People Moves

Wealth Management Executive Moves - North America June 2012

Eliane Chavagnon Reporter July 5, 2012

Wealth Management Executive Moves - North America June 2012

Bob Diamond resigned as chief executive of Barclays in the wake of a LIBOR-rigging scandal that has rocked the financial industry.

Eaton Vance Investment Counsel, a subsidiary of New York-listed Eaton Vance, appointed William Gillen as vice president of business development.

Gillen will be responsible for enhancing its presence “in the marketplace and overall marketing efforts,” as well as managing select client relationships, reporting to David McCabe, president of EVIC.

Gillen has spent the past 23 years with Eaton Vance Distributors, another subsidiary of Eaton Vance, responsible for the distribution of the firm's mutual funds, separately-managed accounts and alternative investments.

Brown Advisory strengthened its Boston office, appointing Dune Thorne as partner - a role in which she will also serve as a senior investment and strategic advisor to families, family offices and foundations. 

Thorne joins Brown Advisory from Silver Bridge Advisors, where she was a managing director and principal, as well as serving on the management committee. Prior to Silver Bridge, Thorne was the director of investments for Circle Financial Group, an investment and wealth management think tank for ultra high net worth women.

Capital Guardian hired Brian Chapman as president for the independent channel. Chapman was most recently a regional vice president at Woodbury Financial Services, an independent broker-dealer owned by The Hartford.

In his new role he will be based at Capital Guardian’s Charlotte, NC, headquarters and help grow the firm’s national independent channel. He will also act as office of supervisory jurisdiction for the Southeast region.

American Independence Financial Services, the New York investment manager, bolstered its large cap value strategy with a new hire. Richard Baird assumes the role of principal portfolio manager for the large cap division, including the American Independence stock fund.

His background includes roles as senior vice president for Zions Bank and chief investment officer for Western National Trust Company. He also founded Wind River Advisors, which was acquired by Yellowstone, a registered investment advisory firm, in 2009. 

In his new role, he is joined by Chris Jacobs as assistant portfolio manager. Jacobs joined Yellowstone in 2010 and supports Baird with equity research and analysis. 

Greenwich, CT-based Fieldpoint Private, the wealth advisory and private banking firm, hired Bill Kennedy as chief investment officer.

Kennedy will oversee all of the firm's investment functions, including research, strategy and asset allocation. 

He is formerly of Guy Carpenter & Co, where he ran the firm's global analytic and advisory division.

Pioneer Investments, the fund manager owned by Italy’s Unicredit, expanded its US operations with a raft of hires and promotions, increasing its US retail sales team by almost a quarter.

In total, 16 new positions were created, bringing the internal and external wholesaling sales staff to 81 - an increase of 23 per cent.

The firm also brought in 15 wholesalers supporting wealth management firms and independent financial advisor firms across various regions throughout the US. Of those, nine were newly-created positions and six were internal promotions or replacement hires. Moreover, 13 new regional sales specialists joined, lifting the size of its internal wholesaling team to 33.

Foundation Source, a firm working with US private foundations, appointed two senior managing directors to cover the east and west regions.

Shannon Baker will serve the west region from a base in Colorado. She joins from Merrill Lynch, where she was a financial advisor working with high and ultra high net worth clients. She has also previously worked at Wachovia Securities. She will look after Colorado, Washington, Arizona, Utah, Oregon, Nevada, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, New Mexico, Alaska and Hawaii.

Meanwhile, Anna Curry will be based in New York City and work with wealthy clients in the east region, spanning Northern New Jersey, New York and New England. Both report to King McGlaughon, chief executive of Foundation Source.

Greenwich, CT-based Fieldpoint Private, the wealth advisory and private banking firm, took on another New York-based managing director in the shape of David Zoll.

Zoll joins from the wealth and investment management division of Barclays, where he worked with 40 ultra high net worth families. In his new role, he is joined by former Barclays analyst Sarah Kechejian.

Citi appointed Helio Lima Magalhaes as country officer for Brazil, responsible for “establishing strong client relationships and driving growth in the country.”

