a member of the firm’s executive committee and management committee, reporting to Warren Thomson, senior executive vice president and chairman of Manulife Asset Management.

As president and CEO of Manulife Asset Management – a role previously held by Thomson on an interim basis - Sotorp will oversee Manulife Asset Management while partnering in product development and distribution with the firm’s wealth businesses - providing mutual funds, group pensions and investment-linked insurance globally.

Tiffany Boskovich was named as portfolio manager for the Private Client Reserve of US Bank in Denver, CO.

Boskovich will provide investment services, offering allocation strategies and making related recommendations to clients.

She has over 14 years of financial services experience working in the high net worth investment management and trust sectors in Colorado and Wyoming.

Boskovich was latterly vice president and investment manger at ANB Bank in Denver, where she managed the investment department within the trust division.

Raymond James & Associates, the traditional employee broker-dealer of RJ, recruited senior vice presidents of investments Jeffery Tomaszewski and Gary Rigby at its Ocala, FL, office.

The team is latterly of Merrill Lynch, where they managed more than $280 million in client assets and had annual fees and commissions of approximately $1.6 million. Liz Malkin also joined as a registered assistant.

Tomaszewski and Rigby spent around 30 years at Merrill Lynch, beginning their careers there in 1985 and 1986, respectively. 

US Bank Wealth Management hired Thomas Vercauteren as a personal trust relationship manager within its Private Client Reserve arm in Madison, WI.

Vercauteren will administer trusts for high net worth clients, coordinating financial, tax, investment and legal services.

Before joining US Bank, Vercauteren worked as a relationship manager for Trust Point and also has previous experience with a law firm.

Paul Hatch joined UBS Wealth Management Americas as group managing director and head of WMA advice and solutions, reporting to chief executive Robert McCann.

In an internal memo seen by Family Wealth Report, McCann said UBS WMA is consolidating all of its investment solutions “into one place.”

Hatch has 30 years of industry experience and previously spent around ten years leading the client offerings for Smith Barney, Citigroup Global Wealth Management and, most recently, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. He began his career at EF Hutton, where he was a financial advisor for around six years.

In related developments, John Brown, head of middle markets; David McWilliams, head of wealth management transformation; Mike Ryan, chief investment strategist for WMA and regional CIO; and Tom Troy, head of capital markets, will all report to Hatch.

Meanwhile, Bob Mulholland, who leads the wealth management Americas client advisory group, will be “realigning the field leadership structure to create greater accountability and enhanced client focus,” McCann said.

Jason Chandler will take on responsibility for WMAG East, which includes the New England, Metropolitan, Mid Atlantic and Southeast regions. Chandler will also expand his leadership to include WMA international and the wealth management business of UBS Canada, which is led by Ricardo Gonzalez.

Bill Carroll – who ran the solutions group - will lead WMAG West, which covers the South Central, Midwest, Southwest and Northwest regions. Additionally, Carroll will take on responsibility for national sales, with Paul Santucci reporting directly to him. John Mathews will continue leading the private wealth management business, reporting to Mulholland.

Rosemary Berkery, head of the WMA banking group, will expand her responsibilities to include the UBS Trust Company led by Craig Walling, and the US private bank, led by Steven Schroko.

Kathleen Lynch continues as WMA and Americas chief operating officer while Mike Perry, who is taking a brief leave of absence as he recovers from a foot injury, will join Lynch’s team when he returns in July.

Michael Crowl, as previously announced, will join WMA in July as general counsel.

Dan Cochran, John Dalby, Brian Hull, John McDermott and Paula Polito will continue leading their current areas of responsibility.

Morgan Stanley appointed Eric Benedict to lead the brokerage business which serves the firm’s ultra high net worth clients.

The private wealth management group reportedly includes some 350 advisors serving clients with $20 million or more in investable assets.

Benedict - who took over from Doug Ketterer - will oversee the US private wealth management unit. He will report to Ketterer and Shelley O’Connor, head of field management.

Ketterer was appointed to head strategy and client management earlier this year. Meanwhile, Vince Lumia replaces Benedict as head of capital markets.

BMO Private Bank named Steve Johnson as regional president, North Central states, replacing Jason Stamm, who left the firm.

Johnson will be responsible for the strategic development and delivery of wealth management services for high net worth individuals, family-owned businesses, endowments and foundations in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, Kansas and Missouri.

He has held a variety of retail, commercial and wealth management leadership positions at BMO Harris Bank.

In his most recent role – which he retains until a successor is named - he was regional president of retail and business banking in Arizona.

