A busy month for moves and appointments in the North American wealth management space.

Private wealth advisor David Sproles joined the independent channel of Ameriprise Financial, from Edward Jones in Murfreesboro, Tennessee with over $100 million in client assets. His son, Houston Sproles, joined the practice as a financial planning assistant and as his eventual successor. Another joiner was Andrea Meade, who has supported the team as practice manager and client support for nearly nine years. The team is supported locally by Ameriprise regional vice president Trish Moll and senior franchise field vice president George Varones.

Edward Jones welcomed financial advisor Warren Anderson, who is based in Littleton, Colorado. He has worked in the sector for 25 years. Anderson previously managed $375 million in client assets and was a wealth advisor with Charles Schwab, working with retail investors. Prior to that, he was a financial consultant at Charles Schwab, advising clients on a broad range of financial matters.

EP Wealth Advisors, the US wealth manager overseeing $18.7 billion in assets, announced that Ryan Parker, president of the firm, had moved to the CEO role. Before that, the chief executive was Patrick Goshtigian, who had been in the post since 2011, and became executive chairman. 

Amwell Ridge Wealth Management, a US firm led by managing partner David Johnston, affiliated with Bleakley Financial Group. Johnston, who has worked in the sector for 27 years, provides financial planning for affluent families throughout Hunterdon County, New Jersey. He primarily works with people aged 55 and older looking for ways to ensure a smooth retirement.

JP Morgan Private Bank created South and Midwest Regions within its broader Central Region. 

The South Region is led by Pete Chilian, region head, and Clinton Warren, region head of investments and advice. The Midwest Region is led by Neal Gram, region head, and Jeramey Lynch, region head of investments and advice. As for the Central Region, its CEO is Elaine Agather. 

In his new role, Chilian directs more than 200 bankers and wealth advisors across nine cities. With two decades at JP Morgan, Chilian spent 11 years in his prior role as Dallas market manager.  

Warren has more than two decades of investment experience at the US bank; he leads more than 40 investors across the South Region to deliver advice on portfolio construction, asset allocation, and manager selection across both public and private markets. Before joining the Dallas private banking team, he managed the multinational corporate banking division for JP Morgan's Southwest region.

Gram leads more than 175 bankers and wealth advisors across eight offices. Most recently, he oversaw several of the region's existing offices and previously led its Michigan market. Lynch oversees more than 45 investment specialists to engage with institutional clients, families, and foundations, addressing the unique requirements of significant assets. 

As part of the changes, Maggie O'Brien and Charlie Cooper were appointed to co-lead the private bank's greater Chicago market, including nearly 100 bankers across two locations, downtown Chicago and Winnetka. Together, O'Brien and Cooper will report to Gram.

Fiduciary Trust International appointed two senior figures – a new MD responsible for its New York office and a national fiduciary counsel. It named Anne Fitzpatrick Donahue as its new regional managing director responsible for the New York office. Paulina Mejia, who previously managed the office, moved to a new role as national fiduciary counsel, where she serves the firm’s largest clients, as well as clients with the most complex needs. Mejia reports to Gail E Cohen, chair of Fiduciary Trust International’s board of directors and general trust counsel, and is also responsible for attorney outreach. Donahue reports to Gene Todd, executive vice president and head of regional markets. She was most recently senior managing director at Northern Trust, where she was based in the firm’s New York and Connecticut offices and led one of its two Greater New York teams. 

Raymond James welcomed financial advisors Meghan Foley and Anthony Anderson to Raymond James & Associates (RJA) – the firm’s employee advisor channel. Based in Broadview Heights, Ohio, the advisors operate as Shultz Group of Raymond James and work with senior client service associate Rani Thakkar. The group was previously affiliated with Merrill Lynch, where they managed approximately $230 million in client assets.

The firm also welcomed financial advisors John Piotrowski, Richard Holsan and Scott Gribbons to its independent advisor channel. As Leeward Financial Group in Lighthouse Point, Florida, the advisors were joined by practice business coordinator, Doreen Gest, and client services manager, Janice Leechalk. Previously, the team was affiliated with Ameriprise Financial Services where it managed more than $475 million in client assets.

