Here is a round-up of all the industry moves covered in December 2015.

The former president and chief executive of CTC|myCFO, John Benevides, joined US Bank's Private Client Reserve as president of the eastern region. Benevides will be based in Cincinnati and lead the wealth management team that serves wealthy families and individuals in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Louisville, Naples, Nashville, New York and Palm Beach. As well as being president and CEO of CTC|myCFO, Benevides also oversaw BMO Delaware Trust Company and led the UHNW activities of BMO Harris Private Bank. Before that, he was co-owner and president of Family Office Exchange.

The board of directors at First Republic Bank extended the contract of the firm's chairman and chief executive, Jim Herbert, through December 31, 2017. The board also approved an extension of Herbert's role as executive chairman through December 31, 2021. The board further increased his time spent in the executive chairman role from 25 per cent to 80 per cent. Herbert is the founding CEO of First Republic Bank and has been leading the firm since its inception in 1985.

The international auction house Bonhams made two senior appointments within its art teams in New York and Asia. Ingrid Dudek joined as department director of Bonhams’ Asia modern and contemporary art unit and will be based in Madison Avenue in New York as of February 2016. In the second appointment, Ryo Wakabayashi joined the firm as senior specialist – modern and contemporary art, Asia. Wakabayashi will be based in Tokyo with immediate effect.

City National Bank, which was recently acquired by RBC, added two wealth advisors to serve clients in New York City and the surrounding area. Patricia Chambers and Valerie Groh were named as senior vice presidents and senior private bankers with the bank’s New York private client services team. Chambers was previously a senior vice president and wealth advisor at Wells Fargo, while Groh served as a senior vice president and senior private banker.

Illinois Bank & Trust appointed Jasper Vaccaro as private client services market leader to grow this line of business in Illinois and Wisconsin. Vaccaro was most recently a vice president and senior client advisor at BMO Harris Bank. He also previously worked at Marshall & Ilsley Trust Company, serving wealthy families, foundations, and non-profit companies.

Bessemer Trust, the multi-family office, recruited Holly MacDonald in New York as a managing director and chief investment strategist. MacDonald is responsible for macro-economic research and financial market analysis, as well as asset allocation and strategy recommendations for client portfolios. She will report to Rebecca Patterson, managing director and chief investment officer. Bessemer confirmed that this is a new role at the firm. MacDonald was previously a managing director in the emerging markets and global currency strategy groups at JP Morgan, and before that worked in the firm's fixed income and currencies groups in New York and Sao Paulo.

Diversified Trust, the wealth management firm based in the southeast region of the US, hired Betsy Wills as a principal and director of marketing and branding. Wills will be responsible for the development and execution of a marketing and branding strategy for the company spanning all its markets which include Atlanta, GA; Greensboro, NC; Memphis, TN; and Nashville, TN. She will be based in Nashville. Wills formerly served as director of marketing and investor relations for over seven years at Courage Capital, an alternative asset management firm in Nashville.

US Bank named Liza Tainton as chief risk officer of its wealth management business unit, based in Chicago, IL. Tainton recently worked at HighTower Advisors in Chicago, where she served as chief risk officer since 2011. Prior to that, she worked for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney’s Global Wealth Management Group in a variety of capacities, most recently as the Illinois regional risk officer.

Northern Trust hired Steven Heimermann as a senior vice president and senior portfolio manager in Minnesota, MN - a role in which he will provide discretionary and advisory investment management services to fiduciary and personal investment clients. Before joining Northern Trust, Heimermann was Minnesota market leader and senior portfolio manager at Associated Bank within its private client services division. He has 20 years of industry experience working in the Appleton/Green Bay, Wisconsin and Twin Cities markets. Before his time at Associated Bank, Heimermann was a director of investments at BMO Harris Private Bank and a relationship manager at Securian Financial in Saint Paul, MN.

Fiduciary Trust brought in Scott Sumner as a vice president and head of custody – a newly-created role at the firm. Sumner will oversee all custody sales and relationship management activities as the firm expands its custody business. He joined from State Street Wealth Manager Services. In his previous roles at State Street and predecessor firm Investors Financial (which was acquired by State Street), he was responsible for the oversight of custody for a significant number of clients. Most recently, he served as head of relationship management for Wealth Manager Services’ investment management outsourcing platform. Over the course of his career, Sumner has spent nearly two decades providing custody and back-office services to single- and multi-family offices, registered investment advisors, trust companies, and private banks.

