People Moves

Summary Of US Industry Moves: February 2016

Eliane Chavagnon Editor - Family Wealth Report March 1, 2016

Summary Of US Industry Moves: February 2016

Here is a round-up of all the industry moves covered by Family Wealth Report during the month of February.

BNY Mellon's Pershing, a global provider of financial business solutions, named Lisa Dolly as the company's new chief executive, effective February 16. Dolly, currently the firm's chief operating officer, will succeed Ron DeCicco, who has decided to retire from his role as CEO of Pershing. As part of the leadership transition, he will serve as an executive advisor over the next year working closely with Dolly, Pershing's executive committee and key clients.

Over her 25-year career at Pershing, Dolly held numerous leadership roles before becoming Pershing's COO. She was responsible for the firm's managed investment business and Lockwood Advisors; managed global operations; and served as chief administrative officer. An announcement of Dolly's successor as chief operating officer of Pershing is expected in the coming weeks.

FolioDynamix, a provider of wealth management technology and advisory services, added Meghan McCartan to its executive team, tasked with heading up the firm's marketing efforts.

ClientWise, the training and consulting firm in the financial services sector, recruited former Envestnet executive Penny Phillips as director of practice management. This is a new role at ClientWise, the firm confirmed. Phillips was previously a vice president in the strategic consulting group at Envestnet and before that corporate vice president of practice management at Eagle Strategies, an RIA and wholly-owned subsidiary of New York Life.

Harbert Management Corporation promoted senior vice president John McCullough to executive vice president. McCullough, who joined HMC in 2006 and was appointed to the board of directors in 2014, joined the firm's executive committee. He will continue as general counsel and secretary. Before HMC, McCullough was a partner at the law firm Balch & Bingham.

The New York City-based RIA Sontag Advisory named Michael Delgass, a managing director of the firm since 2005, as chief executive. Before joining Sontag Advisory in 2005, Delgass was a partner at New York metro and New England law firms including Day Berry & Howard and Cummings & Lockwood. His practice expertise was in the areas of estate, tax, succession, asset protection and business planning. The firm told Family Wealth Report that Howard Sontag, founder of Sontag Advisory, will serve as chairman and senior managing director going forward while Delgass takes over as CEO.

Michigan-based Greenleaf Trust appointed George Bearup as a senior trust advisor. Bearup has practiced law in Michigan for over 30 years, during which time he has gained expertise in trusts, estate and retirement planning. He joined from Smith, Haughey, Rice & Rogue, Attorneys at Law, where he was a founding member of the firm's Traverse City office.

Members of BCRS Associates, including co-founders John Cook and Joe Bulger, are now part of EY's private client services tax practice and aligned within the Big Four accountancy firm’s financial services organization.

Robertson Stephens, a global wealth advisory and investment management firm for the high net worth, made four new hires. Gordon Fallone, Jim Kozak and Wesley Gordon were named as managing directors and Dan Barth was named as operations manager. They will report to Ren Riley, president of Robertson Stephens Partners, a subsidiary of Robertson Stephens.

Robertson Stephens Partners provides capital to entrepreneurial clients to help them grow their businesses and manage their liquidity needs at the corporate and individual level. The team will focus on direct investment opportunities in next-generation companies. Fallone, Kozak and Gordon were all previously managing directors at ROTH Capital Partners; Barth was an associate at the company.

The Colony Group promoted Terri Feeney, Jennifer Geoghegan, Michael Haber and Matthew Ilteris to principal, bringing the company's total number of principals to 32. Feeney is chief financial officer of The Colony Group; Geoghegan is chief marketing officer and advisor coach; Haber is a senior financial counselor in Colony Wealth Management, the firm's financial counseling division; and Ilteris is a senior financial counselor in Colony Wealth Management. The firm also promoted several members of its wealth management team: Lori Deane, Shaun Thompson and Bill Weydemeyer were all promoted to senior financial counselor; Jack Clark was promoted to financial counselor, and Connor Sullivan was promoted to senior associate financial counselor.