Johnson has “extensive experience” in Milwaukee, BMO said, where he will be re-locating.

Huntington Bancshares named John Augustine as chief investment officer within its Private Client Group.

Augustine will be responsible for the investment strategies and activities for the bank’s fiduciary businesses, reporting to Steve Short, director of The Huntington Trust.

Augustine has nearly 30 years of experience in banking, portfolio management and market strategy. During the last 13 years, he served as chief economic and market strategist at Fifth Third Asset Management, alongside other key roles.

Raymond James appointed financial advisor Stephen Besse as senior vice president at the Walnut Creek, CA, office of Raymond James & Associates, the firm's traditional employee broker-dealer.

Besse will work with service associate Vanessa Jimenez. He and Jimenez are both latterly of Morgan Stanley, where they managed over $360 million in client assets and had annual fees and commissions of $1.35 million.

Besse started at Smith Barney as a financial advisor in 1994 and remained at the firm after it was acquired by Morgan Stanley, until joining Raymond James.

Jimenez, who joined Besse at Smith Barney in 2006, handles all operations and administrative duties for the new team at Raymond James.

US Bancorp Investments, part of US Bank, appointed financial advisors Alina Brindescu in Beverly Hills, CA, Gus Marzavas in Rock River, OH, Keith Hendricks in Manitowoc, WI, and Robert Norman in Murfreesboro, TN.

Brindusescu is latterly of HSBC, where she was a financial advisor; Marzavas joined from PNC Investments, where he was a financial advisor; Hendricks previously worked at Bed Bath & Beyond, where he was a merchandise buyer; lastly Norman joined from Raymond James Financial Services, where he was a branch manager.

They report to region managers David Terrell, Michael Martin, Michael Heyroth and Gina Stalzer respectively.

The Woodbury branch of Wells Fargo Advisors added The Lev Sher Group from Morgan Stanley, comprised of managing directors of investment Norman Lev and Glen Sher, and vice president and investment officer Michael Jeshiva.

Combined, Lev, Sher and Jeshiva manage over $236 million in assets and have around 110 years of industry experience.

The Lev Sher Group is focused on helping clients invest wisely and set financial goals. Two client associates, Roberta Lev and Helen Cardona, complete the team.

Webster Private Bank recruited Jennifer Charlebois from First Republic Trust Company as senior vice president and senior fiduciary services officer, based in Stamford, CT.

Prior to joining Webster, Charlebois was managing director and senior trust officer at First Republic Trust Company in New York.

Samuel Gottesman left JP Morgan Private Bank to become managing director and market executive for the greater Washington, DC, market at Bank of America's US Trust.

Gottesman will be responsible for the overall performance and client outreach, including in the markets of Montgomery County, DC, and Northern Virginia.

He will oversee investment management, trust and estate planning services, credit and lending, and philanthropy. Additionally, he will be in charge of hiring new talent in the market.

In his former role at JP Morgan, Gottesman was managing director and market manager in Washington, DC. Before that, he served as chief investment officer at Mizuho Alternative Investments and was also a member of the management and investment committees.

Earlier still, he was named chief operating officer at Blaylock and Company, a minority-owned investment bank in the US, where he directed front- and back-office functions.

Throughout his 30-year career, he has also held senior roles in management and trading at Commerzbank, Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch and Drexel Burnham Lambert, having started out at Goldman Sachs.

First Republic Bank, a private bank and wealth management firm, brought in Hafize Gaye Erkan as senior vice president, chief investment officer and co-chief risk officer.

Erkan will oversee the firm’s investment portfolio and direct the enterprise risk management function, initially as co-chief risk officer. She has extensive expertise in quantitative risk modeling, stress testing and balance sheet optimization for financial services companies.

Erkan has worked at Goldman Sachs since 2005, where she was managing director and held a senior role in the investment banking division.

In her new role – effective in June - at First Republic, she will report to chairman and chief executive Jim Herbert and will be based in New York.

Michael Crowl is to join UBS as general counsel for the Americas region and Wealth Management Americas, on July 1, 2014.

Crowl will become a member of the Legal Executive Committee as well as the Americas Executive Committee and the Wealth Management Americas Executive Committee. He will join as a group managing director.

Crowl has worked in various roles at Barclays since 2007, including general counsel of the Americas region and, prior to that, as global general counsel of Barclays Global Investors.

Before his stint at Barclays, he spent over ten years at Goldman Sachs in New York, London and Hong Kong. There, he served as general counsel for Goldman Sachs (Asia) and global general counsel of the investment banking division.

