Here is a round-up of all the industry comings and goings as covered by Family Wealth Report in September 2016.

Citi Private Bank hired Nicolas Schmidt-Urzua as a managing director and head of the multi-asset trading and advisory team for Latin America, a move the firm said underscores its commitment to the region. Schmidt-Urzua joined from JP Morgan Private Bank, where he was head of global investment opportunities for Latin America, excluding Brazil. Earlier, he held a similar role as GIO head in Geneva, having previously been an investment advisor at Credit Suisse in New York and Miami, FL.

In his new New York-based role at Citi Private Bank, Schmidt-Urzua will provide trading services to the firm’s most sophisticated capital markets clients, while continuing to segment the bank’s client coverage model. He will report to Lisandro Chanlatte, head of investment counselors for Latin America, and Adam Gross, head of multi-asset trading and advisory for the Americas. 

Threshold Group, the family office firm, brought in Jacob Gray as a managing director of impact investing in Philadelphia, PA. Gray was previously a senior director of the Wharton Social Impact Initiative and, in partnership with founder Bridges Ventures, he also co-developed the MBA Impact Investing Network and Training learning platform. Before his Wharton role, Gray was co-founder and partner of Murex, an early stage impact venture capital fund, focused on sectors including education technology and financial services.

HSBC Private Bank appointed Russell Schofield-Bezer as head of investment services and product solutions, adding to its leadership team in the US, which the firm remarked is one of its key growth markets. Schofield-Bezer will be responsible for the development and delivery of investment services and offerings to clients in the region, as well as the performance of discretionary and advisory mandates, and the development of new initiatives and product ideas. 

He will also be a voting member of the global private bank global investment committee. Having relocated from London to New York, Schofield-Bezer will report to Marlon Young, HSBC's regional head of global private banking for the US and Latin America, and to Stuart Parkinson, chief of staff at HSBC Global Private Bank. Schofield-Bezer moved across from HSBC Global Banking and Markets, where he was most recently head of capital financing for Europe and head of debt capital markets for the EMEA region. He joined HSBC in 2006 as European head of corporate derivatives sales, and before that worked at JP Morgan Chase, where he was head of northern European corporate derivative sales.

The Alliance for RIAs (aRIA) welcomed its first new member since its launch, in the shape of Jack Petersen, a managing partner at Summit Trail Advisors. Through Dynasty Financial Partners, Petersen and his five co-founders broke away from Barclays and opened offices in New York City, Chicago and San Francisco last July as Summit Trail Advisors. aRIA said it invited Petersen to its network due to his diverse background in financial services and successful breakaway launching Summit on a national scale.

Before founding Summit, Petersen was head of wealth management at Barclays Wealth for the Americas. He joined the firm in September 2008 as part of its acquisition by Lehman Brothers Private Investment Management. He was global head of private investment management at Lehmans the time, having risen to that post after joining the firm in 2003, and serving as national sales manager and US head of private investment management. From 1993 to 2003, he was an executive director at Morgan Stanley, where he got his first taste of wealth management.

Lombard International, the wealth structuring firm, created a transatlantic solutions team focused on the challenges that high net worth individuals and families face as a result of the globalization of their wealth. The team is comprised of executives from across the US, Europe, Latin America and Asia. The team includes: Fischer; Phil Trussell, senior managing director, Bermuda; Helmer Arizmendy, senior managing director, Latin America; Danilo Santucci, senior US tax counsel and wealth planner, Europe; Lee Sleight, manager of case structuring, Europe; and Freda Liu, marketing officer, Asia.

MUFG Union Bank appointed Lisa Roberts as a managing director and head of private wealth management for Northern California and the Pacific Northwest. Based in San Francisco, Roberts will report to Michael Feldman, head of wealth markets. She has spent 28 years in the wealth management industry, including around five years as a regional market manager at Citi Private Bank, and stints at Bank of America and Wells Fargo.

ZRG Partners, the executive search and talent management firm, hired Doug Hanslip as a managing director within its financial services practice. Hanslip will have a particularly strong focus on the asset and wealth management, alternative investment and capital markets sectors. He will split his time between Chicago and New York. Before joining ZRG Partners, Hanslip was head of the financial services practice at Allegis Partners, having previously worked at Korn Ferry International and CT Partners in similar roles. Prior to his career in executive search, he worked on Wall Street for over a decade with two investment banking organizations covering the institutional asset management client community.