Raymond James welcomed financial advisors James Reynolds and Joseph Andrews to its employee advisor channel in Worcester, Massachusetts. The advisor duo, who operate as Reynolds Andrews Wealth Advisors of Raymond James, are joined by senior client service associate Elizabeth Garrido. The advisors previously managed more than $250 million in client assets at Merrill Lynch.

Foley is a 22-year veteran of the financial services industry. She is a Certified Plan Fiduciary Advisor^TM, a Certified Private Wealth Advisor® certificant and holds the Certified Financial Planner^TM designation. A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Anderson began his career as a wealth manager and financial planner in 2010 at LM Kohn & Company. He subsequently spent over a decade with Merrill Lynch, earning the company’s portfolio manager qualification. Anderson is a Certified Plan Fiduciary Advisor^TM and holds the Certified Investment Management Analyst® designation, backed by a bachelor’s degree from John Carroll University.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, aka KKR, the investment firm with $504 billion in AuM as at the end of 2022, said its KREST fund named Julia Butler as chief investment officer. (“KREST” stands for KKR Real Estate Select Trust.) Butler, who joined KKR in 2017, is a managing director on the real estate team. Prior to joining KKR, she was an executive vice president at iStar, a publicly-traded real estate investment trust, where she was responsible for sourcing, managing and executing on new investment opportunities in the US and Europe.

KKR, named Dan Pietrzak as global head of private credit. Pietrzak has more than 20 years of investment experience. Most recently he served as co-head of private credit with Matthieu Boulanger, who is leaving to pursue other opportunities.

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Argent Financial Group, a US-based wealth manager, appointed Charles Denison as senior portfolio manager. Denison, who is based in Argent’s Fort Worth office, is responsible for managing personal and institutional client portfolios. Denison reports directly to Alan Tarver, senior vice president and senior portfolio manager. Prior to joining Argent, Denison most recently served as director of investments and corporate development at Virtuoso. He also previously served as the principal and chief investment officer at the Diesslin Group.

Boston-headquartered multi-family office Choate Hall & Stewart announced the appointment of a team from Ropes & Gray’s private client practice. The partners are Marc J Bloostein, Cameron Casey, Kimberly E Cohen, Jennifer S Ewing and Geoffrey M Mason. 

CIBC Private Wealth, US, made four appointments:
-- John McKenna was named San Francisco office head and senior relationship manager; 
-- Robert Johnson was named senior vice president and business development officer in Austin; 
-- Ryan Smith was named senior vice president and senior relationship manager in Austin; and 
-- Geoff Nelson was named senior vice president and business development officer in Houston. 

The firm also added the following people: 
-- Brett Amerson, managing director and market manager in Newport Beach, California; 
-- John Gaughan, senior private banking advisor in Chicago, Illinois; and 
-- Greg Petersen, managing director and private banker in St. Louis, Missouri.

International law firm McDermott Will & Emery added three people in its private client practice group: partner Anita Rosenbloom, counsel John Kiely in New York, and partner Jay Scharf in Miami. They joined from Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, where Rosenbloom served as chair of the Private Client Services Group.

Yieldstreet, the private market investing platform, appointed Ted Yarbrough as its chief investment officer. Yarbrough has nearly three decades of experience gained at Citigroup and its predecessor companies, serving in a variety of leadership roles across the firm’s banking, markets, and lending businesses. During his tenure, he served as chief investment officer of global spread products, global head of structured products, global head of structured finance, and most recently as global co-head of institutional credit management.

Jacmel Growth Partners, a minority-owned, private investment firm, appointed Mark Hardaway as chief financial officer. The role is a newly-created one. Hardaway, who has 15 years of experience in senior finance positions across a range of companies, is also a business owner. He was previously a senior treasury officer at the University of California, Los Angeles. Prior to that he worked at Amgen, Inc. in a variety of roles of rising seniority for nearly seven years based in Zug, Vienna, Prague and Thousand Oaks, California.