RBC Wealth Management hired a team of three financial advisors in Midtown New York. Managing director Scott Edwards, managing director George Kursar and senior vice president Michael Occhiuto are formerly of Jefferies’ New York City office. The team has $4.1 million in production and a combined 30 years of industry experience.

The Farmington-based RIA Connecticut Wealth Management promoted Elizabeth DeBassio to director. DeBassio has been with CTWM for nearly three years, most recently serving as a senior financial planner. Prior to joining CTWM, she worked at Filomeno Wealth Management and Brown & Brown. She has also been a personal financial advisor to the former US Ambassador to Austria and a public accountant for Deloitte and Touche.

Anna Snider was appointed as head of due diligence for Bank of America's Global Wealth & Investment Management CIO unit, taking over from Brian Partridge, who was recently named as head of sales of managed solutions. Snider most recently led the global equity due diligence team within investment management and guidance. She joined the company in 2003 and previously worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, JP Morgan and UBS. In her new role, she will report to Chris Hyzy, chief investment officer for Bank of America’s Global Wealth & Investment Management division, which includes Merrill Lynch Wealth Management and US Trust.

Edward Butler joined Fieldpoint Private from Bessemer Trust as a managing director and senior advisor in New York City. Butler was previously a senior vice president and client advisor at Bessemer Trust, working with client families across the Americas as well as the Caribbean.

TD Wealth Private Client Group named Raymond Radigan as a senior vice president and head of private trust in the US, based in New York. It is unclear if this is a new role or if Radigan - who will manage TD Bank's trust business spanning Maine to Florida - replaced anyone.  He was previously a managing director of trust for the east region at US Bank and before that was a managing director at Bank of America Private Wealth Management's US Trust in New York City.

Caplin & Drysdale, the law firm, named attorney Rachel Partain as a member of the firm and attorney Jeanna Koski as of counsel, based in New York and Washington, DC, respectively. Partain is a member of the firm's tax controversies and tax litigation practice groups, representing high net worth individuals, corporations and TEFRA and other partnerships. Koski meanwhile works within the complex litigation and bankruptcy practice groups, concentrating on individual and corporate clients, including institutional investors and creditors' committees. She also acts on behalf of clients in fraudulent transfer and creditors' rights litigation, and has experience in toxic tort litigation, a type of personal injury lawsuit.

UBS Wealth Management appointed Vinay Pande to the newly-created role of managing director and head of trading strategies in its chief investment office. The teams under Pande are based in New York and London. Prior to joining UBS, Pande was a partner at hedge fund manager Brevan Howard in New York City. He and his team of three former colleagues will form part of the CIO's recently created ultra high net worth and alternatives team. Pande joined Brevan Howard in 2012 and managed a global multi-asset fund for the firm. He was previously a managing director and chief investment advisor at Deutsche Bank from 2006 to 2012, and a portfolio manager at hedge fund manager Caxton Associates from 2004 to 2006. He held trading roles across a variety of asset classes at Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and JP Morgan Chase from 1993 to 2004. He worked for the World Bank from 1985 to 1993, including serving as its chief investment officer.

TotalBank, which is based in south Florida, took on a new private banker, Alexandra Ruiz, and sales director, Ana Contreras-Ludvigsen. Ruiz, also a vice president, joined from City National Bank – Bci Financial Group, where she was an assistant vice president and personal and small business banker. Contreras-Ludvigsen, also a vice president, will be responsible for the overall financial performance of the firm's downtown banking center.

JP Morgan Asset Management recruited Daniel Notto as a managing director and ERISA strategist within its retirement solutions group. Notto is tasked with strengthening the firm's focus on current legislative and regulatory changes, as well as helping inform product strategy and providing updates to plan sponsors and financial advisors on policies that could impact defined contribution (DC) plans.

Geneva-headquartered Union Bancaire Privée appointed Frédéric Carbonnier as the new chief executive of UBP Investment Advisors, an independent subsidiary that was created by its parent in 2014. He took over from Andreas Kurath. UBP IAS is a Swiss company registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission; it specializes in managing investment portfolios for US residents and citizens. Carbonnier has worked in the banking sector for almost 30 years, working in particular with US clients. He has spent around 12 years working in North America.

