The latest moves in the North American wealth sector across the month of July.

JP Morgan Private Bank appointed former UBS figure Jeff Woody as head of its business in Nashville and the Tennessee market. Woody reports to Keith Fleming, head of South Atlantic for JP Morgan Private Bank. Most recently, Woody served as market director and was responsible for leading client engagement in Middle Tennessee and Alabama at UBS. 

US-based investment advisory firm Pinnacle Associates appointed Amy Pastorino as senior financial planner. Pastorino, with 20 years of high-profile experience in the investment management industry, most recently served as advanced planning and development director at Morgan Stanley. 

Cetera Financial Group, a hub for wealth firms, said that Mike McCormick, operating as Southshore Wealth Management, joined Cetera Advisor Networks via Summit Financial Networks. McCormick, who has 27 years of industry experience, holds his Series 7, Series 63 and Series 65 registrations as well as his Florida Health & Life Series 215 registration. 

Dynasty Financial Partners, the Florida-headquartered group, promoted Leslie Dentinger Norman, formerly the deputy CTO, to the post of chief technology officer. The previous holder of the CTO spot, Fred Coates, stepped down from the role.

Fiduciary Trust International appointed former Deutsche Bank figures Debjani Bagchi and Peter E McEvoy in its New York office as portfolio managers. Bagchi has nearly three decades of investment management experience. She previously served for more than 10 years as managing director and senior portfolio manager at Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management. 

Adams Street Partners appointed Jim Walker as the global head of wealth. Walker has served as the chief operating officer at Adams Street for nearly seven years. Prior to Adams Street, Walker held a range of senior positions at Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, and Merrill Lynch.

East Rock Capital, a wealth manager founded in 2006, hired Alexandra Schueler as senior director of strategic engagement, based in Miami, Florida. Schueler works with East Rock’s investment and operations teams. Before this, Schueler was a senior member of the business and program development team, responsible for sourcing and managing significant relationships with private equity firms, hedge funds, banks, multinational corporations, and individual philanthropists. In her seven years at the Milken Institute, Schueler also launched the Institute’s New York and Miami offices. Prior to the Milken Institute, Schueler worked in sales, marketing, and client services at Guggenheim Securities and Lord Abbett.

A private wealth advisor in Washington DC, John Cortale, moved from LPL financial to the independent channel of Ameriprise Financial. Cortale’s practice, which operates under the name Monumental Financial Planning (formerly The Cortale Group), includes financial advisors John Martin Moran and Nina Kamrani, client service manager Adam Mirza and client service coordinator Omaid Omar.  

Avantax, a community within US-based Cetera Holdings concentrating on tax-focused financial planning and wealth management, hired the founders of Noble Oak Financial – Josh Linton and Mike Koltz and director of operations – and client services Danielle Boutwell. Linton and Kolz were were previously affiliated with LPL Financial.

Avantax® also welcomed financial advisors John Surace, Kelly Powers and their S&P Financial Services team, based in Hauppauge, New York. The team transferred to Avantax from Osaic.

Alpha Capital Family Office brought in former Citi Private Bank senior wealth managers Alexandra Romeo Boyles and Will Coughlin, joining as senior wealth strategist and partner, and senior investment strategist and partner, respectively. They are based in Denver, Colorado, where Alpha Capital Family Office is headquartered. At Citi Private Bank, Boyles and Coughlin's clients included single-family offices, entrepreneurs, private business owners, endowments, foundations, and non-profits.

Regions Bank appointed Connie Rogers as private wealth management regional executive for Texas – an expanded role. Rogers leads a team of advisors providing investment services and financial guidance to clients in markets including Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Tyler, Lufkin and more. Rogers most recently served as regions’ area wealth manager for North and East Texas.

Lido Advisors, a California-headquartered wealth advisory firm, appointed Henry Hagenbuch as senior managing director, head of M&A. Hagenbuch has worked in the financial services sector for more than a decade and has more than 15 years of business development experience, including five years creating and maintaining his own brand as a professional athlete. He was previously at Robertson Stephens.

Vistra, a service provider for funds and companies, appointed Caroline Baker as country managing director for North America. Baker, based in Canada, reports to Jonathan Ferrara, regional MD for the UK, Ireland, Channel Islands, India, Americas, and Middle East. Baker began her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Montreal, before moving to Sydney, London, and Singapore.