Brent Taylor is currently serving as interim general counsel for the Americas and Wealth Management Americas. He will continue in his role as head of legal for wealth management and investment solutions, reporting to Crowl.

Fieldpoint Private appointed Andrew Heitner as a managing director and senior advisor.

Heitner joined from Neuberger Berman, where he was a vice president of the firm's private wealth management group, based in Chicago.

He joined Neuberger Berman in 2004, and before this he was with JP Morgan, working in Hong Kong, New York and Geneva. He began his career with The Heitner Corporation, a family firm based in St Louis, MO.

Jan Golaszewski joined Carey Olsen's Cayman Islands office as counsel in the dispute resolution and litigation department.

The appointment followed the launch of Carey Olsen's Cayman Islands litigation offering in September 2013 with the appointment of partner Michael Makridakis and the subsequent appointment of associate Sophia Harrison in November of the same year.

Previously, Golaszewski worked at Maples & Calder in the Cayman Islands for five years and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in London and Hong Kong for eight years. 

Golaszewski advises clients in contentious, semi-contentious and advisory matters related to offshore and investment funds. His practice has an emphasis on multi-jurisdictional commercial litigation and arbitration, fraud and asset tracing, regulatory issues and judicial review proceedings. Many of his previous cases have involved interim protection for creditors and shareholders.

Bank Leumi USA appointed industry veteran Mason Salit as head of US private banking.

Salit has more than 25 years of experience in the global financial services industry, having previously served as the wealth market leader at TD Wealth.

He was also the head of international private banking at HSBC Private Bank in New York and spent 17 years with Citigroup in various wealth management roles.

Investment advisor Washington Wealth Management (WWM) snapped up former Merrill Lynch broker Matthew Griffith.

Griffith will run his own business - 1626 Wealth Management - out of WWM’s San Diego offices and brought with him $75 million in client assets.

San Diego, CA-based WWM is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the independent broker-dealer NFP Advisor Services. It was established by wirehouse veterans and enables advisors with a wirehouse background to achieve independence and build equity in their own businesses.

Fund processing solutions provider Milestone Group appointed a new managing director and head of North America in Boston, MA, continuing its efforts to expand its North American business.

A spokesperson for Milestone Group told this publication that Caporale’s position is not newly-created, however he is not directly taking over from anybody.

He left JP Morgan after 12 years’ service to join the firm, where he previously held a number of senior leadership positions in strategy, business management and sales within the investor services business line.

Before JP Morgan, Caporale held senior positions at IBM, Deutsche Bank and Fiserv.

HighTower added the Gryphon Financial Partners team to the HighTower Network, which launched last year and enables breakaway advisors to become independent.

HighTower Network provides advisors leaving wirehouses with the opportunity to become independent without the overheads associated with starting and running a practice.

Members of the network can manage their own staff and maintain control of the “day-to-day details” of the business, while accessing the firm’s broker/dealer platform and being affiliated with the HighTower brand.

Gryphon Financial Partners oversees $600 million in assets for approximately 100 households and transitioned to HighTower from the Guth Group at Morgan Stanley.

Principal Joel Guth has extensive experience working with business owners, specializing in pre-liquidity planning, deal execution, and post-deal wealth management. Joining him at Gryphon Financial Partners are co-principal Cathy Cory and team members Angelo Manzo, Judy Roseberry, Maria Kardassilaris, Jean Sturges and Kathy Payne.

Tiger 21, the peer-to-peer learning network for high net worth investors, appointed Jennifer Fuhr as lead chair of its Calgary group, replacing Hal Walker who stepped down to become a member of the network.

Tiger 21 formed the Calgary group in 2011 with Hal Walker as chair, while Fuhr joined as co-chair in March 2012.

Fuhr is a family advisor who counts HNW families, entrepreneurs and family businesses as her clients, having founded Family Wealth Consultants in 2011.

Walker is a business and community leader who has had a career as a real estate, oil and gas, and stock market entrepreneur and investor. He is also a past chair of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce.

Raymond James expanded its Private Client Group education and practice management team with the promotion of Shannon Reid to vice president.

Reid will oversee and direct practice management initiatives, including financial advisor coaching, education and conferences. Most recently, Reid served as the firm’s director of retirement solutions.

Reid joined Raymond James from Goldman Sachs in 2007 to serve as the firm’s director of lending and cash management. She later led the PCG planning team and was responsible for strategic development, marketing and management of PCG initiatives and projects. In 2012, she was promoted to director of retirement solutions, where she led the firm’s efforts to develop and provide effective tools, resources and education to help clients nearing retirement.

Three teams from UBS Financial Services, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley joined Wells Fargo Advisors with a T-12 of more than $1 million.