Todd Combs, an investment officer at Berkshire Hathaway, joined JP Morgan’s board of directors. His appointment to a board committee will be announced when determined, the US bank said. Combs joined Berkshire Hathaway in 2010, having previously been chief executive and a managing member at Castle Point Capital, an investment partnership he founded in 2005. In that role, he managed capital for endowments, family foundations and institutions. Earlier in his career, he was an analyst for Florida’s state financial regulator, and he analyzed risks for insurer Progressive Corp.

Richard Barrett joined Boston, MA-based Congress Wealth Management as chief investment officer and partner, succeeding Peter Anderson. Barrett joins after seven years as CIO and portfolio manager at a family office firm in the Boston area. Before that, he was a vice president and associate partner at Wellington Management, and earlier still worked at EY.
 
Credit Suisse named Bill Johnson as head of asset management in the Americas. Johnson - who will retain his role as deputy global head of asset management - will oversee the commodities group, credit investments group, Securitized Products Fund and private funds group. All Americas-based business that report to him currently will continue to do so. Credit Suisse also named Michel Degen as head of asset management for Switzerland and EMEA. Michael Strobaek, former head of asset management in Switzerland, will remain as global chief investment officer at Credit Suisse and head of investment solutions and products for international wealth management.

Artivest, which provides access to alternative investments, took on Jon Feigelson as general counsel and chief compliance officer from TIAA. In his former role at TIAA, Feigelson was a senior managing director, general counsel and head of regulatory affairs, and director of corporate governance. He has also worked at ABN AMRO and Goldmans. At Artivest, he will provide strategic, regulatory and transactional legal advice across the firm’s alternative investments range. 

Snowden Lane Partners, the wealth advisory firm, brought in Dave Woolford from JP Morgan Securities as a managing director and private wealth advisor in Baltimore, MD. Woolford joined partners and managing directors Phil Lazzari, Mark Stevens and Eric Watson to comprise a team that will manage around $350 million in client assets. Besides JP Morgan, Woolford has also worked at UBS, Credit Suisse and Alex. Brown & Sons.

Brazil’s Itau Unibanco recruited Nicholas McCarthy from Banco Safra as global chief investment officer within its private bank, Bloomberg reported. Based in Sao Paulo, McCarthy will oversee asset allocation and investment advisory affairs for wealthy Latin American individuals, the news service said, citing a statement sent via email. He will head teams in Brazil, Miami, New York and Zurich, and report to Luiz Severiano, a director responsible for Itau’s private banking business. At Banco Safra, McCarthy was responsible for fixed income and hedge funds asset management. Before that, he worked at JP Morgan and Banco Matrix.

Douglas Rubenstein was appointed as Benjamin F Edwards & Co’s chief operating officer, while the firm also launched an office in Jonesboro, AR, and made a splash of hires. With two advisors, the Jonesboro location joined Berryville and Harrison as the firm's third office in Arkansas, bringing the company's total office count to 56 in 25 states. 

Additionally, the firm added an advisor at its existing offices in LaSalle-Peru and Naperville, IL. Collectively, the four new advisors represent $384 million in assets under management. Rubenstein joined the firm in 2012 as director of capital markets and business strategy. In his new COO role, he will continue with his existing responsibilities, while also overseeing company initiatives.

Joining the firm from Stephens, Inc was Malcolm Peeler and Brian Erwin in Jonesboro as a senior vice president of investments and vice president of investments, respectively. Meanwhile, in LaSalle-Peru, Cindy Lewis joined as a senior registered financial associate to Peeler and Erwin, while Kevin Skogsberg joined  as a senior vice president of investments from Stifel, along with senior financial associate Julie Perez. The LaSalle-Peru office was launched in 2011. Lastly, in Naperville, IL, Curtis Loveday was appointed as a financial consultant from Morgan Stanley. The Naperville office opened this year.

Connecticut-based Symmetry Partners, the investment advisory firm, brought in former BlackRock director Timothy Baker as director of product strategy, as well as making a series of hires. Baker will be responsible for overseeing Symmetry’s entire product suite, with a focus on developing the firm’s next generation of factor-based ETF models. He will also help educate advisors and investors on other new initiatives, including the firm’s foray into alternatives. During his time at BlackRock, Baker promoted smart beta/factor investing in the US across institutional and retail channels, as well as the firm's global equity product suite across the Americas.

