Changes at the top of Morgan Stanley and Focus Financial were among the most eye-catching moves in the sector during October.

One of the most prominent names in North America’s wealth sector, Rudy Adolf, stepped down as CEO of Focus Financial Partners. Dan Glaser, chairman of its board, was made interim CEO. Focus said Glaser’s role was in addition to his position as chairman of Focus' board of directors and operating partner at Focus' majority investment partner, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice.

Morgan Stanley’s co-president, Edward Pick is to be its new CEO from the start of 2024, taking over from James Gorman, who is standing down after 14 years in the job. He is due to be executive chairman at the US firm.

In other moves, co-president Andy Saperstein became the head of wealth and investment management, and Dan Simkowitz became co-president of Morgan Stanley and the head of institutional securities. 

Gary Stamp & Co, Principled Wealth Advisors, appointed Michael Reed as chief of staff and chief strategic officer. Reed was chief operating officer and managing member of Dakota Wealth Management, a registered investment advisor in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. 

Axtella, a parent company of Sigma Planning Corporation – the RIA – and broker-dealers, appointed Rob Engle as chief revenue officer. Engle joined from Grove Point Financial. It also promoted Kristi DeLongchamp to SVP of business development – who reports to Engle. Maria Bethel was promoted SVP of marketing, communications.

Savvy Advisors, a US registered investment advisor affiliated with Savvy Wealth, appointed Erich Yost and Ryan Bond as principal wealth managers. Yost and Bond are based in the Greater Philadelphia area. Prior to the new role, Yost worked at Veritable, LP, where he was a portfolio manager. Yost has more than 12 years’ industry experience. Bond serves a client base made up of primarily high net worth investors and joins from Empower (formerly Personal Capital), where he worked as a senior financial advisor. 

Financial advisor Nicole Boulais joined the independent channel of Ameriprise Financial from Raymond James where she managed $170 million in client assets. Boulais joined an established Ameriprise practice, The McCulla Group, in Pella, Iowa, which is led by Ameriprise private wealth advisor Matthew McCulla.

New York-based Canoe Intelligence made five senior hires in the US, predominantly in New York. The new senior hires included Jamie Slusher as director of client project management. She previously spent over 20 years in the healthcare industry. Hires also included Jeffrey Lin as director of product management, data products; Jordan Robbins was appointed as head of revenue operations; Mark Rossi is senior director of business development, and Peter Feliciano was named director, extraction Architecture & AI/ML. 

PGIM Investments appointed Dominick Carlino as global head of alternative investments, based in Newark, New Jersey. He reports to Stuart Parker, president and CEO of PGIM Investments. Carlino has more than 20 years of experience in alternatives distribution across asset and wealth management. Most recently, he served as managing director, head of alternative investments distribution at Merrill Lynch.

Cresta Fund Management, which provides growth equity for conventional and sustainable forms, promoted John Skrinar to partner in Cresta's sustainable investing strategy. Skrinar, who joined Cresta in early 2021, has worked in the renewable fuels industry for over 15 years. 

SLC Management, the $273 billion institutional fixed income and alternatives asset manager, reshuffled its private fixed income team. Sam Tillinghast, head of private fixed income, SLC Management, said he intended to resign, effective December 31. Tillinghast joined SLC Management in 2018. Prior to this, he was co-CEO of THL Credit Advisors. Tillinghast was head of the private placement group for AIG.

Carson Group appointed Julie Pine as its chief legal officer. In this newly-created role, Pine reports to Teri Shepherd, president of Carson Group. In prior roles, Pine was general counsel and chief risk officer at Lead Bank, Kansas City. In earlier roles, she was a commercial litigator and equity shareholder at McDowell, Rice, Smith & Buchanan, before she became general counsel at Mariner Wealth Advisors.

The global family office arm of Rockefeller Capital Management added two private advisor teams in the DC metro area and Los Angeles. It welcomed Shaffer Wealth Partners (DC metro area), and Willis Wealth Partners (LA). Shaffer Wealth Partners is led by managing director and private advisor Sheila Shaffer. The four-person team, which joined from Janney Montgomery Scott, includes senior vice president and private advisor Eric Walker; VP and wealth manager Daniel Spainhour; and associate VP and client associate Allyson Albert.

Sheila Shaffer, who has more than 35 years of financial service experience, began her career at Merrill Lynch in 1983 and worked in corporate, management, and financial advisory roles at other firms, among them Legg Mason, Smith Barney (Morgan Stanley), and JMS. Eric Walker has worked with Shaffer since 2015, providing comprehensive financial advice to discerning clients. Prior to joining the practice, he worked at Morgan Stanley and Pulte Mortgage. The team reports to Kristen Sario, Southeast divisional director.

Willis Wealth Partners – led by MD and private advisor Matt Willis – includes SVP and private advisor Frank Willis; VPs and private advisors Neil Martin and Patrick Digenan; and senior client associate Claudia Ramirez. The five-person group joined from Wells Fargo and will report to Brian Riley, Western divisional director.

Stratos Wealth Holdings appointed Gary Kuhn as national business development manager. Kuhn has more than a decade of business development and financial advisor talent acquisition experience. He started his career in 2013 with MetLife Premier Client Group and later, MassMutual, with its 2016 acquisition of MetLife's advisory unit. Most recently, Kuhn was business development manager for Nesco Resource, focusing on the fintech and financial services fields.
 

