The latest moves, personnel changes and appointments in the North American wealth management sector.

Dynasty Financial Partners
Dynasty Financial Partners has appointed Shawn Shook as general counsel. 

Shook, who reports to CEO Shirl Penney, is based at the firm’s headquarters in St Petersburg, Florida. He is succeeding Jonathan Morris, who is moving to a new role as executive in residency; Morris spent more than 10 years in the GC role. Prior to joining Dynasty, Shook served as vice president, associate general counsel.

“I’d like to thank Jon Morris for his incredible guidance and contribution as our general counsel over the past 12 years,” Penney said. “Jon has been a remarkable friend, business partner, and trusted advisor to the firm and our entire network. I’m thrilled Jon is continuing on with Dynasty as counsel to the firm and as our newest executive in residence.”

"Shawn brings valuable experience that strengthens our legal team as we continue to grow," Penny added.

Shook, who brings over 10 years of legal and regulatory experience in the financial services industry, has particular expertise in advising registered investment advisors, broker-dealers, and professionals transitioning to independence. In his new role, Shook will oversee Dynasty’s legal strategy across corporate initiatives and support the firm’s 57 Network partner firms on regulatory, transactional, and compliance matters.

Prior to this, he worked at Kestra Financial, where he led legal due diligence and negotiated transaction documentation for several acquisitions. Before Kestra, Shook was associate general counsel at Edelman Financial Engines, working on matters related to M&A, commercial agreements, advisor onboarding, and risk management.

HarbourVest Partners
HarbourVest Partners, a global private markets investment firm with more than $147 billion in assets under management as of March 31, 2025, has appointed former BlackRock figure Venu Krishnamurthy as managing director and head of global private wealth. 

Krishnamurthy will assume his responsibilities from Alex Rogers who led HarbourVest’s Private Wealth efforts, in addition to his other responsibilities as chief strategy officer. Following Krishnamurthy’s appointment, Rogers will focus exclusively on his role as chief strategy officer.

Krishnamurthy has almost three decades’ experience in financial services. Most recently, he was global head of Aladdin Wealth, BlackRock’s flagship wealthtech business. Prior to this, he spent more than a decade at Citigroup, where he held several leadership positions across the US, Asia-Pacific and Europe, Middle East and Africa. In his last role there, he was president of Citigold Wealth Management. 

Krishnamurthy holds a bachelor’s degree from the National Institute of Technology, Surathkal and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

Raymond James
Raymond James has brought in financial advisor Jonathan Israel to its employee advisor channel.

Israel provides financial planning as Legacy Point Wealth Management of Raymond James, based in Woodland Hills, California. He is joined by registered client service associate Jake Balcom.

Israel, who brings more than 18 years of financial services experience, was previously affiliated with UBS Financial Services where he managed about $400 million in client assets.