Dundee Corporation, the Canadian independent holding company, recruited Adam Donsky in the new role of chief investment officer of its new investment counsel and portfolio management platform for wealthy clients. Donsky will take up his new role on January 4, 2016, at what will be Dundee's Goodman & Company, Investment Counsel Inc. Donsky was previously a vice president and lead portfolio manager at 1832 Asset Management, a wholly-owned division of the Bank of Nova Scotia. In his role as lead portfolio manager, he provided investment counsel to the firm's high net worth client group. During his tenure there he was also lead portfolio manager of the family of Dynamic Blue Chip Funds.

Tom Manning left his post as chief investment officer at Boston Private Wealth to become chief executive of FL Putnam Investment Management, the RIA in Wellesley, MA. Manning succeeded John Carberry, the firm’s president, who retired from his role after 15 years. Carberry will continue with the firm in an advisory role in 2016. At the end of October, Boston Private Wealth named Thomas Anderson as chief investment officer. Prior to Boston Private Wealth, Manning served as CEO and CIO at Silver Bridge Advisors and earlier was managing director of portfolio advisory services at Bank of America.

Pioneer Investments named Clara Sierra as a senior vice president and business development manager for its independent advisor channel, based in Boston, MA. Sierra reports to Henry Orvin, senior vice president and head of business development for Pioneer’s US intermediary distribution team. Prior to joining Pioneer, she was executive vice president of national accounts at Sentinel Investments and has also served as senior vice president and director of the investment advisory division at AIG Advisor Group.

Gregg Miles and James Masur merged their financial services offices and launched Cross Coastal Advisors to provide high net worth individuals with these combined services in the Boston area and nationwide. In addition to Miles and Masur, the Cross Coastal Advisors team also includes Justin Hayward, who specializes in working with Millennials, some second-generation clients, and rising young professionals and business owners.

Bank of America's US Trust made eight hires across six states. Sean Anthony joined in San Diego, CA, as a private client advisor, having previously worked at Wells Fargo as a private bank relationship manager. Ayse Ozkan also joined the San Diego office in the same role from Wells Fargo, where she was a senior private banker. Meanwhile, in Connecticut, Jeffrey Danile joined the Stamford branch as a market trust director. He was previously a partner at Berkowitz, Trager & Trager. In Delaware, Sabrina Hawthorne joined the Wilmington office as a senior trust officer, having previously worked at Christiana Trust as a trust officer.

Additionally, in Illinois, Dorothy Korbel was hired in Chicago as a senior trust officer. She was previously a trust officer at Brown Brothers. Yolanda Ochoa also joined the Chicago branch as a fiduciary tax accountant. She previously worked at The Private Bank & Trust Co as a tax manager and associate managing director. Lastly, William Meagher joined the West Conshohocken, PA, office as a private client advisor from Wells Fargo, while Andrew Mutscheller joined the Dallas, TX, office as an institutional client advisor focused on endowments, foundations and not-for-profit clients from Northern Trust.

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Eventide Funds, a mutual fund company, recruited Jeff Cave, an expert in the UHNW space, to lead its sales and distribution efforts. As head of distribution, Cave will lead sales and distribution to institutional channels, while continuing to improve Eventide's service delivery to financial advisors and clients. He was previously a director and UHNW wealth management specialist within the private banking and investment group at Merrill Lynch in New York City. He spent over 20 years at Merrill Lynch.

JP Morgan recruited four private banking executives in Brazil: Ricardo Taira, Leonardo Bulgareli, Carlos Amarante and Jayme Freixo – all from Credit Suisse, this publication understands. The four bankers will report to Juliana Pagetti, a managing director for JP Morgan's private banking unit based in São Paulo.

First Republic Bank promoted executive vice president Jason Bender to chief operating officer, reporting to chairman and CEO Jim Herbert. Bender will be responsible for the overall operations of deposits and lending, online banking and related digital activities, as well as strategic planning, enterprise data and secondary loan marketing. He will continue to oversee banking activities in the South Coast California region. Bender joined First Republic 16 years ago and most recently served as the bank's chief administrative officer. Before that, he led the bank's finance and planning departments.

Meanwhile, First Republic also said that Keith Webster, Robin Yoshimura and Michael Schanna joined as managing directors and portfolio managers from Credit Suisse. Webster will be based in Century City, Yoshimura will be based in downtown San Francisco, and Schanna will be based in Newport Beach. The three-member team is the latest to join First Republic Private Wealth Management. Over the past six months, six advisors teams have joined First Republic, while on October 1 the firm completed its acquisition of Constellation Wealth Advisors.

