A summary of moves, appointments and personnel changes in the North American wealth management sector during April.

JP Morgan Private Bank has a new leader for its business in the South: Andrew Brock. Brock replaced the former postholder Pete Chilian who left in February. Brock reports to Elaine Agather, Central Region head of the private bank. 

With more than 20 years of financial services experience, Brock previously served as the head of Central Texas, leading the private bank offices in Austin and San Antonio. He joined the US bank in 2012.

Sunflower Bank appointed John Sawyer as chief investment officer and director of wealth management and private banking. Sawyer has more than 30 years’ investment experience leading trust, investment management, brokerage and RIA units at regional and community banks. Based in Denver, Sawyer spent most of his career in various Texas markets.

Former Merrill Lynch advisor Sloane Fox, who had previously managed about $125 million for the firm, joined the independent advisor channel. Fox, the founder of Sloane Financial Planning in Tampa, Florida, was joined by registered client service associate Tracie Bailey. Fox has more than 25 years’ financial sector experience.

The firm also brought in financial advisors Jefferson Hankins and Kurt Boggs to its independent advisor channel. The advisors built Hankins & Boggs Group, a branch of Reynolds Wealth Management, in Warsaw, Indiana. Arriving from PNC Investments, they previously managed about $170 million in client assets.

Raymond James brought in financial advisor Taimur Baig to its employee advisor channel in San Diego, California. Baig was formerly at Morgan Stanley, where he managed about $130 million in client assets. He leads Be Wealth Efficient of Raymond James. Baig began his financial services career in 2009 as an advisor at Merrill Lynch.

The firm welcomed financial advisor Thera Elliott to the firm’s independent advisor channel. Elliott was previously at Wells Fargo, where she managed about $105 million in client assets. Operating as Elliott Wealth Strategies in Boca Raton, Florida, she was joined by office manager and sales assistant Joy Lynn McGarity. 

Raymond James welcomed financial advisor Craig H Barker to its employee advisor channel in Roseville, California led by branch manager Craig Weis. He came from Stifel, where he managed about $165 million in client assets and was joined by senior client service associate Sharon A Bracken-Barker. 

The firm brought a $1.1 billion team into its employee advisor channel. Comprising three financial advisors and seven branch professionals, the team operates as Pahnke Wealth Management Group of Raymond James and is located in Scottsdale, Arizona. The advisors are Glenn Pahnke, Ted Churchill and Austin Pahnke. Before this, the team was at RBC Wealth Management.

TIFIN, an AI and innovation platform for the wealth sector, appointed Jeannette Kuda as chief operating officer. Kuda joined from LPL Financial where she served as senior vice president and COO of wealth management solutions. Kuda also spent nearly a decade at TIAA, where she spearheaded initiatives across the trust company and private asset management divisions.

TIFIN also appointed former LPL Financial senior figure Rob Pettman as its chief revenue officer and president. He reports directly to TIFIN's founder and CEO, Dr Vinay Nair. At LPL, Pettman was executive vice president of wealth management solutions and ran LPL’s wealth management platform. He worked at the firm for 19 years.

SimCorp appointed former senior BlackRock figure Allen Zimmerman as managing director, head of Americas. At BlackRock, Zimmerman served as an MD. He worked in the financial services sector for 18 years, with stints at Barclays and Citigroup.

US-based Concurrent, a multi-custodial, hybrid RIA, expanded its leadership team: Bo Ellison, chief financial officer; Joe Mooney, managing director, advisor engagement and enterprise development; Kerry McDermott, VP, program development, strategy and growth; and Matthew Unger, VP, head of centralized wealth advisory services.

Chase R Crump, a financial industry professional and ex-professional baseball player, was named a Registered Player Financial Advisor, highlighting the crossover of sports and wealth management. Crump is a partner and financial guide at WFA – Plan | Invest | Inspire, aka WFA. 

Advisor360°, which provides wealth management software, appointed former Mass Mutual US head, Mike Fanning, as CEO. He succeeded Richard Napolitano, who retired in May. Fanning has held numerous leadership positions driving technology strategy and enterprise-wide innovation throughout his career, which spans more than three decades in wealth management. He was at MassMutual for 17 years, most recently leading its domestic insurance business.
 
Cresset, the US wealth manager, brought in two advisory teams into its San Francisco office, collectively in charge of about $5 billion of client money. The teams previously worked at JP Morgan Wealth Management, and prior to that First Republic Bank (the latter lender was bought by JP Morgan last spring as part of a rescue package at the behest of the US government). 

The two teams comprise three lead advisors and 12 supporting financial professionals. The team members are Dagny Maidman (who leads it); Timothy Cahyadi; Steve Ching; Christopher Fisher; Michelle Gorrell; Patrick Hejlik; Andrew Huang; Beatrice Maidman; Gia Llorin Rojas; Alana Yokoyama; Chris Chase; Erik Ralston; Lizzy Labeeuw-Anderson; Ryan Ortiz; and Timur Zeinapur.

Alpha Capital Family Offices, based in Denver, recruited former Northern Trust figure Tom Riley to join and lead portfolio management at the firm. Working for more than two decades in wealth and investment management, Riley was in charge of more than $500 million of assets for ultra-high net worth investors at Northern Trust.

