The new co-CIO worked at Tiedemann Advisors, one of the largest US wealth firms, for 16 years.

Tanglewood Total Wealth Management, a Texan firm overseeing $1.5 billion of assets, has appointed former Tiedemann Advisors chief investment strategist, Paul Buongiorno, as co-chief investment officer. He shares the role with the firm’s founder John Merrill. 

Buongiorno will take on the role of chief investment officer of Tanglewood and Merrill will transition to a pure advisory role while remaining a key part of the firm’s investment committee, it said in a statement yesterday. (Buongiorno will initially serve as co-CIO alongside John Merrill and starting in 2023 he will assume the mantle fully as John Merrill will step back from the role. 

Buongiorno works with John Merrill, Brian Merrill (partner) and Keith Fenstad (partner, chief compliance officer) to create customized investment solutions.

“We’re excited Paul has chosen to bring his unique talents back home to Texas,” Brian Merrill said. “His deep experience and dedication to putting clients first make him a perfect fit for our clients, our team and its culture. We are a multi-generational firm serving multi-generational wealth and Paul will be instrumental in helping our clients and firm achieve great things in the years to come.”

Buongiorno worked at Tiedemann for 16 years, serving most recently as the chief investment strategist. He built an economic and asset class valuation framework that drove the asset allocations for the firm’s clients. This asset allocation investment platform contributed more than half of Tiedemann's outperformance over a 16-year period, Tanglewood said.

Prior to Tiedemann, Buongiorno managed a large capitalization equity long short fund for six years. His experience also includes working as a senior oil and gas exploration analyst, first for SG Warburg, then for Deutsche Morgan Grenfell. Early in his career, he served as a corporate banking and finance officer for Chemical Bank and Union Bank of Switzerland (aka UBS).

Tanglewood Total Wealth Management, which serves high net worth individuals and families, was founded in 1979.

(To see a separate story about Tiedemann Advisors, click here.)