Meanwhile, Eric Krusiewicz joined Symmetry as a senior investment strategist from Colonial Consulting. The firm also added three regional business consultants in the shape of Bob Matala from Envestnet, Nathaniel Poole from Jackson National Life, and Michael Jordan, also from Jackson National Life. 

Alan Lennick joined Hilltop Securities’ private client group in Beverly Hills, CA, as a regional director for the West Coast, and senior vice president of practice management. As West Coast director, Lennick will help private client managers boost their productivity, while also concentrating on recruiting wealth management talent.

In his practice management role, Lennick will support private client and HilltopSecurities independent network advisors with their fee-for-advice programs, as well as help to ensure that advisors meet the requirements of the Department of Labor’s recently adopted rule defining fiduciary investment advice and conflicts of interest related to retirement assets. Lennick was previously a complex director at Ameriprise in Los Angeles, and before that managed branches in the Minneapolis/St Paul area.

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Merrill Lynch hired three financial advisors from UBS in Manhattan for its Manhattan East complex. Harry Lewkowitz, a member of the Lewkowitz–Gersten Wealth Management Group, joined as a managing director, wealth management advisor and senior portfolio manager.  

Jeff Gersten, a member of the Lewkowitz–Gersten Wealth Management Group, joined as a senior vice president, senior financial advisor and senior portfolio manager. And, lastly, Jeffrey Schoenfeld was hired as a senior vice president, wealth management advisor and senior portfolio manager.

Pure Portfolios brought in former US Trust man David Gewant as a managing director, responsible for driving strategic partnerships, firm operations and portfolio construction. Gewant previously served as division investment executive for the western region at US Trust, having been a market investment director and portfolio manager in the Portland, ME, office before that. He began his career in New York as a portfolio manager and equity analyst.

Risk Strategies Company, the risk management and insurance firm, made two private client hires in Chicago, IL, in the shape of Sandy Leon and Andrew Bonk. Leon and Bonk joined from the brokerage firm HUB International, where they have worked with wealthy families for the past 12 years. At Risk Strategies, Leon was named a vice president and family office practice leader for the Midwest - serving clients across the US and internationally - while Bonk joined as a senior account executive.

FolioDynamix, a provider of wealth management technology and advisory services, expanded its national sales team with the addition of Chicago, IL-based Sean Mullen and Dallas, TX-based Jerome Hill. Mullen, who was most recently with Envestnet, is charged with expanding the firm's footprint with enterprise-type broker-dealer clients. Hill, who has a background in financial services and institutional sales, is focused on the firm’s FDx Complete offering, a wealth management and advisory solution for RIA firms.

iCapital Network, the online provider of alternative investments, made four hires: Tom Iacono joined as chief financial officer; Grace Kim as head of investor relations; David Russo as head of platform integration; and Bryan Gallagher as legal counsel. Iacono joined the firm from General Electric, where he spent 12 years in financial leadership and transaction advisory roles. Earlier, he was CFO at Fortress Transportation and Infrastructure Fund, and a senior manager at Deloitte.

Kim, meanwhile, joined from Fir Tree Partners, an investment firm where she was a director in the investor relations group. She has 17 years of experience working with managers and investors in the alternatives sector. Russo joined from Credit Suisse Private Banking Americas, where he was chief operating officer of assets and investments, responsible for cross-product strategy and business development. Before that, he worked at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. Lastly, Gallagher joined from Goldman Sachs, where he was a vice president and assistant general counsel in the investment management division.

Citi Private Bank recruited Sonia Garcia-Romero from JP Morgan in Miami, FL. This was a replacement hire. Garcia-Romero is responsible for leading ultra high net worth client investment services in the region, excluding Mexico and Brazil. Reporting to Lisandro Chanlatte, head of investment counselors for Latin America, she will also lead the bank’s multi-family office business, with a focus on capital market solutions. 

In her former role at JP Morgan, Garcia-Romero served as market manager and investments team leader for the Andes, Central America and Caribbean regions. Earlier, she worked in the firm’s investment bank and on the global markets treasury liquidity desk.  

PKF O’Connor Davies, the accounting and advisory firm, added Alan Kufeld as a partner within its financial services practice. Kufeld was previously a partner at Flynn Family Office, and earlier a tax principal within the family office group at Rothstein Kass, both in New York. 