RBC Wealth Management welcomed Greg Kenzik, a senior vice president and financial advisor, to the Paramus, NJ, office. Kenzik joined RBC Wealth Management from UBS, with 29 years of industry experience. He has assets under management of more than $300 million and approximately $1.35 million in production. Also joining with Kenzik are Phillip Slepian and Scott Bolio, both senior investment associates. They will all report to Scott Fergang, branch director in Paramus.

Steve Soja joined First Republic as a managing director and portfolio manager from Credit Suisse, while the firm also promoted Mike Selfridge, senior executive VP, to the role of chief banking officer. Soja, who has 28 years of investment management experience, will be located in First Republic's private banking and wealth management office in downtown San Francisco. Soja spent nine years at Credit Suisse in San Francisco, where he managed a team of eight investment professionals. Earlier in his career, he worked at Bank of America Private Bank, Wells Fargo Private Bank and Lehman Brothers.

Meanwhile, Selfridge will continue to oversee Northern California private banking as well as information technology, while assuming the additional overview of nationwide business banking. He joined First Republic in early 2012, having previously worked at Silicon Valley Bank for 18 years, where he was head of US regional banking.

PIMCO recruited five high-profile figures in the economic and political spheres to shape its new global advisory board. The board members will contribute their insights to the firm on global economic, political and strategic developments and their relevance for financial markets.

The board members are: Ben Bernanke, former Federal Reserve chairman and scholar at the Brookings Institution; Gordon Brown, former UK Prime Minister and former Chancellor of the Exchequer; Ng Kok Song, former CIO of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation; Anne-Marie Slaughter, former director of policy planning for the US State Department; and Jean-Claude Trichet, former president of the European Central Bank and present chairman of the European group of the Trilateral Commission.

The board will meet several times a year at PIMCO’s Newport Beach office as well as at other PIMCO offices around the world. The members will also attend the firm’s annual Secular Forum in May of each year, where PIMCO’s investment professionals discuss the economic outlook and its implications for markets over the next three to five years.

Snowden Lane Partners welcomed the LDR International Group from Merrill Lynch, as the firm deepens its international capabilities and presence. Joining Snowden Lane as partner and managing director was Rick Leyva; managing directors and private wealth advisors, Clelia Dipp and Imar Rodriguez; private wealth advisor, Christina Eddy; and client associate, Frances Estrada. The team oversees approximately $200 million in total client assets and works from Snowden Lane’s newly-opened San Diego office. They focus on serving non-resident clients, with an emphasis on Latin America, and financial and trust and estate planning for high net worth individuals and families.

Boston Private Financial Holdings announced that Clayton Deutsch, chief executive of Boston Private Financial Holdings, was appointed as CEO of Boston Private Bank & Trust effective January 1, 2016. The Boston Private Bank & Trust CEO position was previously held by Mark Thompson, who earlier this year announced his plans to retire at the end of 2015.

In appointing Deutsch as the CEO of the bank, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, the board has asked Deutsch to lead a “more streamlined executive team in the development and expansion of Boston Private’s integrated wealth management, trust and private banking model” in select markets nationally. Deutsch has served as CEO of Boston Private Financial Holdings since August 2010. He has more than 30 years of financial services experience and sits on the board of directors of Boston Private Financial Holdings, as well as on the boards of each of the company’s affiliates.

First Republic Bank hired Jeff Titus as a managing director and portfolio manager in Boston, MA, to work with high net worth individuals, families and endowments. Prior to First Republic, Titus worked at Credit Suisse Private Bank in Boston for four years. Previously, he worked at Bernstein Global Wealth Management, The Paul Revere Insurance Company and Oracle Corporation.

First Foundation Advisors and First Foundation Bank, which collectively provide investment management, wealth planning and other services to HNW individuals and businesses, hired Steven Mills as a portfolio strategist within the advisory division. Mills, who will be based in West Los Angeles, was previously a portfolio manager at BNY Mellon Wealth Management. Before that, he was a senior vice president at Bessemer Trust and a relationship manager at The Haverford Companies.

US Bank Wealth Management appointed Jon Donahue as a private banker at its Private Client Reserve in Milwaukee, WI. Donahue will oversee specialized lending and deposit services for individuals and corporate clients. He has over 12 years of banking and financial services industry experience, having previously held private banking roles at M&I Bank and Johnson Bank.