Polar Capital appointed Morgan Lee to join its business development team, covering the west coast of America, specifically west of the Rockies. Lee is based in California and reports to Alastair Barrie, managing director for North America. With more than 25 years of institutional investment experience, most recently Lee was vice president and regional director for Dimensional Fund Advisors. 

F2 Strategy, the wealth management technology services company that acquired Oakbrook Solutions last year, hired Jay Halbert for the newly-created chief financial officer slot.

Halbert has more than 20 years’ experience in the sector including serving as executive vice president at media group Alkemy X. Before the Alkemy X role, he was senior vice president at Northeast Building Products, president and owner of MedX Operating Company, and chief financial officer at Comcast Spectacor.

Foundation Source appointed Lou D’Addario as chief revenue officer and Warren Bailey as chief information security officer. D’Addario is a fintech pioneer with 30 years’ experience in the space. Most recently, he served as managing director and head of sales for the Americas at Charles River Development, a State Street company. D’Addario previously served in leadership roles at Envestnet and FolioDynamix. Bailey has more than 25 years’ experience in technology and brings extensive software development and process design expertise to Foundation Source. 

Modern Wealth Management, a national RIA launched in April 2023, appointed Goldman Sachs and United Capital executive Jason Del Col as head of advisory services. Del Col has worked in wealth management for 25 years.

Abacus Group, a US managed services provider to alternative investment firms, appointed Anthony J D’Ambrosi as its new CEO. D’Ambrosi replaced Chris Grandi, who took up the chairperson role. 

Mike McNamara, former chief executive of law firm Dentons US, became CEO of Baretz+Brunelle, a growth advisory firm to businesses in the legal industry. He worked at Dentons in executive leadership for more than a decade; McNamara was a partner there for over 20 years.

Aureus Asset Management appointed Thad Davis as chief executive and president. Karen Firestone, the firm’s co-founder who was previously chair and CEO, became executive chair. Davis joined Aureus in 2005 when the firm was founded, holding the post of co-portfolio manager of its core equity strategy. Prior to joining Aureus, Davis worked at Bear Stearns Asset Management.

International law firm Proskauer appointed Christiana Lazo as a partner in its private client services department. Previously, Lazo was at Kirkland & Ellis. 

Apex Fintech Solutions appointed a prominent figure in the US wealth sector, Charles “Chip” Roame, to join its board of directors. In his business career, Roame primarily served in advisory roles guiding more than 600 wealth and investment management firms, CEOs, senior executives, and boards of directors.

RIA Savvy Advisors appointed David Gottlieb as a wealth manager. Gottleib, who is based in West Orange, New Jersey, has 20 years of industry experience, Previously at Prosperity (formerly EisnerAmper Wealth Management), Gottlieb also worked at Ameriprise Financial, Morgan Stanley and Fortress Investment Group. 

bfinance, an independent investment consulting firm, appointed Jamie Downing as global head of client consulting. The previous incumbent Mal Hunt who joined the firm in 2017, left in April. Downing has 25 years’ experience in asset management and pension consulting including 11 years at American Century Investments.

Golden State Wealth Management, an RIA, added Kathleen Stephens, who operates under the organization, Solaris Wealth Management, located in Poway, California.

Private markets investment management firm Hamilton Lane unveiled senior promotions. It also appointed Kate Reilly as chief operating officer for client solutions operations – a newly-formed role. She reports to Andrea Kramer, COO and chief risk officer. Reilly was previously at PJT Park Hill where she most recently served as COO. 

The firm recognized the promotions of the following 16 individuals to managing director:
-- Antony Anastasiadis, Secondary Investments; 
-- Bryan Jenkins, Portfolio Management Group; 
-- Denise Dunbar, controller; 
-- Drew Carl, chief accounting officer; 
-- Elizabeth Bell, Real Assets Investments; 
-- Hamza Azeem, Evergreen Portfolio Management; 
-- John Oh, Shareholder Relations; 
-- Julie Shenkman, Portfolio Management Group; 
-- Marietta Fieger, Strategic Partner Group; 
-- Megan Milne, Direct Equity Investments; 
-- Mike Augustine, Strategic Partner Group; 
-- Raj Chall, Secondary Investments; 
-- Ryan Smith, Secondary Investments; 
-- Salvador S Almeida, Client Solutions; 
-- Samantha Leandri, Enterprise Technology; and 
-- Travis Henning, Direct Credit Investments

It also promoted the following individuals to principal and senior counsel:

-- Amanda Brown, Tax; 
-- Andrew Durante, Direct Equity Investments; 
-- Andrew Rich, Fund Investments; 
-- Daniel McCarthy, Technology Solutions;
-- Dylan Ismari, Technology Solutions; 
-- Jan Verstraete, Secondary Investments; 
-- Jose Rodriguez, Client Solutions; 
-- Kaylie Milazzo, senior counsel, Tax; 
-- Kaylin Liu, Fund Accounting; 
-- Lee Evryn, Enterprise Technology; 
-- Peter Udbye, Real Assets Investments; 
-- Reed Marko, Direct Credit Investments; and 
-- Rob Reed, Fund Investments.

Mount Street Group, a global third-party loan servicing and credit asset management firm, appointed Dean Wheeler to the newly-created role of managing director, head of US operations. Wheeler has 30 years of executive management experience building and leading commercial real estate (“CRE”) loan servicing, asset management and special servicing platforms in the US and Canada.