The Sivertson-Hughes Team - comprised of advisors Mitch Sivertson and Debbie Hughes, and assistant Frankie Jo Ceja - joined WFA in Scottsdale-Gainey, AZ.

The team reports to branch manager Robert Burghart and are latterly of UBS Financial Services, where they managed more than $152 million in client assets.

Meanwhile, Stephanie Bass and partner Darin Mock, along with client associate Cindy Ward, joined in Raleigh, NC. They report to Stephen McKenzie, regional brokerage manager for Triangle East in eastern North Carolina. They joined from Merrill Lynch, where they managed more than $93 million in client assets.

Lastly, Brian Vallow joined in Orland Park, IL, reporting to John Yagla, senior vice president and complex manager for Greater Illiana. Most recently, Vallow served as a financial advisor at Morgan Stanley, where he managed more than $93 million in client assets.

Meanwhile, Merrill Lynch’s Private Banking & Investment Group announced that Howard Rowen and Halsey Smith have joined the Los Angeles office with $3 billion of assets under management.

Rowen joined from UBS while Smith joined from Deutsche Bank Securities. They will work as a team, based in Los Angeles, CA.

RBC Wealth Management’s Leawood, KS, office recruited six new staff from Wells Fargo.

Three financial advisors moved to RBC: Seymour Krinsky, Ken Eidson and Kyle Doege, making up the eponymous Krinsky, Eidson and Doege Team.

Krinsky and Eidson both took the positions of senior vice president, financial advisor while Doege became associate vice president, financial advisor.

Bringing with them $350 million in assets under management and $1.8 million in production, the new team will help the wealth accumulation and investing goals of high net worth clients.

The other three recruits having joined RBC Wealth Management from Wells Fargo were senior financial associate Beckie Holst; registered client associate Cheri Beard; and senior client associate Patricia Vitale.

Citi Private Bank hired Olive Goh as a director and ultra high net worth private banker in Seattle.

Goh joined Citi from HSBC Private Bank in New York, where she was relationship manager for the US domestic private bank since 2010, managing a client base of entrepreneurs, executives, real estate managers and family offices.

Goh started working at HSBC in London in 2006, going on to assume numerous roles at the private bank’s training program in the areas of credit control, investment strategy and lending.

Before moving into wealth management, she worked in the Singapore Government on aviation policy and multilateral air service negotiations.

Perella Weinberg Partners, the US-headquartered global financial advisory firm, added Paul Weisenfeld as a partner within in its asset management business.

Based in New York, Weisenfeld will oversee an expansion of the firm’s retail channel efforts, working with the marketing group and the portfolio management teams on product development, with a focus on the private client market segment.

He reports to Sandra Haas, deputy head of asset management.

Weisenfeld is latterly of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, where he was managing director of investment products and director of mutual funds and ETFs. Prior to Morgan Stanley, Weisenfeld was a managing director and the chief operating officer for Citigroup Global Wealth Management’s investments unit.

Raymond James appointed financial advisors David Neunuebel and Lisa Barrantes to open a new Santa Barbara, CA, office of Raymond James & Associates, the traditional employee broker/dealer of Raymond James Financial.

The team, known as Neunuebel Barrantes Wealth Management Group of Raymond James, was formerly at Wells Fargo, where they managed more than $80 million in client assets and had annual fees and commissions of approximately $950,000.

Neunuebel is senior vice president, investments, and Barrantes is financial advisor. The team also includes registered client associate Lynne Ming.

Neunuebel began his financial services career with Prudential Insurance in 1977 and was then affiliated with Dean Witter, which became Morgan Stanley. In 2002, he joined Prudential Securities, which morphed into Wachovia and then Wells Fargo.

Barrantes began her financial services career as a wire operator for Thomson McKinnon Securities in 1987, and later joined AG Edwards. In 2001, she moved to UBS in Santa Barbara and then joined Neunuebel at Wachovia in 2003.

Ming has worked with the Neunuebel Barrantes Wealth Management Group since 2012.

BNY Mellon appointed Rebecca Ryan as head of the private bank’s life insurance lending group – a newly-created role in which she will report to Elizabeth Engel, head of lending for BNY Mellon Wealth Management Private Bank.

Ryan joined BNY Mellon Wealth Management in Chicago, IL, as part of the firm’s strategic expansion which has seen the addition of over a dozen new private bankers, lenders and mortgage officers across the US.

Ryan previously worked at Northern Trust for 14 years - most recently as national director of premium finance and senior relationship manager. Before that, she was a private and commercial banker at Citibank.