Lima Magalhaes rejoins the firm from American Express, where he worked for 13 years, serving as head of global networks services for the Americas, country manager for Mexico, and president of American Express Brazil. He previously worked at Citi between 1988 and 2001.

He now reports to Francisco Aristeguieta, Citi’s chief executive for Latin America. He replaces Gustavo Marin, who has served as Citi country officer in Brazil since 2005. It is not clear at present what Marin's plans are.

California-based Citizens Business Bank appointed R Daniel Banis as executive vice president and head of its wealth management unit, CitizensTrust.

Prior to CitizensTrust, Banis was executive vice president of sales and strategy at MullinTBG, a Prudential Financial firm. There, he led the sales, marketing, relationship management, investment advisory and analytical service groups.

George Sauter is to retire from his post as managing director and chief investment officer at Vanguard on 31 December, when managing director Mortimer Buckley will replace him as CIO.

Sauter joined Vanguard in 1987 and currently directs the firm’s global investment management groups, which oversee a combined $1.6 trillion of Vanguard's $2.1 trillion in global assets.

In his new role, Buckley inherits a group of over 300 equity, fixed income, risk management and investment strategy professionals.

New York-listed Morningstar named Paul Kaplan as director of research for Morningstar Canada, reporting to president and chief executive Scott Mackenzie.

Most recently Kaplan served as director of quantitative research for Morningstar Europe, where he held a number of research and business development roles over the past 13 years.

In his new role Kaplan will develop methodologies for Morningstar's fund analysis and indexes, while helping to create tools for advisors and retail investors globally, but with a focus on Canadian research.

Convergent Wealth Advisors promoted its executive vice president David Zier to chief executive, replacing the founder and CEO of eighteen years Steve Lockshin.

Lockshin will retain his role as chairman, concentrating on working directly with new and existing clients, estate planning and “trying to effect change in the industry.”

As CEO, Zier will focus primarily on sales and client service, as well as employee communication and development. Meanwhile, Douglas Wolford, president, will continue to manage the day-to-day operations of the firm. Together, Zier and Wolford will “coordinate strategic and tactical planning.”

FallLine Strategic Advisors, a consultancy firm for the wealth management industry, hired Scott Graflund as a partner.

Graflund is a former managing director and head of technology and operations for Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management, and former president of Morgan Stanley IT Holdings. In total he was with Morgan Stanley for 22 years, holding senior positions in the US, Switzerland and the UK. He specializes in the IT and operational requirements of wealth management and private banking businesses serving ultra high net worth clients.

RBC Wealth Management added Pedro Cañas to its international wealth management arm as first vice president and international financial advisor.

Cañas joins the firm from Oppenheimer in New York, where he provided wealth management services for high net worth clients in Venezuela and Argentina. Earlier in his career, he worked at ANZ Securities and Bear Stearns & Co, with a focus on Latin America.

The PrivateBank bolstered it private wealth team with the addition of managing directors David Pisarkiewicz and Chris Williams.

Pisarkiewicz and Williams were also appointed as investment advisor and private banker respectively. The pair report to Chris Carman, regional manager of private wealth.

Pisarkiewicz was formerly a senior portfolio manager at M&I Trust Company in St Louis, MO. Before that, he was a portfolio manager with Northern Trust in Chicago, IL.

Williams is also latterly of M&I Bank in St Louis, where he led the private banking team. Earlier in his career he was a private client manager at Bank of America/US Trust in St Louis, as well as a private client manager with Strong Capital Management in Wisconsin.

Canada’s TD Bank Group named Brandon Williams as senior vice president and head of TD Wealth, to lead an “aggressive expansion strategy” in the US, the firm said. Based in New York City, Williams will oversee “all US wealth functions,” serving high net worth, private banking, private investment counsel, private and institutional trust, and mass affluent clients.

He reports to Bharat Masrani, president and chief executive of TD Bank, and Leo Salom, executive vice president of the bank’s wealth advice businesses.

New York-headquartered Bessemer Trust, the US multifamily office, named Rebecca Patterson as chief investment officer, succeeding Marc Stern, who became chief executive in January.

