September was a busy month for moves, with the likes of BNY Mellon, for example, among those making a number of appointments.

Fiduciary Trust Company International, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Franklin Templeton Investments, appointed Noah Uzal to join its New York office. Uzal was most recently an assistant vice president and business development specialist at Alex.Brown, a division of Raymond James, in New York. He previously worked for nine years at Deutsche Bank in New York, where he facilitated equity and fixed income transactions for institutional clients. 

Raymond James hired financial advisors Benjamin Lewis Jnr and Christopher Amys in Asheville, North Carolina. Lewis and Amys operate as Elk Mountain Wealth Partners and joined from Wells Fargo Advisors, where they previously managed $185 million in client assets. Joining them at Raymond James were Brianna Parkins, client relationship manager, Becky Lewis, office manager, and Tanya Frisbee, operations manager. Amys began his financial services career at Wachovia Securities, which later became Wells Fargo Advisors, where he most recently served as a vice president, investment officer and a discretionary portfolio manager. Lewis has been a financial advisor for 23 years, having begun his financial services career at AG Edwards, where he was a financial advisor and assistant branch manager. 

A group of 11 San Diego-based UBS Financial Services advisors and three senior managers recently earned the Exit Planning Institute’s CEPA designation, a program training advisors to help owners sell and pass on businesses.  The Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA) program is an executive MBA-style program that trains and certifies qualified and experienced professional financial advisors in the field of exit planning for business owners. Only a small percentage of financial professionals achieve this designation.

The following individuals earned the designation:

Steven DeMatteo, UBS Carmel Valley office; 
Brian Donaldson, UBS La Jolla office; 
Luke Ervin, UBS Carmel Valley office; 
Matt Hansen, UBS Rancho Bernardo office; 
Bryce Herman, UBS Carmel Valley office; 
Thomas J Krumenacker, UBS downtown San Diego office; 
Stephen LaFata, UBS La Jolla office; 
Greg Paffendorf, UBS Rancho Bernardo office; 
Chris Radici, UBS La Jolla office; 
John Willis, UBS Rancho Bernardo office; and 
Brian Young, UBS Carmel Valley office. 

Private Client Resources, which provides data and information to ultra-high net worth families, private banks and investment houses, appointed Michael Hendy as its sales head. Hendy reports to Robert Miller, PCR's chief executive. The role is an expanded one.

Previously, Hendy was vice president of sales at SimCorp Coric, building that firm's client investment reporting platforms in North America from a start-up phase. That role saw him work with partners such as Fidelity, Northern Trust and Toronto Dominion. Before this, he was VP of regional business development for Financial Architects, a business bought by Wolters Kluwer.

First Choice Bancorp, the holding company for First Choice Bank, appointed Sunny Han-Jeon as senior vice president and regional manager, and Alineh Mouradian as vice president and relationship manager for the Greater Los Angeles region. Han-Jeon reports to chief banking officer, Nicole Swain.

Han-Jeon and Mouradian have 28 and 30 years of banking experience, respectively. They specialize in working with commercial customers, healthcare firms, law firms, nonprofit organizations, and real estate investors; providing specialty deposits for escrow and property management companies; financing aircrafts; and providing private banking for high net worth individuals and families.

Mountain America Credit Union appointed Monica Henson as a wealth management sales manager at LPL Financial, the parent group of Mountain America Credit Union.  Henson serves members and staff in Central Utah, Southern Utah, and Nevada. She has worked in the financial industry for 27 years. Prior to joining Mountain America, she served as vice president, associate regional brokerage manager for Wells Fargo Advisors.

US-based First Republic Bank, a private bank and wealth management company, appointed Steve Levine as wealth manager and managing director for First Republic Investment Management. Levine has more than 30 years of wealth management experience. Prior to joining First Republic, Levine was a managing director at UBS Private Wealth Management. Earlier in his career, he worked for Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley.

CIBC expanded its private wealth management business with six new hires.

The hires include:
- Michael Cklamovski, managing director, senior private banker in Chicago;
- Liza Connelly, senior vice president, fiduciary advisor in Boston;
- Colleen Harvey, vice president, relationship manager in Denver;
- Tammy Moon, managing director, regional group portfolio manager in Minneapolis;
- Michael Pudlak, managing director, senior private banker in New York; and
- Elizabeth Zielinski, managing director, senior private banker in Atlanta.

The Sade Group – Private Wealth Management hired Noah Strunk as a financial advisor. Strunk has more than 10 years of financial planning and investment management experience in the financial services industry – primarily with Fidelity Investments.