Scotiabank hired Bank of Canada veteran Jean-François Perrault as senior vice president and chief economist. At the Bank of Canada, Perrault was assistant chief of the Canadian projections and policy analysis division. He has also held roles at Canada's department of finance and served as a senior economist at the World Bank. Perrault replaced current chief economist Warren Jestin, who has been with the bank for almost 40 years and will retire in March next year.

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External IT, the provider of secure cloud solutions to financial services firms including RIAs and family offices, appointed Greg Collett as vice president of information security. Collett joined External IT with over 20 years of experience in technical and management roles including development, systems and database architecture and information security.

California-headquartered strategic advisory and consultancy Berkeley Research Group appointed former KPMG senior manager Michael Athanason. He took on the role of managing director and is based in New York. In his new role, Athanason will lead the private funds group valuation team. He brings over 25 years of valuation and corporate finance advisory experience. At KPMG, Athanason was the US national leader of the alternative investments valuation practice, and he was previously the global leader of Duff & Phelps’ alternative investment valuation Services business.

Cherry Bekaert Wealth Management hired Christine Slate as chief compliance officer. Slate was previously senior vice president, client services and chief compliance officer at Barrett Capital Mangement, according to her LinkedIn profile, and formerly served as president of the Richmond Chapter of Executive Women International. She brings over 25 years of experience in financial services and investment advisory. Based in Richmond, VA, Slate will lead Cherry Bekaert’s overall compliance efforts and act as the firm's key liaison with regulatory agencies and third-party service providers including legal counsel, broker-dealers and custodians. She will also coordinate all legal and corporate governance matters.

US-headquartered Brown Brothers Harriman appointed Chris Michel as head of diversity and inclusion. Michel is based in New York and reports to partner Kathryn George. In his new role, Michel will also have responsibility for supporting and enhancing the BBH Affinity Network Communities, a group of nine employee-run networks which provide opportunities for individuals from diverse backgrounds to participate in networking, mentoring, professional development and global collaboration. Previously, Michel worked at American International Group where he served as senior director of diversity and inclusion for Europe, Middle East and the Americas and helped build a global diversity and inclusion program.  Prior to AIG, he was director of diversity and inclusion at the United States Tennis Association. He has also been involved with diversity initiatives at Merrill Lynch.

Thomas Melcher, managing executive of Hawthorn, PNC Family Wealth, the multi-family office, succeeded James Dunigan as PNC Asset Management Group's chief investment officer. Nicole Perkins, market director of fiduciary services for Hawthorn's Philadelphia and Delaware markets, took over from Melcher to lead Hawthorn. Prior to joining PNC in 2011, Perkins ran her own private legal practice, where she counseled families and the owners of family-owned businesses in the areas of wealth preservation, multi-generational planning, business succession planning and charitable planning. She previously practiced as a trust and estate associate at Morgan Lewis and Duane Morris.

Melcher and Dunigan, who will be retiring in 2016, will work closely through mid-2016 to transition Dunigan's additional responsibilities as managing executive of investments to Melcher. Dunigan joined PNC predecessor Provident National Bank as a portfolio manager in the trust and investment management division in 1987. Over nearly three decades with the company, he has held various management and investment leadership roles, and today chairs PNC's investment policy committee and administrative committee with oversight of pension and 401(k) plans. Melcher joined PNC in 1991 as a credit analyst, advancing through a number of roles including chief investment officer for PNC Wealth Management in Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey. He was named managing executive of Hawthorn in 2004.

TIGER 21, the peer-to-peer learning network for wealthy investors, named family enterprise advisor Susan Fulford as chair of a new group in Toronto. Fulford has broad experience in the investment, legal and family business fields, having most recently been a vice president and senior manager of the ultra high net worth advisory group at TD Wealth. Earlier she spent five years working as a lawyer in a private practice followed by ten years in the business world.

Wilmington Trust appointed Julia O’Donnell as a private banker in Syracuse, NY. O'Donnell will coordinate deposit and lending services in the Central New York and Southern Tier regions for high net worth clients including individuals, families, business owners and executives. O’Donnell was previously a commercial branch manager in Syracuse for M&T Bank, of which Wilmington Trust is an affiliate. Before that, she was a business development officer at M&T Bank, and a business banking specialist at HSBC.

Windsor, CT-headquartered SS&C Technologies Holdings, a global provider of financial services software and software-enabled services, appointed Chris Whiting as a senior director to lead the firm's new advisory relationship management team. Whiting was most recently chief operating officer at Moneta Group and before that spent 20 years at A G Edwards, which is now part of Wells Fargo Advisors. In his new role he will report to Dave Welling, senior vice president and managing director of SS&C’s advisory market group. The advisory client relationship management team will support over 2,000 advisory and wealth management clients using Advent OnDemand, Axys, APX, and Black Diamond.