FutureVault, which provides secure document exchange and digital vault solutions for financial services and wealth managers, appointed Clifton Schaller as its chief growth officer. Schaller worked at Capital One, Morningstar, and Nitrogen Wealth (formerly Riskalyze).

The Boston-based private wealth management firm, Fiduciary Trust Company, hired Thomas Nonnweiler as a vice president and investment officer. Nonnweiler reporta to Sidney Queler, head of wealth management. Prior to Fiduciary, Nonnweiler served as a vice president in the Private Client Group for SCS Financial, where he worked closely with ultra-HNW individuals and multi-generational families on all aspects of wealth planning and investment management. 

Steward Partners Global Advisory, part of Steward Partners, brought Sunshine Private Wealth into its orbit, a business based in Sarasota, Florida. The firm is led by Faiza Kedir. The team, formerly with Hightower, manages about $170 million in client assets and is Steward's third office in Florida, continuing the firm's planned expansion in that state. Kedir began her career as a financial advisor when she joined Hightower, where she was director, business development, and financial advisor.

Rockefeller Global Family Office, the wealth management division of Rockefeller Capital Management, added Bridgeline Wealth Partners, a four-person team based in Atlanta, Georgia. The group – formerly from UBS – reports to Kristen Sario, Southeast divisional director of Rockefeller Global Family Office. Bridgeline, which is led by managing directors and private advisors Travis Propst and J Trent Douglas, includes senior wealth and investment strategy associate Ryan Brady and senior client relationship manager Jaimie Crook. Rockefeller

Philanthropy Advisors appointed Latanya Mapp Frett as its next president and CEO, succeeding Melissa Berman in the role she founded. Frett serves as president and CEO of Global Fund for Women, a public foundation that supports courageous activists who are fighting for justice and equality in their communities.

Pathstone, the US family office, appointed Jim CoutrĂ© as a new managing director and head of the wealth planning. He will be based in Pathstone’s Boston office. CoutrĂ© was previously the vice president of insights and connections for Fidelity Family Office Services, a segment of Fidelity Institutional. 

TwinFocus, the multifamily office for global ultra-high net worth professional investors, appointed former BNY Mellon CIO David Daglio as chief investment officer, based in Boston, where the organization is headquartered. He spent 22 years at Mellon, an investment firm that merged with the Bank of New York to become BNY Mellon in 2007. Most recently, Daglio was CEO and founder of BC-GUMPS – an asset manager focused on delivering hard-to-find arbitrage opportunities to sophisticated and ultra-high net worth investors.

The California-headquartered firm, SageView Advisory Group, hired Matt Cosgriff as senior vice president, head of wealth management advisory services, and Sophie Benander as vice president of wealth management client experience. They report to chief operating officer Jorge Bernal, who joined SageView in 2022.

Fiduciary Trust International appointed Kenneth Kito as a wealth director, based in New York. Kito used to work at Franklin Templeton as a territory specialist for US retail distribution in Greater Philadelphia and New Jersey. He came to Franklin Templeton via its acquisition of Legg Mason in 2020. Earlier in his career, he was a portfolio manager for Merrill Lynch. In his new role Kito reports to Anne Fitzpatrick Donahue, regional managing director responsible for Fiduciary Trust International’s New York office.

US law firm Lowenstein Sandler appointed Michael D Saarinen to join its investment management group as a partner in its New York office. Saarinen, who is the co-chair of Lowenstein's fund formation and structuring group, has more than two decades of experience representing US and global fund sponsors in a wide range of fund offerings and products. Prior to this role, Saarinen was formerly a partner in Shearman & Sterling's investment funds practice. 

Freestone Capital Management appointed Jonathan Wittlin to join a team of 26 advisors in its San Franciso office. He reports to Jim Hughes, head of client advisory. Wittlin brings more than 20 years of experience in assisting high net worth clients with their financial planning and investment management needs. He was most recently with a San Francisco registered investment advisor. 

Raymond James welcomed financial advisor Barbara Paneral to Raymond James & Associates (RJA) – the firm's employee advisor channel – in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Paneral arrived from Baird, where she previously managed over $134 million in client assets. 

Wealth, investment and asset management firm Baird brought in the Berg Group of Dallas, Texas. Team members include Joel Berg, who joined Baird as a director and financial advisor, and Robert Berg, who joined as a vice president and consultant. 

Helios, a US firm that says it is a pioneer of the “insourced chief investment officer” model, appointed former senior BlackRock figure Corin Frost as a managing director. A 22-year veteran of the investment and portfolio management space, Frost retired from Blackrock in 2016 having spent almost 16 years at the firm. 

Raymond James
The financial institutions arm of Raymond James welcomed advisors Manny Jimenez and Jacob Wright to Pinnacle Asset Management, the wealth management arm of Pinnacle Financial Partners. Pinnacle is affiliated with Raymond James. They are based at the Pinnacle Mount Pleasant, South Carolina office. They previously managed about $186 million in client assets at Truist Investment Services.  

Raymond James brought in financial advisor Jonathan “JD” Swart to the firm’s independent advisor channel. At Swart Financial Partners headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina, Swart is joined by senior client service associate Amanda Schedler. Swart was previously from Edward Jones.

Raymond James brought in a total of 50 financial professionals from Columbia Wealth Advisors (CWA), located at Umpqua Bank. The team works in the financial institutions division. Based in Lake Oswego, Oregon, Umpqua Bank has offices in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington. CWA manages about $3 billion in client assets, serving both businesses and individuals. They were previously affiliated with Cetera Investment Services.