Boston-based Ferris Capital appointed Todd Silverman as senior vice president and wealth counsellor. Silverman has over 20 years of experience in financial services, having spent the last nine years as a shareholder and director of wealth management for Siharum Advisors in Boston.

Wealthcare, known for its goals-driven advice approach, appointed Matthew Regan as its president. Ron Madey, CFA, became Wealthcare’s chief investment officer. Prior to this, Regan worked at Wescott Financial Advisory Group, an independent RIA firm, where he served as chief operating officer. 

SunTrust Private Wealth Management appointed Amir Mossanen as a wealth advisor and the Los Angeles market president. Previously, Mossanen served as a managing director and wealth advisor at Wells Fargo Private Bank. It also appointed Hannah Hunsinger as an investment strategist based in San Francisco, and Susan Kazimi as a client service specialist based in Los Angeles.

Katten Muchin Rosenman appointed Adam M Damerow as a partner in its Chicago Trusts and Estates practice. Damerow has extensive experience preparing estate planning documents, designing and implementing wealth preservation and transfer strategies using generation-skipping transfer tax-exempt trusts, and counseling clients in contested and non-contested estate and trust administration matters. 

First Financial Bank, NA, named Andrea Smiddy-Schlagel as executive vice president of treasury management. Smiddy-Schlagel has more than 30 years of experience in the financial services industry.  

Wentworth Management Services, a holding company that acquires and manages businesses in the wealth management industry, appointed Michael Breath as chief financial officer. Breath joined Wentworth as part of the executive leadership team and reports directly to Ryan Morfin, Wentworth Management Services chief executive. Prior to joining Wentworth, Breath served as CFO for the consumer segment of SunTrust Bank in Atlanta, Georgia. While at SunTrust, Breath was also CFO for retail banking and private wealth management. 

Raymond James hired financial advisor Robert DuKate to Raymond James & Associates (RJA) – the firm’s traditional employee broker/dealer – in Boca Raton, Florida. Together with his former partner at Ameriprise, David Katz, who joined RJA in 2017, they operate as Katz, DuKate Wealth Management of Raymond James and serve business owners and high net worth families. Joining DuKate was Carolyn Pisano-Jarboe, senior registered client service associate.

DuKate joined Raymond James from Ameriprise, where he previously managed approximately $125 million in client assets and worked with Katz. DuKate has been in the financial industry for more than 36 years, having started his career at Merrill Lynch. He later worked at Prudential Securities, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley.

Swiss-based Vontobel said that its fixed income boutique, TwentyFour Asset Management, had appointed David Norris as its head of credit, based in New York. Norris reports to Mark Homan, chief executive of the asset management firm. Prior to this, he worked at Credit Agricole, working in areas such as high-yield corporate debt, and has worked in the industry for more than 30 years.

A new wealth management firm, Odyssey Group Wealth Advisors, opened in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Larry Sherman, founding partner of Odyssey Group Wealth Advisors, was previously a partner with Sherman Werst Wealth Advisors in Lancaster. His son was a financial advisor with Sherman Werst. Before becoming a financial advisor, Aaron Sherman worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, coordinating reforms in derivatives markets with policymakers in the US and around the world. Serving as the new firm's vice president is Drew Kavanaugh, who was previously responsible for investment policy review, portfolio strategy development and implementation for Ambassador Advisors LLC in Manheim Township.

RBC Wealth Management hired The Schluchter Investment Group in St. Cloud, Minnesota. The Schluchter Investment Group comprises Wayne Schluchter, senior vice president – financial advisor; Jeffrey Voit, first vice president – financial advisor; Cindy Lanoue-Sauer, senior financial associate; Alexander Coulter, senior investment associate; Kim Thyen Nies, senior investment associate; Terri Hermanson, senior registered client associate; and Janet McConkey, client associate. They manage more than $500 million in client assets and joined RBC from Commonwealth Financial Network. 

International wealth manager Baird appointed a new team and a financial advisor to join its private wealth management business in Raleigh and Milwaukee. The Wessel Group joined Baird in Raleigh. The team oversees $125 million in assets and generates more than $1 million in annual production.  David Thuli joins as a senior vice president in Milwaukee. Thuli oversees $110 million in assets and generates $900,000 in annual production.

US asset manager Clark Capital Management Group appointed Larry Roth to the firm’s board of directors. Roth is the former chief executive of Cetera Financial Group and AIG Advisor Group. He is the managing partner of RLR Strategic Partners, a growth strategy consultancy that is affiliated with Berkshire Capital, an investment bank focused on M&A transactions in the asset management and wealth management sectors. 