Patterson starts her new role on 16 July and will report to Stern. Her responsibilities as CIO will involve working with Bessemer’s investment team on all aspects of investment management, including asset allocation, strategic portfolio direction and research.

Bank of America eliminated “some managers” from its US Trust unit amid a “company review of expenses,” Bloomberg reported, citing two unnamed sources. 

The sources declined to comment with regards to how many of about 40 managers were affected by the review, but they did say that some other managers overseeing private client advisors were also cut.

New York’s BNY Mellon took on Jeffrey Mortimer as director of investment strategy for its wealth management unit, Bloomberg reported.

Based in Boston, Mortimer will lead the firm's wealth investment strategy committee while setting asset allocations and making investment recommendations for client portfolios.

He reports to Leo Grohowski, chief investment officer of the wealth unit. Mortimer is latterly of Boston-based Bainco International Investors and was CIO for the asset management arm of Charles Schwab before that.

Peak Advisor Alliance, the coaching program for advisors led by Ron Carson, hired Paul West as managing director, replacing Steve Sanduski in the leadership role.

West was formerly president and chief operating officer of a registered investment advisory firm, and was with Securities America before that.

Meanwhile, Sanduski, who joined Peak Advisor Alliance in 2001 as a managing partner, will “remain in partnership with both Peak Advisor Alliance and Carson Wealth.” He will be a “strategic resource” and consultant to the firm, and be actively involved in the rollout of a new book, Tested in the Trenches: A 9-Step Plan for Success as a New-Era Advisor.

deVere Group, a financial consultancy firm, established an office in New York City and appointed Adrian Flambard to manage it.

deVere, which is on a mission to launch 100 offices worldwide over the next five years, is planning to make NYC one of its most important locations, said chief executive Nigel Green.

Flambard recently joined the firm from Kleinwort Benson in Guernsey. He specializes in the expatriate market – the firm’s main focus.

Illinois-based Old Second Bank added Jacqueline Runnberg to its wealth management division.

Runnberg joins from BMO Harris Private Bank, where she served as a vice president.

She will work with high net worth individuals and families on investment advice and management, trust and estate services and financial planning.

Invesco Real Estate hired Timothy Bellman as head of global research, based in the property investment manager’s office in Dallas, TX.

As part of the global research team, Bellman will focus on global asset allocation and coordinate the research efforts led by the firm’s three regional heads of research in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

Bellman joins after seven years in real estate management at ING, most recently as the global head of research and strategy and previously as the Asia-Pacific head of research and strategy. Before that, he was with LaSalle Investment Management as regional director of research and strategy for Asia-Pacific.

The Securities and Exchange Commission appointed Thomas Butler as director of its new Office of Credit Ratings, mandated by Dodd-Frank and charged with oversight of the country’s main ratings agencies.

Butler will oversee a staff or around 25 lawyers, accountants and examiners responsible for monitoring the nine registered Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations (NRSROs). They will examine each agency on a yearly basis and release a public report.

Genworth Financial Wealth Management, a subsidiary of Genworth Financial, appointed Rico Casares to lead the southeast region within its practice management consulting team.

The current team is made up of James Mackiewicz, who joined earlier this year and covers the central states; Dana Marino, covering the west; and Gretchen Golembewski, who has been with the firm since July 2011 and covers the northeast. The trio reports to Matt Matrisian, director of practice management. 

Manulife Financial has named Craig Bromley as senior executive vice president and general manager of its US division, as well as president of John Hancock Financial Services. 

As of 1 September, Bromley will take over from Jim Boyle, who is retiring after 20 years at the firm. Boyle will remain at John Hancock until the end of the fiscal year so as to “facilitate a smooth transition.”

In his new roles, Bromley will report to Manulife president and chief executive Donald Guloien. He will also join the executive committee. 

PGB Trust & Investments, the wealth management division of Peapack-Gladstone Bank, hired Lisa Berry, Bruce Ficken and Erik Vadeika as vice presidents.

In addition to their roles as vice presidents, Berry and Ficken were appointed as wealth advisor and senior financial consultant respectively, while Vadeika also serves as senior portfolio manager.