The Family Office at Synovus, a multi-family office based in Columbus, Georgia, appointed Walt Deriso as senior director of strategic growth and family office solutions. Based in Atlanta, Deriso leads The Family Office at Synovus’s initiative to enhance the scope of services and solutions offered to ultra-high net worth families with a particular focus on single-family offices. He is based in the Atlanta office at 3400 Overton Park. Deriso began his career in 1999 at the Family Office at Synovus, serving in different roles including director of relationship management. In 2006, he became a founding shareholder at Atlantic Capital Bank in Atlanta, Georgia, where he worked as a private banker, commercial banker, and eventually as the head of the family office practice. 

B Capital, the investment firm with dual headquarters in the US and Singapore, appointed Don Wood as a venture partner focused on climate tech. Wood, who is based in the US, brings over 25 years of experience as a venture capitalist and climate tech specialist to his new role. 

Cincinnati-based DayMark Wealth Partners brought in a team of advisors who previously worked with Wells Fargo Advisors. The team – Rodney Twells, Andrew Sikorovsky, and Joseph Schmidt – operate as the Compass Group of DayMark Wealth Partners. Besides Daymark, it now also works with Dynasty Financial Partners. The team also includes Kimberly Fitzgerald (senior director – client relations), Jacquelyn Gibbons (director – client relations), and Karen Suskowicz (director – client relations).

Neuberger Berman appointed Shannon Saccocia in the newly-created role of chief investment officer, NB Private Wealth. Saccocia has more than 20 years of experience in the investment management industry, including the last 10 years where she served in senior investment leadership roles primarily with Boston Private Wealth. Most recently, Shannon was the chief investment officer for SVB Private (which acquired Boston Private Wealth in July 2021). Previously, she had senior roles at Banyan Partners and Silver Bridge Advisors focusing on manager selection and portfolio construction. 

Fairport Wealth, a Cleveland, Ohio-based Hightower advisory business, appointed Mike Drennen as its chief wealth officer. He has day-to-day and executive leadership responsibilities previously overseen by Matt Logar, who was named CEO. Before joining Fairport, Drennen worked at Hightower Advisors, Fairport’s parent company, as an executive director on the advisor engagement team. Prior to joining Hightower, Drennen served as vice president of business consulting at Carson Group and spent eight years at Fidelity Investments, most notably as a member of the National Accounts relationship management team.

Certuity, the business formerly known as Camden Capital, appointed Daniel J Lee as partner, chief revenue officer and wealth advisor. Prior to joining Certuity, Lee spent 10 years at First Republic Bank, most recently as a senior managing director and wealth advisor. Prior to First Republic Bank, Lee was a private client advisor at US Trust, where he provided counsel on investment strategy, asset allocation, estate planning, and multi-generational wealth transfer planning to HNW individuals, families, foundations, and endowments.

Cresset, the US wealth management group, appointed Liz Nesvold as president. In this newly-created role, Nesvold oversees the firm’s strategy and offerings. She works alongside co-founders Eric Becker and Avy Stein. Nesvold is a founder CEO herself, having launched and built investment bank Silver Lane Advisors with several partners, including her husband, Peter Nesvold.

Emigrant Partners appointed one of its senior figures, Jenny Souza, as president and chief executive officer. Souza joined the firm as managing director and head of strategic advisor in May 2019. Prior to joining Emigrant Partners, Souza was a member of the senior team at publicly traded BrightSphere Investment Group, a $200 billion multi-boutique asset management company.

Heritage Trust Company appointed Kathy Lee Hatchett as vice president, relationship manager. She is responsible for assisting clients in a variety of areas, including trusts, probate and estate planning, and administration. Hatchett, who reports to Michael Romero, president, has nearly three decades of experience in investment and estate planning. Previously, he served as vice president of estate planning for The Baptist Foundation of Oklahoma and as an investment advisor representative for Hughes Warren.

US-based Turing Technology Associates, an AI-driven financial technology and intellectual property company, appointed Robert D Nestor as senior managing director and chief commercialization officer. Nestor worked for more than 16 years at Vanguard, covering mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, institutional markets, and managing strategy and business development. He then spent over a decade at Blackrock focusing on the ETF/iShares business, culminating as business head for the iShares Factors segment. Nestor also spent three years as president and head of Direxion Investments.