MG Capital, the real estate private equity investment manager specializing in Manhattan luxury residential properties, appointed Joanna Koutsos to join its management advisory board. The firm's board now comprises eight members. Koutsos is an executive director at JP Morgan Asset and Wealth Management within the portfolio analysis group.

Goldman Sachs appointed John Waldron as president and chief operating officer. The firm also appointed Stephen Scherr as chief financial officer and Martin Chavez as vice chairman of the firm and co-head of the securities division.

Waldron was co-head of the investment banking division (IBD) in 2014. He previously served as global head of investment banking services/client coverage for IBD. Scherr has served as CEO of Goldman Sachs Bank USA since 2016 and is also head of the consumer and commercial banking division. He joined Goldman Sachs in 1993. Chavez has served as CFO since 2017. Prior to assuming his current role, Chavez was chief information officer. He became a partner in 2006.

Glenmede, an independently-owned asset management firm, appointed Robert Daly as director of fixed income. Daly also serves as a member of Glenmede’s investment policy committee. Daly reports to Peter Zuleba, the director of investment management of Glenmede and president of its institutional investment division, Glenmede Investment Management. He is based in Philadelphia and has over 14 years of experience. He previously worked at BlackRock, where he served as a senior portfolio manager of US and global fixed income strategies on both institutional and retail platforms.

Family Office Exchange, the US-based network, formed a chief executive advisory board to provide strategic counsel for its business opportunities. The board's members advise founder Sara Hamilton, president Alexandre Monnier, and the leadership team at FOX. 

California-based Personal Capital, a registered investment advisor and digital wealth manager, promoted Craig Birk to chief investment officer (CIO). As the company's first CIO and leader of the Personal Capital Advisors investment committee, Birk is responsible for Personal Capital's investment approach and portfolio strategy in terms of risk, regional allocation, currency exposure and investment themes. Birk has served as executive vice president of portfolio management since joining Personal Capital in 2011. Prior to Personal Capital, Birk helped lead the portfolio management team at Fisher Investments.

April Rudin, a thought-leader and marketing strategist in the wealth management industry – and a judge for the awards program of Family Wealth Report – joined the advisory board of Mirador, a provider of portfolio management reporting solutions. Rudin is the founder and president of The Rudin Group. Her firm, which is in its tenth year, designs marketing campaigns to boost brand value and drive client acquisition. 
 

---

Crayhill Capital Management, which specializes in private credit investments, appointed Stefan Hoefer as managing director. His responsibilities include helping to source, underwrite, structure, execute and manage private credit investments. Prior to joining Crayhill, he was a senior analyst on the multi-strategy team at BBT Capital, where he focused on investing across the capital structure. Prior to joining BBT Capital, Hoefer was a senior analyst at Magnetar Capital from 2012 to 2016.

Franklin Templeton Investments appointed Dr Sonal Desai as chief investment officer of Franklin Templeton Fixed Income Group. Desai replaced Chris Molumph, who is to retire at the end of 2018. Dr Calvin Ho takes over from Desai as director of research for Templeton Global Macro.

Law firm Pillsbury appointed Tim Brugh as a partner in the firm’s estates, trusts and tax planning/private wealth practice in Silicon Valley and San Francisco. Brugh was a vice president and West Coast director of fiduciary services at The Goldman Sachs Trust Company. For 25 years, Brugh worked with ultra-high net worth clients to develop and implement multigenerational wealth management, estate planning and philanthropic strategies. Prior to Goldman Sachs, Brugh worked at Wells Fargo Private Bank, where he served as senior vice president.

WealthSouth, which provides families and businesses with financial planning, trust, investment, lending and retirement plan services, hired Ralph Watson, Lee Lamonica Walker, Laura Massey Jones and John Cadwell to join its team. Watson serves as a senior wealth management advisor, Walker as a senior portfolio manager, Jones as a senior trust officer and Cadwell as a wealth management advisor.

Seven advisors have joined LPL Financial’s affiliated firm Genesis Wealth Management, taking the total at the latter business to 12. Genesis Wealth Management sits on LPL’s broker-dealer and corporate registered investment advisor (RIA) platforms. The advisors include Robert Harlan, John Lander, Heidi Malone, Youree McBride, Richard Poligala, Geraldo Reyes and Max Rodriguez. They join the business, which is based in San Antonio, and founded by Jereme Brisco in July 2016.

Natixis, the financial services arm of Groupe BPCE, appointed Benito Berber as chief economist for Latin America. Based in New York, he reports to Joseph LaVorgna, chief economist, Americas. He is responsible for providing relevant analysis and forecasts on countries in Central and Latin America. 