Pershing unveiled its new chief operating officer as Lori Hardwick, taking over from Lisa Dolly, who was appointed as chief executive. Hardwick takes up her new role on February 29 and joins from Envestnet, where she held a variety of roles managing its enterprise, sales, services, advisor orientation and on-boarding divisions. Most recently, she was the company's group president of advisory services. Earlier in her career, Hardwick worked at Nuveen Investments and Griffin, Kubik, Stephens & Thompson.

BNY Mellon hired Andrew Seested as a senior wealth director for business development in Washington, DC. Seested was previously a private wealth advisor and vice president for over two years at Sandy Spring Trust in Bethesda, MD. Before that, he worked at PNC Wealth Management, UBS and Citi. In his new role at BNY Mellon, Seested reports to Washington regional president, Susan Traver, and Garrett Alton, Mid-Atlantic regional sales director.


US Capital Advisors added managing directors Joseph Klein, Stephen Hines and Doug Masterson to its wealth management division in Houston, TX. The team has worked together for 25 years and managed over $1 billion in assets at their former firm, Amegy Bank. They previously worked at JP Morgan. USCA's wealth management division provides advisory services to high net worth individuals and family offices. The company is based in Texas and also has offices in Dallas and Austin.

Victor Bonilla joined Envestnet | Tamarac as vice president of strategic relationships – a new role at the company. Bonilla will work to bolster Tamarac's partnerships with custodians and other third parties by driving greater collaboration in the areas of training, integration, marketing and sales. He was most recently a senior team manager responsible for a group of technology and business operations consultants within Charles Schwab Advisor Services. He also served as a senior technology consultant at Schwab, working with RIAs. Firms with which Tamarac has significant relationships include Fidelity, Schwab, TD Ameritrade, Pershing and Raymond James.

Illinois Bank & Trust promoted Jeff Hultman to president and chief executive, succeeding Steven Ward, who will relocate and become president of Centennial Bank and Trust in Denver, CO. Ward completed a nearly eight-year stretch as president and CEO of Illinois Bank & Trust. Both Illinois Bank & Trust and Centennial Bank and Trust are subsidiaries of Heartland Financial USA, a Dubuque, IA-based community bank holding company. Hultman most recently served as market president of Illinois Bank & Trust, having joined in 2011 as executive vice president in charge of commercial, treasury management and private banking. Earlier, he served as Rockford area president of commercial banking at JP Morgan, where he worked for 14 years.

TD Wealth Private Client Group named Vincent Mattone as a vice president and relationship manager in the metro New York City market. Mattone was previously a client advisor at Bernstein Private Wealth Management in New York and before that a financial advisor at Morgan Stanley within the corporate executive services group.

The Private Client Reserve of US Bank hired Kevin Churchill as a portfolio manager in Scottsdale, AZ, also tasked with covering Nevada. Churchill was previously a portfolio manager at HighMark Capital Management with MUFG Union Bank in Beverly Hills, CA. He has 19 years of experience in private wealth management.

Continuing the firm’s expansion westward, Raymond James recruited two financial advisors and two support staff to open Raymond James & Associates' first branch in Honolulu, HI. The Goeas Group of Raymond James joined RJA, the firm's traditional broker-dealer, from Stifel Nicolaus & Co, where they managed over $1 billion in client assets. The team is made up of senior vice president of investments and branch manager Larry Goeas, financial advisor Leo Goeas and sales associates Lehua Pahia and Sally Kihoi.


New York-based Capital Management Group, which works with high net worth investors, hired Christine Hyla as a financial professional. Hyla spent the last six years as a financial consultant at AXA Advisors, where she focused on financial and retirement planning strategies, insurance and wealth management. As financial professionals with Capital Management Group are registered with AXA Advisors, Hyla will retain her current book of business. Prior to AXA, she was an analyst at Rondeel Research Group.