Kirkpatrick Bank launched private banking services in Denver, CO, making two hires as part of the effort. The new branch is headed by Steven Harlan, who joined as a senior vice president of private banking, serving families, foundations and businesses. Meanwhile, Kam Looney joined as a vice president of private banking. Looney has spent most of her career primarily in the mortgage field, branching into business and private banking in 2011. 

Brown Advisory, the global investment firm, brought in two Austin, TX-based investment management teams to launch its eighth office. Blackhaw Wealth Management, founded by Ian McAbeer in 2009 and joined by Tushar Shah in 2014, combined its business with Brown Advisory. Joining with McAbeer and Shah were Blackhaw colleagues Sarah Richardson and Mia Karides. Erik Cohen, Jonathan Levy and Mindy McDuffie represent the other side of the addition, and joined Brown Advisory from Oxbow Advisors.

Lombard International, a global provider of wealth structuring services for HNWIs, brought in Phil Trussell as a senior managing director to expand its life insurance operations in Bermuda. The expansion of the Bermuda-based life business followed a string of recent developments by Lombard International, including the opening of its brokerage office in Hong Kong to serve the Asia market and the firm’s recent launch of a representative office in Paris. Trussell has over 20 years of experience as an insurance professional and joined Lombard from The Argus Group in Bermuda.

Christine Hurtsellers became chief executive of Voya Investment Management, Voya Financial's asset management business. Hurtsellers succeeded Jeffrey Becker, who is leaving the firm to join another company, and had served as CEO of Voya Investment Management since 2009. In her previous role at Voya, Hurtsellers was chief investment officer of fixed income since 2009. She now reports to Alain Karaoglan, the firm's chief operating officer and chief executive of retirement and investment solutions. In other changes, Matt Toms succeeded Hurtsellers as chief investment officer of fixed income. Toms, who has served as head of public fixed income at Voya since 2011, will continue to report to Hurtsellers.

California-based Mechanics Bank expanded its resources for affluent clients, adding and promoting staff throughout the San Francisco, East Bay and Napa regions. Ester Babakhanov joined the bank as a vice president and wealth management strategist in San Francisco, providing estate and charitable planning for individuals and families, as well as corporate retirement services. She previously worked at JP Morgan in San Francisco and at Wells Fargo in San Francisco and La Jolla, CA 

James Hauer, meanwhile, transferred from San Francisco to the North Berkeley office in light of growing client demand for trust services at the former branch. Additionally, Michael Shea joined the Oakland office as a vice president and wealth strategist. He will serve as a personal relationship manager for families and businesses, having previously worked at WealthPLAN Partners.

In other moves, Tina Papucci, who joined the firm 30 years ago, was promoted to vice president and personal trust manager in Oakland, while Darren Peterie moved from the retail side to serve as a vice president and private banker. Rounding off the appointments, Ron Sparrow was promoted to vice president of private banking in Walnut Creek. He spent the previous two years as a manager in San Rafael. 

RBC Wealth Management welcomed the Evergreen Group in San Antonio, TX, with some team members based in the firm’s new Lufkin office. The group joined from Morgan Stanley with over $1 billion in assets. Team members include: Phillip Friesen, managing director and financial advisor; Chuck Crowson, senior vice president and financial advisor; John Friesen, vice president and financial advisor; Greg Bowman, vice president and financial advisor; Josh Zeleskey, associate vice president and financial advisor; Karen Ronaghan, associate vice president and senior financial associate; and Bonnie McKinney, senior registered client associate.

First Republic Bank added Kevin Barnes to its private wealth management team in San Francisco, CA. Barnes, a managing director and portfolio manager, joined from Merrill Lynch's private banking and investment group, where he was a managing director and private wealth advisor.  

Wealth and asset management house Noah Holdings appointed Shang-yan Chuang as chief financial officer, taking over from Ching Tao, who is now chief executive of Noah US, the firm’s first US subsidiary. Chuang has more than 13 years of experience in financial services. In March 2011, he joined Noah as a director of investment relations and corporate development. In 2012, he founded Noah Holdings (Hong Kong) and served as its executive director and CEO until January 2016. Prior to joining Noah, Chuang was a senior executive at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in the investment banking division and Asia private equity from 2003 to 2011, based in Hong Kong.