Fiduciary Trust Company International, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Franklin Templeton Investments, named Michael Schiff as a managing director in its Boca Raton office. Schiff has more than 20 years of experience serving high net worth and ultra-HNW clients. He relocates to Boca Raton. Schiff previously worked at Glenmede Trust Co in Princeton, New Jersey, where he served as a business development director for six years. 

RBC Wealth Management hired Felipe Branco as a senior vice president and financial advisor to join its Miami branch. Blanco has 15 years of industry experience.  He manages approximately $213 million in assets and joins from Merrill Lynch.

Raymond James hired financial advisors Thomas O’Neill, Jessica O’Neill, and Thomas O’Neill Jr to Raymond James & Associates (RJA), the firm’s employee broker/dealer, in Mount Laurel, New Jersey. Previously a sole practitioner, Tom O’Neill formed O’Neill Wealth Management five years ago with his two children, Jessica O’Neill and Tom O’Neill Jr The team, including senior registered client relationship associate Danielle Takacs, joined Raymond James from Morgan Stanley, where the advisors managed approximately $203 million in client assets. Tom O’Neill has more than 35 years of financial services industry experience, having worked at firms including Merrill Lynch, AG Edwards, UBS and Morgan Stanley. Jessica O’Neill is a certified financial planner and began her financial services career in 2014 with Morgan Stanley. Tom O’Neill Jr began his career as a financial advisor at Morgan Stanley in 2016. He is pursuing his MBA at La Salle University and is now with Raymond James in the firm’s advisor mastery program.

JP Morgan Asset Management appointed Lynnette Ferguson as head of the Americas investments specialist team - hedge fund solutions, a newly-created position. Ferguson is based in New York and reports to Jamie Kramer, head of JP Morgan's alternative solutions group. She returns to JP Morgan Asset Management, where she was previously head of marketing and investor relations for the JPS Credit Opportunities Fund. She was most recently a partner at a start-up special situations manager. 

Peapack-Gladstone Bank appointed June Ryan as senior managing director and senior trust officer of Peapack Private Wealth Management.  She is based in the Teaneck, New Jersey office. She has 32 years of banking experience, previously serving as senior vice president, US Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management.

Chicago-based RMB Capital, an investment and advisory firm overseeing about $9.3 billion of client money, recruited a four-person team to join its office in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois. Tom E Kukulski, CFP®, joined as senior vice president and senior wealth advisor; Terrence M LaBant, JD, joined as senior vice president and director of wealth strategy; Mohini M McCormick, CFP®, joined as vice president and wealth advisor; and Mark L Sagen, CFA, joined the firm as wealth advisor. The team was most recently at Calamos Wealth Management. 

US law firm Kleinberg Kaplan appointed Jeffrey Kolodny as a partner in its estate planning and administration practice. Kolodny was previously with Cozen O’Connor. Kolodny counsels high net worth individuals, affluent families and family offices on estate planning and wealth preservation, utilizing advanced tax planning, structuring, and personal planning strategies.

BNY Mellon appointed Roman Regelman as senior executive vice president and head of digital. Regelman reports to chairman and chief executive, Charles Scharf. In the newly-created position, Regelman is responsible for setting the strategic direction for the firm's digital future and investing in client and internal digital capabilities, including data management, analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotics. Most recently, he was a partner and managing director at Boston Consulting Group (BCG) where he co-led its financial institutions digital business.

BNY Mellon Wealth Management named Dileep Surapaneni as senior wealth director, based in Menlo Park, CA. Surapaneni reports to regional president Thomas Fickinger.

BNY Mellon Investment Management named Shamik Dhar as chief economist. Dhar has over 30 years' experience of advising governments and institutions. He came from the UK Government’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office, where he had been chief economist since September 2014. In 2000, he was at Morley Fund Management, then in 2004 co-founded Fathom Consulting, a leading economics consultancy, before moving back into asset management with Aviva Investors in 2009.

BNY Mellon Wealth Management named Michael Doucette as a wealth director based in Denver. Doucette reports to the regional managing director, Ed Kleist. Doucette worked in the financial services industry for 14 years. Prior to this appointment, Doucette was regional sales director at UBS Asset Management for six years where he was responsible for distribution of managed account solutions and mutual funds across multiple channels. Before joining UBS, Doucette was a portfolio administrator at Mellon Financial.

BNY Mellon Wealth Management named Michael Rubenstein as wealth director in Naples, Florida. Rubenstein will report to the regional president of West Coast Florida, Lisa Simington, CFP. Prior to this role, Rubenstein was a tax associate attorney at Akerman where he focused on estate planning, probate administration, asset protection, and wealth preservation planning. Before that, Rubenstein was a trust and estate settlement officer at SunTrust Bank Private Wealth Management in Fort Lauderdale. 