Mitchell Harris was named as chief executive of BNY Mellon's investment management business, succeeding Curtis Arledge, who also led the markets group and has decided to pursue other opportunities. Harris, who already had responsibility for the daily oversight of the company's investment boutiques globally and wealth management business, will report to Gerald Hassell, BNY Mellon's chairman and CEO.

He was most recently president of BNY Mellon Investment Management - which has $1.6 trillion in AuM - having joined BNY Mellon in 2004 as CEO of its investment boutique, Standish. Earlier, he worked at Pareto Partners. Michelle Neal, president of the markets group who reported to Arledge, will now report to Hassell. Neal leads the company's foreign exchange, securities finance, collateral management, and capital markets businesses. 

Snowden Lane Partners, the wealth advisory firm, recruited financial advisor, Alex Arista, and private banking and lending specialist, Juan Moreno, from Merrill Lynch. Arista joined the LDR International Group, which focuses on non-resident clients and is headed by partner and managing director Rick Leyva. Snowden Lane welcomed the LDR group from Merrill Lynch in December. Moreno, meanwhile, joined the firm’s corporate team, reporting to managing partner and president Greg Franks. Both Arista and Moreno will work in the firm’s San Diego, CA, office, which is now home to six members of staff.

PIMCO re-hired Jamil Baz from Man GLG Partners as managing director and head of client analytics. Baz will join the firm in May from Man GLG Partners, where he most recently served as senior managing director and chief investment strategist. Before that, he managed global portfolios for PIMCO in Europe and held various roles at Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and Lehman Brothers. In his new role, Baz will be based in Newport Beach, CA, providing studies and solutions in areas including asset allocation, risk management and portfolio construction. He will report to Ravi Mattu, managing director and global head of analytics, and Mihir Worah, managing director and chief investment officer for asset allocation.

ClearBridge Investments appointed Ryan Virag as a client portfolio manager in London as part of its growth strategy in Europe. In the newly-created role, Virag, who joined ClearBridge in 2012, will serve as a local investment management resource, while helping to build awareness of the firm and its offering among investors, consultants and financial advisors. Prior to ClearBridge, he was an investment strategist for global and international equity portfolios at Oppenheimer Funds. He has 15 years of investment experience, having also worked within the merchant banking division of Goldman Sachs and at Morgan Stanley.


Northern Trust recruited a five-person wealth management team in Houston, TX, as the bank celebrates 25 years in the market. The new team members are: Martha Voss, Brian Thomas, Chad Lyons, John Jacobi and Adam Brennen.

Voss, a senior vice president, senior lender and banking practice leader, is tasked with growing Northern Trust's lending and depository practice in Houston and Austin. She is also responsible for maintaining the quality of its credit risk portfolio, which is “so important to Northern Trust’s strong credit culture,” the firm said. She joined from JP Morgan, having spent most of her 33-year stint there in private and commercial banking.

Thomas, a senior wealth strategist, will work with wealthy individuals and families. He was formerly a managing director at JP Morgan Private Bank in Houston. He spent 14 years at JP Morgan in total, working in San Francisco, CA, St Louis, MO, and Chicago, IL. Lyons, a vice president and banking relationship advisor, will coordinate a team focused on the financial and lending needs of individuals, families and corporations. Before joining Northern Trust, Lyons was in oil and gas banking at Scotiabank.

Meanwhile, Jacobi, a vice president and portfolio manager, will provide clients with investment strategies and asset allocation policies. He joined from Capital One Asset Management, where he was co-manager on several equity strategies, and managed portfolios for high net worth and institutional clients. Lastly, Brennen, a vice president and senior client advisor, will work with wealthy individuals, providing wealth planning services including investment management, trust and asset servicing and multi-generational advice. He previously spent ten years at Amegy Bank. 

Clarfeld Financial Advisors recruited industry veteran Marc Halsema as managing director and director of family office services. This is a newly-created position at the firm, Family Wealth Report can confirm. Halsema, previously executive director of family office services at EY in Moscow and New York City, will work with family businesses and family offices globally, providing cross-border planning among other services.

