A roundup of senior moves and appointments in North America's wealth management sector at the end of last year.

Toronto-listed CI Financial said Darie Urbanky, president, chief operating officer and head of CI Global Asset Management, decided to retire at the end of 2024. From January 1, Marc-André Lewis, chief investment officer of CI GAM, assumed the role of co-head of CI GAM. Lewis retained his responsibilities as CIO. Urbanky joined CI in 1996 in its information technology department, where he spent 20 years in progressively more senior roles before being named chief technology officer in 2016. He was promoted to COO in 2018 and named president in 2019.

Wellesley Asset Management, a US-registered investment advisor, appointed David Clott. He helps to run Wellesley’s line of convertible bond products, and develop new ones. An investment professional with 30 years of experience, Clott’s convertible bond investing experience began in the mid 1990s as an analyst at Phoenix Investments. In 2005 he founded the Morley (Aviva) Convertible Arbitrage hedge fund and in 2009 he founded the Aviva Investors Global Convertible Absolute Return fund.

Raymond James welcomed financial advisors Keith Bryant, Christopher Bryant and Carissa Henderson to its employee advisor channel in Denver, Colorado. The father-son-daughter advisor team operates as Bryant Wealth Management of Raymond James and is joined by senior registered client service associates Liza DePinto and Becky Jones. The advisors previously managed about $340 million in client assets at RBC Capital Markets.

Pacific Oak Capital Markets, which distributes alternative investments, appointed financial services industry veteran Elijah Davis as senior regional vice president. Davis builds and maintains relationships with financial intermediaries throughout Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico and Utah. Prior to joining Pacific Oak, Davis served as a wholesaler at Urban Catalyst where he developed strategies to achieve assigned sales quotas, among other responsibilities. 

Vanguard, the US asset management giant, said Tom Rampulla, managing director and head of Vanguard’s Financial Advisor Services division, was leaving the business after 35 years of service to the firm. Amma Boateng, head of the broker-dealer channel within FAS, joined Vanguard’s senior leadership team and became head of the division. Rampulla became FAS head in 2015. Before the FAS role, Rampulla served as the first head of Vanguard’s UK and European operations from 2008 to 2015. 

Key Family Wealth, the multi-family office division of Key Wealth – part of Ohio-headquartered KeyCorp – appointed Brian Hrabak as investment consultant. Hrabak is responsible for delivering custom investment solutions for ultra-high net worth clients in the firm’s Central Region. Hrabak is based in Cleveland and reports to Joe Stone, national managing director of Key Family Wealth Investments. Prior to this role, Hrabak was a senior managing director at Clearstead Advisors.

RIA Savvy Advisors appointed Jacob DuBose as a wealth manager. DuBose previously worked at Empower (previously called Personal Capital), where he led a team that managed more than $425 million in assets for nearly 300 high net worth individuals and families, business owners and trusts. 

Cetera Financial Group appointed Nicholas Bair to Cetera Advisors via Wilde Wealth Management Group. He leads Wilde Wealth Management Group's new Sun City-Surprise office in Surprise, Arizona.

MFS Investment Management appointed Edward M Maloney as chief executive officer, effective January 1, 2025. He will succeed  and report to Michael Roberge, who will assume the role of executive chair. 

Raymond James welcomed financial advisor Michael Kennedy to its independent advisor channel. Kennedy, who founded Horizon Wealth Planning, was joined by client service associate Renee Blackwelder at the team’s office in Winter Haven, Florida. Kennedy began his career in financial services in 2009 and spent 14 years at Edward Jones. 

Transatlantic multi-family office AlTi appointed senior wealth industry figure Richard Joyner as a senior advisor to its wealth business in Dallas. Joyner has more than three decades of experience in the sector. Previously, he spent more than 20 years at Tolleson Wealth Management, where he was responsible for leading the strategy of its private wealth management group. He has also served in financial advisory roles at Ernst & Young, PwC and KPMG, and is an alumnus of Wake Forest University where he studied accounting.