BNY Mellon Wealth Management named Paul Simon as senior director and wealth manager in Naples, Florida. Simon reports to senior director and team leader, David Maksymetz. Prior to joining BNY Mellon Wealth Management, Simon was vice president and portfolio manager at Stoney Creek Advisors, where he managed multi-asset model portfolios.

Seattle-based Laird Norton Wealth Management appointed Carla Wigen as managing director of fiduciary. She reports to Bob Moser, the firm’s president and chief executive. Wigen has almost 20 years of experience in wealth management and private banking focusing exclusively on trusts and estate planning. 

Northern Trust appointed Dan Houlihan as head of asset servicing, Americas, a newly-created position. He is responsible for delivering the full range of front-, middle- and back-office services to both asset owners and asset managers across the region. Houlihan leads the firm’s business servicing institutional investors across the Americas, including corporations, public pensions, foundations and endowments. He joined Northern Trust in 2008 and led investment operations outsourcing before he was named head of GFS Americas in 2012. Prior to Northern Trust, he spent 19 years in leadership positions for investment management, technology, and services companies, including Citisoft, where he was president. 

Thomson Reuters’ financial and risk arm, to be called Refinitiv, appointed Brian J West as chief financial officer. West joined from Oscar Insurance, a firm working in the US health care sector, where he was CFO and executive vice president of operations. Prior to Oscar, he spent nine years at Nielsen as CFO and then chief operating officer.

DWS, the asset management group, brought in Hartwig Kos, who is based in Frankfurt, to join its multi-asset group. Kos was co-head of multi-asset and vice chief investment officer at SYZ Asset Management in London. Prior to joining SYZ, Kos held various positions at Baring Asset Management, most recently as investment director of Global Multi Asset Group. 

Towerpoint Wealth appointed financial advisor Jonathan LaTurner. He joined from Wells Fargo Advisors in Sacramento where he had been a financial advisor since 2012, managing approximately $50 million in client assets. Prior to Wells Fargo, LaTurner worked for First Citizens Bank.

RBC Wealth Management hired Chu, Phillips & Associates to join its Stamford office. The team manages approximately $426 million in assets and joined from Merrill Lynch.

Clark Capital Management Group, an independent asset manager, appointed Tim McGarrity as chief financial officer and Jim Shields as senior vice president, key accounts, a newly-created role.

McGarrity is responsible for the oversight of Clark Capital’s accounting, finance, treasury and tax functions. With over 25 years’ experience in the financial industry, he has also served as the vice president of finance at Hartford Funds. McGarrity reports to Brendan Clark, chief executive. Shields is responsible for growing the firm’s product placement and distribution opportunities among broker dealer and investment platforms.

Bridgeway Capital Management, an independent investment manager, hired Jacob Pozharny to work on the firm’s new international investing competency. Prior to Bridgeway, Pozharny spent nine years at QMA as head of international equity research and portfolio management.

PIMCO, the US fixed income house, appointed former top-level Blackstone figure, John Studzinski, as managing director and vice chairman, a new role for the firm. Studzinski, who has spent most of his career working in Asia and Europe, brought to PIMCO 30 years of experience as a financial and strategic advisor. He is based in PIMCO’s New York office and reports to Emmanuel Roman, chief executive.

Prior to this role, Studzinski was vice chairman, investor relations and business development and senior managing director of Blackstone Group. He also served as head of European investment banking at Morgan Stanley and deputy chairman of Morgan Stanley International; he was also closely involved in HSBC’s buildout of its investment banking division. A prominent figure in humanitarian issues, Studzinski is chair of the UK Prime Minister’s Business Against Modern Slavery initiative, co-founder and chair of the Arise Foundation, which partners with local networks to stop human trafficking, and is vice chair emeritus of Human Rights Watch. He is also founder and chairman of the Genesis Foundation, a UK-based charitable foundation which nurtures the careers of outstanding young artists.  Studzinski also holds the Papal honors of Knight of the Order of St Gregory and Knight Commander of Saint Sylvester and was named in the 2008 Queen’s New Year’s Honors List as Commander of the British Empire (CBE) for services to the arts and charity.

CIBC Private Wealth Management appointed Kimberly Dwan Bernatz as managing director and head of the Newport Beach office. Andrew Lang continued serving his existing clients as a senior relationship manager. He partners with Bernatz to continue expanding the firm’s presence in Southern California and Arizona. Bernatz brings more than 20 years of experience in financial services to her role. Prior to joining the firm, Bernatz was a senior vice president and director of wealth management advisory services for First American Trust. Previously, Bernatz was a vice president and business development officer at Northern Trust.