The Strategic Financial Alliance, the independent broker-dealer and RIA, added three to its six-person strategic advisory council. Cheri Knight, a principal at Knight Asset Management in Ladera Ranch, CA, was elected to serve as chair of the council in 2016. Financial advisors Brian Bennett of BennCo Advisors in Colorado Springs, CO; Andrew Crane of the Keen Insight Group in Norcross, GA; and Floyd Green of Cornerstone Wealth Management Team in Raleigh, NC, will start on January 1, 2016. They will join existing members Knight; Assaf Pinchas of Allegiance Financial Group in Vienna, VA; and Gene Dickison of MTM Financial Group in Bethlehem, PA.

UBS made a handful of hires in Boston, MA, Chicago, IL, and Cincinnati/Kenwood, OH, recruiting from Credit Suisse and Wells Fargo. In Boston, four individual financial advisors joined UBS Wealth Management Americas: Jonathan Galli (AuM: $440 million), Alex Martinelli (AuM: $153 million), Simon Clarke (AuM: $345 million) and Mitch Riesenberger (AuM: $158 million). They joined from Credit Suisse and report to Jim Ducey, complex director, and Troy Erickson, associate complex director. Meanwhile, in Chicago, IL, financial advisor Betsy Nelson joined UBS Private Wealth Management with $360 million in AuM from Credit Suisse. She reports to Michael Gatewood, Chicago PWM market head.

In Cincinnati, OH, a three-person advisor team joined UBS Wealth Management Americas in the shape of the Rinehart Sussli Financial Group, with $1 billion in AuM.

The team, which focuses on retirement planning and institutional consulting, is comprised of: Ken Rinehart, a senior vice president of wealth management and senior retirement plan consultant; Michael Sussli, a senior vice president of wealth management and senior retirement plan consultant; and Kevin Ruther, a financial advisor. They too have $1 billion in AuM and joined from Wells Fargo. The team - based in Kenwood - reports to Troy DeBord, managing director and complex director for Cincinnati/Kenwood. Mark Ledonne, a senior wealth strategist, Tricia Dorcheff, a senior client service associate, and Lange Combs, a senior client service associate, round out the team.

Daniel Thompson was appointed as a vice president and portfolio manager at Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management, a Montreal-based wealth management firm with offices in Montreal and Toronto. Thompson joined Steinberg Wealth from previous positions as president of Jones, Gable & Company and president and CEO of MacDougall, MacDougall & MacTier (3Macs). Prior to joining 3Macs, he held senior and executive level positions at Pembroke Private Wealth Management (formerly GBC Asset Management) and Bank of Montreal. At Steinberg Wealth, Thompson will report to Lorne Steinberg, president and chief investment officer at the firm.

HighTower welcomed the Feinberg Stein Group onto its platform. The team, headed by Joseph Feinberg and Tamara Stein, moveed from Morgan Stanley and brings $450 million in assets under management. The Feinberg Stein Group offers wealth preservation and accumulation services to private clients, families, corporate and non-profit institutions at its Los Angeles, CA, base, as well as at their second office in Chicago, IL. While Feinberg focuses on philanthropic donations, non-profit investing and estate planning strategies, Stein advises clients on high net worth investment strategies.

Citi's board of directors elected Renee James and Ellen Costello as new independent directors, effective January 15, 2016. James has served as president of Intel Corporation since May 2013, where she has helped lead the company's move into mobile and cloud-based computing. Costello most recently served as chief executive of BMO Financial Corporation and US country head of BMO Financial Group.

Global alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group named Lauren Dillard, a Carlyle global partner and managing director, as head of the Investment Solutions business segment and member of the management committee. Currently chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Investment Solutions, New York-based Dillard succeeded Jacques Chappuis, who will become a Carlyle senior advisor. Investment Solutions is one of Carlyle’s four business segments; the others are corporate private equity, real assets and global market strategies.

Dillard will oversee the segment’s three business units: AlpInvest, a provider of global private equity programs and related co-investment and secondary activities; Metropolitan Real Estate, a provider of real estate programs, co-investment and secondary activities; and DGAM, a provider of liquid markets solutions. Before joining Investment Solutions in 2013, Dillard built and led the global tax and equity departments at Carlyle and worked on a number of firm transactions, including its public offering.