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Pritzker Private Capital promoted David Gau and Brad West. Gau was named president in addition to his role of operations head. West was named chief operating officer, in addition to his roles as general counsel and chief compliance officer. 

Mesirow, the RIA, appointed Rebecca Solomon as an estate planning specialist in its wealth management group. Solomon has more than 25 years of experience in advanced estate planning and business succession advice to the team. Before this, she served as a vice president at The Nautilus Group, a membership-based service for New York Life financial professionals. 

KKR, aka Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, the US investments group, appointed Dane E Holmes as chief administrative officer. Before this, Holmes was a member of KKR’s board of directors, a role he had served in since March 2021. However, because of his new duties, Holmes resigned from his board seat.

Fiduciary Trust International appointed Gene Todd as president, adding to his role of regional markets head. The US firm also widened the remit of the following members of its leadership team: Leslie Gillin Bohner appointed general trust counsel in addition to her role as chief fiduciary officer; and Craig S Richards was appointed chief operating officer in addition to his role as chief administrative officer and head of tax.

Horter Investment Management, a US registered investment advisory firm based in Cincinnati, Ohio, appointed Keith Schmidt as president. Schmidt worked at Zions Bank, and has a wealth management background spanning 25 years.

Alphastar Capital Management, the RIA founded in 2011, appointed Paul Stetz as its new president. Stetz brings more than three decades’ experience to the role. 

Raymond James welcomed financial advisors Pam Mitchell and Vijay Baxter to its employee advisor channel. Mitchell joined from UBS, where she managed about $230 million in client assets. She leads Mitchell Financial Planning of Raymond James in Naples, Florida and was joined by practice business manager Charissa Konz. 

Financial advisor F Pat Cunnane joined the independent channel of Ameriprise Financial from LPL Financial where he managed about $733 million in client assets. Cunnane joined Fidant Wealth Partners, an established Ameriprise practice led by Ameriprise private wealth advisor Doug Kisker.

Dynasty Financial Partners partnered with PUREfi Wealth, a new RIA headquartered in Boston. PUREfi Wealth, which was registered in October, is led by industry veteran Paul M Simons. Simons began his career at Merrill Lynch, where he spent 18 years, went on to lead the private wealth business at Credit Suisse as co-head of private banking USA, and in 2018 joined Boston Private as president where he led the private banking, wealth and trust business until the firm’s 2021 acquisition by Silicon Valley Bank.

Wealth.com, the real estate planning platform, appointed Jamie Hopkins as a strategic advisor. Hopkins serves as senior vice president of private wealth management at Bryn Mawr Trust. He is also chief executive of Bryn Mawr Capital Management.

Raymond James welcomed financial advisor Jeffrey D Olsen to its employee advisor channel in Roseville, California. Olsen, who was formerly at Morgan Stanley, where he managed approximately $197 million in client assets, is supported by senior client service associate Jennifer Goldsby. The team, which works as Olsen Wealth Management of Raymond James, serves clients in California and Texas.

MSCI Inc appointed Jana Haines as head of index and a member of MSCI’s executive committee. Based in New York, Haines is responsible for the strategic development and execution of MSCI’s global Index product line. Haines served in a variety of senior leadership roles at MSCI from 2006 to 2021. Most recently, she served as head of index product for Americas and EMEA, and global head of fixed income indexes. 

“Jana’s extensive expertise in the global financial industry will be critical to MSCI building an even deeper understanding of our clients’ evolving needs for indexes that help them build better portfolios and develop investible financial products,” Baer Pettit, president and chief operating officer of MSCI. said.

Canada’s Wellington-Altus appointed Andrew Marsh to join its board of directors. Marsh has more than 30 years’ financial-industry leadership experience. His track record includes 17 years at Richardson Wealth (formerly Richardson GMP). Marsh is also vice chairman at Dynasty Financial Partners.