Berry, with over 25 years of wealth management experience, was formerly a vice president and trust officer at US Trust.

Opes Advisors, a wealth management firm and mortgage bank, took on Aurora Dreyer as a real estate investment advisor.

Dreyer will lead the firm's real estate investment advisory services, advising clients on how to ensure their investment returns are “maximized and managed effectively.” She will also provide research and analysis on the overall real estate market, including real estate capital markets and residential housing markets.

Prior to joining Opes, Dreyer served as vice president and regional asset manager for Bank of the West/BNP Paribas, as well as property and operations manager for Pacific Realty Associates.

G2 Investment Group, the private investment firm, brought in Peter Rockefeller as managing director to develop the firm’s investment origination and capital-raising capabilities.

Rockefeller will develop relationships with new clients for G2-sourced investment opportunities. He will also work with families on a global basis to discuss investments, asset allocation, philanthropy and legacy issues.

Rockefeller’s past experience includes mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and capital markets, private equity and investment strategy. He is formerly of Berkshire Capital Securities, a New York-based mergers and acquisitions advisor focused on serving clients in the investment management and securities industries.

Opes Advisors, a wealth management firm and mortgage bank, added Alex Katz to its wealth management division as vice president of business development.

Katz will lead strategic and tactical planning, sales development and market share growth while managing the wealth advisory team. Prior to joining Opes, he held group vice president positions for over 10 years at Fisher Investments, leading their sales, trading and investment operations, and research divisions. 

Enterprise Bank & Trust, the banking subsidiary of Enterprise Financial Services, promoted Scott Goodman to executive vice president and director of commercial banking services and wealth management. 

Goodman is responsible for Enterprise’s fee income-producing divisions, including Enterprise Trust, the firm’s community development entity and the bank’s mortgage, treasury management, international banking and tax credit lending and brokerage activities.

Goodman was formerly president and chief credit officer for the bank’s St Louis, MO, region. He is replaced in this role by James Lally, president of the bank’s Clayton, IN, banking unit, who serves as president.

New York’s BNY Mellon added Tom Hamilton to its team of wealth strategists for its western Pennsylvania, Ohio and greater Chicago, IL, businesses.

Hamilton will be based in Pittsburgh, PA, reporting to Don Heberle, head of international and client segments. 

Prior to joining BNY Mellon, Hamilton served as a wealth advisor at Wells Fargo and was a director within the wealth group at Grant Thornton before that.

Stratos Wealth Partners, a registered investment advisory firm, added former Morgan Stanley Smith Barney advisors Craig Adams and Steve Beierlein to its newly-created office in Ogden, UT.

Adams and Beierlein were both appointed partners, as well as wealth advisor and branch manager respectively. The pair has 70 years of combined experience in the financial services industry and “maintain a direct partnership with Stratos,” the firm said. 

Ballentine Partners, the Waltham, MA-based wealth management firm, named William Braman as chief investment officer.

Braman has 30 years of experience in the asset management industry. At Ballentine, he will lead an investment team which oversees around $6.5 billion in assets under advisement, spread across traditional investments, hedge funds and private equity.

Before joining Ballentine, he was chief executive of Fortis Investment Management USA, until its recent acquisition by BNP Paribas. Prior to that, he was CIO at John Hancock Advisers, and at Baring Asset Management before that.

California’s Beverly Hills Wealth Management appointed industry veteran Steven Stahlberg as western division director.

Stahlberg joins BHWM with over 30 years of industry experience and will focus on growing and developing the firm’s presence on both a regional and national scale.

Mark Schwartz returned to Goldman Sachs as a vice chairman and chairman of Goldman Sachs Asia-Pacific, based in Beijing.

Schwartz will represent “the importance of China” and the Asia-Pacific region to the firm’s overall business.

New York-based J Michael Evans, chairman of Asia-Pacific since 2004, will continue in his role as a vice chairman of the firm and global head of growth markets.

Schwartz will work alongside Masa Mochida, president of Goldman Sachs Japan, and David Ryan, president of Goldman Sachs Asia-Pacific Ex-Japan. He will rejoin the firm’s management committee, on which he served from 1999 - when the firm went public - until his departure in 2001.