Tennessee-headquartered Diversified Trust, the US wealth management firm based primarily in the Southeast, promoted nine senior staff across the three states in which it operates. Jo Clark, who oversees client account administration and reporting, was promoted to principal in Memphis, TN. Also in Memphis, Jay Davis was promoted to vice president. Davis is primarily responsible for accounting and treasury functions, and also oversees the preparation of monthly financial statements and other reports.

Other promotions in Tennessee included Stephanie Orton, Mary Raymond and Doug Turner to senior vice president in Nashville. Orton focuses on client account administration, while also being involved in operational initiatives. Raymond focuses on portfolio management and client service for institutions, individuals and retirement plans. She provides performance reporting, shares economic updates and makes allocation recommendations. Turner is Diversified Trust's head of operations, responsible primarily for managing the operations team and overseeing all aspects of client reporting.

Meanwhile, further south in Atlanta, GA, Lisa O’Connell was promoted to principal. O’Connell works directly with clients and contributes to the firm's client service initiatives in Atlanta. Additionally, business manager Jessica Stembridge was promoted to senior vice president. Stembridge leads the business management team which coordinates projects related to human resources, information technology, marketing, finance and accounting. Rounding off the Atlanta promotions, investment analyst Kevin Jamison was named as a vice president. His primary responsibilities include performance reporting and investment analysis. Lastly, in North Carolina Kim van Zee was promoted to senior vice president in Greensboro, where she oversees client account transactions and is responsible for administrative quality assurance.

The accounting, tax and advisory firm Marks Paneth added five new partners. Manhattan-based Isidor Hefter specializes in tax planning and research for corporate and high net worth individuals, as well as estate tax planning and representation before the Internal Revenue Service, and the State and City of New York.

Another Manhattan appointment was that of Avery Neumark, who has joined the tax group. He is an attorney with experience in employee benefits and executive compensation, as well as ERISA, pension audits, health and welfare plans, and compensation consulting. Also based in Manhattan is Dov Klein, who joined the firm’s real estate group but also serves clients in other industries.

Other real estate group hires included Frank Petitto and Neil Sonenberg, based in Woodbury, Long Island, and Manhattan respectively. Petitto specializes in audit services for the construction, real estate, insurance and apparel industries but also works with closely-held businesses. While Sonenberg has a primary focus on real estate, he has a diverse practice, the firm said.

Canada's Dundee Corporation appointed Brad Henderson as president and chief executive of Sotheby's International Realty Canada, a component of Dundee's wealth management strategy. Sotheby's International Realty Canada is a real estate sales and marketing company for “exceptional” properties, Dundee said. Henderson was most recently senior managing regional director at real estate firm CBRE in Canada and the North-Central US region. Previously, he held senior roles at Colliers International and Royal LePage - both real estate firms also.

RBC Wealth Management hired Michael Schipper as a senior managing director and complex director of its San Francisco, CA, complex. He replaced Rob Spawn, who left the firm, RBC confirmed. At RBC, Schipper will oversee around 70 financial advisors and 125 total employees serving clients in seven branches: San Francisco, San Jose, Fresno, Monterey, El Dorado Hills, Walnut Creek and Oakland. He joined from Raymond James, where he was part of a team responsible for building out the West Coast presence. Before that, he helped merge the Morgan Stanley and Smith Barney cultures in the San Francisco area following that joint venture. 

Legg Mason hired Rick Andrews as its new head of international marketing, replacing Mike Evans who left the firm last year. Andrews was most recently a consultant at Aviva Investors, where he led the reorganization of the firm’s global business development function. He was previously interim global head of marketing at the firm. He has also served as: global head of marketing at Credit Suisse Asset Management; head of iShares marketing, Europe; and regional chief marketing officer at BlackRock - as well as similar positions at Cofunds and Merrill Lynch Investment Managers. Based in London, Andrews will be responsible for running Legg Mason’s marketing strategy across Europe, Asia, Australia and South America. He will report to Matthew Schiffman, the firm's global head of marketing.

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