A new RIA in Santa Monica under the name of Serenus Wealth Advisors launched with $1.2 billion of client money. The business was founded by Kara Boccella, ranked on the Forbes’ Top Women Wealth Advisors Best-In-State List, and Devon M Galindo, a wealth advisor with over 15 years’ experience in the sector. Most recently, they were at Certuity's Santa Monica office.

IEQ Capital appointed managing director Michael Thompson – part of an expansion in Nashville, Tennessee. Thompson has nearly two decades of experience in wealth management, specializing in financial planning and investment advisory services. 

Baird, a US wealth and asset management, investment banking/capital markets and private equity firm, added former Wells Fargo figure Matthew Langham as senior vice president and financial advisor to its wealth office in Toledo, Ohio. Langham was joined by senior client specialist, Cristina Phillips. He has more than 20 years of industry experience.

Nepsis, a US financial advisor and investment management firm, appointed Malia Haskins as its inaugural vice president of estate planning. With more than three decades’ wealth sector experience, most of Haskins’ career in wealth management was spent with RBC Wealth Management. 

International law firm Withers set up a family law practice in New York, led by new partner Nicky S Rooz, who previously worked in the family and matrimonial law group at Blank Rome for nearly a decade beforehand.

Vanguard announced that Salim Ramji had become its new chief executive officer, based in New York. He succeeded Tim Buckley who retired from Vanguard after more than 30 years of service, including a tenure as chairman and chief executive officer. Prior to joining Vanguard in July 2024, Ramji served in a variety of roles over the past 25 years spanning investments, capital markets, and wealth management. Most recently, he was the global head of iShares and index investments at BlackRock, as well as a member of the global executive committee.

Rockefeller Global Family Office added Titus Wealth Partners, part of the group’s presence in Boston, Massachusetts. Titus is led by wealth management veteran Jeffrey Titus, managing director and private advisor, who has more than 30 years of experience providing sophisticated advice to ultra-high net worth clients. The team also includes vice president and team chief investment officer Daniel O’Neill, and VP and team chief wealth strategist Haley Pink. Before joining RGFO, the team had worked at JP Morgan Wealth Management. 

MSCI, provider of investment indices and other data, appointed Alvise Munari as chief product officer. Previously, he was chief client officer. Munari, based in Geneva, has 20 years’ financial industry experience, including product innovation leadership roles at Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, and Morgan Stanley. Munari continues to report to Baer Pettit, president and chief operating officer at MSCI.

Remy Briand previously served in the CPO role. Briand took on a new role at MSCI as head of solutions. As a result of Munari's appointment, Axel Kilian was appointed as chief client officer, reporting to Pettit. Kilian joined MSCI in 2020 as head of client coverage for EMEA. 

BNY appointed Jose Minaya as the new global head of its investments and wealth business, following Hanneke Smits' decision to retire. Minaya reports to president and chief executive, Robin Vince. Prior to this, Minaya worked at Nuveen, the global asset management firm that is part of TIAA. 

Professional services business JTC bolstered its private client services division for the Americas by building two distinct regions: JTC USA (PCS) and JTC LatAm. Matt Tobin and Jim Paladino, who joined JTC through its acquisition of South Dakota Trust Company in 2023, became regional co-heads of JTC USA (PCS). They lead the SDTC offices in South Dakota and New York and took on the additional responsibility of overseeing JTC’s operations in Delaware and South Dakota. 

Emilio Miguel, who was instrumental in the launch of JTC Americas in 2012 and has played a pivotal role in the growth of JTC in the US, moved back to Argentina to become regional head of JTC LatAm, which spans Mexico, Central America and South America. He also continues to lead the Miami-based LatAm team.

Raymond James
Raymond James welcomed financial advisor Stacy McVan to the firm's employee advisor channel in Dublin, Ohio. McVan was previously at Edward Jones, where she managed over $100 million in client assets. 

The firm also brought over financial advisor Rose Gatto to its employee advisor channel in Birmingham, Michigan. Along with senior client service associate Debbie Beardsley, Gatto arrived from Comerica Financial Advisors, a financial advisory practice of Ameriprise Financial Services. 

The business also welcomed financial advisor Billy Focia to its employee advisor channel ­in Birmingham, Alabama. Focia was previously at Merit Financial. 

Ryan Brisiel, who was formerly at Arvest Wealth Management, joined Raymond James's employee advisor channel – SWK Financial Planning Advisors of Raymond James. He is based in Fayetteville, Arkansas.