Houston, TX-based US Capital Advisors took on Clifford McTee as a managing director and Austin, TX, market manager.

At US Capital, McTee is responsible for the expansion and management of the firm’s wealth management business in the Austin market. He was previously a senior vice president overseeing 13 wealth management offices in central and West Texas at Wells Fargo Advisors

Sloan Wealth Management, the Dallas, TX-based investment advisory firm, appointed Christopher Davis to manage the investment portfolios of a select group of private clients.

Davis has over 16 years of experience in building businesses and client advisory relationships within the public and private markets. Prior to joining Sloan, he was a vice president at Bernstein Global Wealth Management.

In his new role he works with clients and their advisors on investment matters including tax and estate planning, concentrated stock positions and the sale of privately-held businesses.

Opes Advisors, a wealth management firm and mortgage bank, added Richard Cunningham to its wealth management division as director of investment strategy and research.

Cunningham is a chartered financial analyst, with over 17 years of experience in portfolio management and investment research. At Opes he will lead tactical asset allocation strategies, money manager selection and portfolio risk management.

Before Opes, Cunningham was a senior portfolio manager at Morgan Stanley. He was also previously chief investment officer for the western market for Comerica Bank, and regional investment manager for Northern California at Bank of the West.

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney promoted firm veteran Michael Outlaw to managing director within its wealth management office in Atlanta, GA.

Outlaw has been with MSSB and its predecessor firms since 1996.

BNY Mellon appointed Edward Watson as executive vice president and chief operations officer – a newly-created position.

Watson will serve as a member of the global operating committee, reporting to Kurt Woetzel, head of global operations and technology and chief administrative officer.

At BNY Mellon, he will lead “the centralization of certain operations" and "oversee operational activities in our global delivery centers and have responsibility for operations functions that today reside in our businesses,” Woetzel said.

Wells Fargo snapped up new advisor hires with more than $1.99 billion in assets under management in its private client group, bank branch-based wealth brokerage services and independent financial network in the past several weeks.

The largest team joining the private client group was John Taitague, Tom Krahe, Matt Tatum and Tom Doyle, who join in Richmond, VA, from Suntrust. The team previously had $520 million in assets under management and $3.1 million in annual fees and commissions, the report said. Also joining Wells Fargo with the team were client associates Jennifer Smith and Davis Walker. The team reports to Richmond market manager Rob Withers.

The McFadden Group, including financial advisors John McFadden and Pari Hashemi, also joined the private client group in Philadelphia. They joined from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, where they had $268 million in assets under management and $954,000 in production. The team reports to branch manager David Lojpersberger.

Also joining the private client group from Morgan Stanley were financial advisors Alan Metheny, David Clarke and Gary Ledbetter. The team joins in Walnut Creek, CA, and previously had $244 million in assets under management and $2.6 million in production. They report to branch manager Kevin Smith.

Two more advisors, Robert Shelton and Donald Reed Mayne, also joined the firm’s private client group from Morgan Stanley. Shelton joined in Lafayette, LA, after overseeing $155 million in client assets. Shelton reports to branch manager Ken Meyers. Mayne joined in La Jolla, CA, after having $107 million in assets under management. He reports to branch manager David Jones.

In addition, Wells Fargo hired William Kennedy from Morgan Keegan to its private client group in Hot Springs Village, AR. Kennedy previously had $125 million in assets under management, and reports to complex manager Greg Strnadel.

In wealth brokerage services, the firm’s business based in bank branches, Wells Fargo hired Robert Moreland in Baltimore, MD, from Merrill Lynch. Moreland previously had $100 million in client assets under management and $868,000 in annual production. He reports to regional brokerage manager Joshua Ritz.

Wells Fargo also hired two new financial advisor teams to its independent financial network with more than $489 million in assets under management, according to OnWallStreet. Floe Financial Partners moved to Wells Fargo from LPL in Pasadena, CA. The 12-person team includes advisors Robert Floe, Kenneth Sanchez and Lee Wolfe. Together, they had more than $380 million in assets under management.

Spruce Private Investors, a wealth management firm based in Stamford, CT, added Donald Herrema as a senior advisor.

Herrema is executive vice chairman and chief executive of Kennedy Wilson's capital markets group. Under the partnership with Spruce, he will advise the firm on strategic and investment issues. He joins Nouriel Roubini, who has been a senior advisor to Spruce on global economic issues for three years.

Cincinnati, Ohio-based Fifth Third Bank strengthened its private banking team with the addition of Cody Tellis as president and wealth management advisor to cover the Bowling Green, KY, and Nashville, TN, markets.

Tellis is a relationship manager, working with affluent clients on asset protection, financial planning, estate review, risk management, generational wealth transfers, captive insurance planning and asset management.

Prior to joining Fifth Third, he served as a wealth management advisor in the Bowling Green community for four years. He is a certified financial planner and is currently pursuing his CPA license. 

Eaton Vance, the US investment management firm, appointed Aaron Dunn, J Griffith Noble and Jason Kritzer as senior research analysts and vice presidents.

Dunn joined the large-cap energy research team on 7 May while Noble, who joined on 21 May, is responsible for covering the small- and mid-cap energy and industrial sectors. Kritzer started on 31 May and analyzes the large-cap healthcare space.

The trio reports to Charles Gaffney, director of equity research.

Citi Private Bank employed Jane Monahan as director and head of its Delaware Trust business.

Monohan is based in New Castle, DE, and reports to Pete Randazzo, US trust administration head.

Monahan joins from RBS Coutts Trust & Fiduciary Services, where she was executive vice president and managing director. There, she lead the firm’s fiduciary business in Geneva, Switzerland.

BlackRock’s chief equity strategist Bob Doll decided to retire after 34 years at the firm.

Doll had managed BlackRock's large cap fund series since 1999. In light of his retirement, the firm appointed Chris Leavy, chief investment officer of fundamental equity (Americas), to manage the LCS portfolios, along with Peter Stournaras, who has co-managed the series since 2010. 

Raymond James & Associates, the broker/dealer subsidiary of Raymond James Financial, appointed Lisa Detanna as senior vice president of investments within its Los Angeles branch.

Lisa Detanna is a southern California financial professional, wealth advisor and a former president of the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce.

Alexander Friedman, UBS Wealth Management’s chief investment officer, will hold this position globally for the Swiss firm, including the Americas wealth management segment.

The Presidio Group took on 27-year investment industry veteran Thomas Smith as managing director within its capital advisors unit. Smith is tasked with launching an office in Chicago.

The new office was due to open at the end of the month - at 155 North Wacker Drive. Mark Palmer, head of the capital advisors unit, said the firm expects to hire additional advisors and staff for the office over the next 12-18 months.

Citi Private Bank added ultra high net worth private bankers and directors to its teams in Colorado and Texas.

The bank brought in Brian Becker in Denver, reporting to to Mark Connally, Southwest region executive.

Becker is latterly of JP Morgan Private Wealth Management, where he was a vice president in Denver. Before that he spent three years at Bernstein Wealth Management, also in Denver. 

BNY Mellon’s wealth management business hired Patrick Cappatt as a senior sales director throughout the Pittsburgh region. He joined the firm in April and reports to Philip Spina, senior vice president of sales.

Cappatt’s 30 year-career includes two decades with “Big Four” consulting and advisory firms. Before joining BNY Mellon Wealth Management he was a strategic global account relationship director at KPMG.

AllianceBernstein boosted its alternatives business with the appointments of senior vice presidents Christopher Bricker and Michael Gaviser, as head of business strategy and head of sales and client service respectively.

Gaviser joined AllianceBernstein 14 years ago, and was most recently co-head of alternatives sales and client service with John Akkerman. Akkerman left the firm to “pursue another opportunity.”

Bricker, a 20-year AllianceBernstein veteran, will assume “overall responsibility” for the $13 billion alternatives platform, which includes multi-manager strategies, proprietary hedge funds and closed-end drawdown funds. He will also remain head of product development.

Gaviser will lead the firm's client-facing efforts, which involves expanding and developing the team of alternatives 

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