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

RBC Wealth Management
This week, RBC Wealth Management said that Scott Skinner has been promoted to Mountain South divisional director. Skinner previously served as the firm’s Texas South complex director and will now take on expanded responsibility for the Mountain South division. That division has 347 financial advisors in 34 branches in four complexes across Texas, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Louisiana, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

The firm also promoted 20-year RBC veteran Peter Kolar to lead a new complex in Wayzata, Minnesota, where he will lead 90 financial advisors in seven branches.

Skinner, who joined RBC in 2023, is a 32-year veteran in the financial services industry. Prior to RBC, Skinner spent a decade in leadership roles at UBS in Texas. He started his career in 1993 at Merrill Lynch in Tallahassee, Florida.

In Kolar’s case, for the past 12 years he has been a wealth management consultant at RBC Wealth Management, working with leaders and advisors across RBC Wealth Management’s Central division. He joined RBC Wealth Management in 2003 as a portfolio analyst.

The Wayzata complex will be the central hub for Minnesota branches in Wayzata, Duluth, Lilydale, Minnetonka and St Cloud, as well as branches in Fargo, North Dakota, and Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Bill Boehm will continue in his role as Minneapolis complex director for RBC Wealth Management and will lead 125 financial advisors in the Minneapolis, Edina, North Oaks, Rapid City, Rochester and Stillwater branches.

RBC Global Asset Management
Also this week, RBC Global Asset Management said it has hired Christopher Martin as institutional portfolio manager for the alternatives sector – a newly-created role.

Martin, who will be lead institutional PM for RBC GAM Alternative investment strategies, will serve as the bridge between RBC GAM alternative investment teams and US Distribution. Based in Boston, he will report to Kevin Dockrell, MD and leader of RBC GAM US Institutional Portfolio Managers.

Prior to this, Martin worked at Pathstone where he was director in the firm’s investment management research group; he was at the wealth management group for nine years.

Raymond James
Raymond James has welcomed financial advisors Kenneth Russell and William Sosebee to its employee advisor channel.

The advisors, who have arrived from Wells Fargo where they managed about $323 million in client assets, operate as Providence Wealth Management of Raymond James, based in Gardendale and Cullman, Alabama. 

The firm also welcomed financial advisor Gabriel Oxios to its independent advisor channel. He was formerly at VALIC Financial Advisors, now Corebridge Financial, where he managed more than $110 million in client assets. As Ox Wealth Management, based in Coral Gables, Florida, he provides holistic financial planning and guidance for a variety of clients, including retirees, business owners, corporate executives and physicians. Oxios began his financial services career in 2012 at his previous firm where he served clients for 13 years. 

Carson Group
Carson Group, which has over $50 billion in AuM, said wealth advisor James Fetters has joined the firm to launch his new independent practice, Blueprint Wealth Management.

Based in Santa Monica, California, Fetters has joined Carson Group from Northwestern Mutual, where he reported serving about $170 million in AuM. 

Fetters started his career on Wall Street in sales and trading, where he developed a deep understanding of complex financial strategies and client service. Over the past nine years, he built an advisory practice by helping business owners, executives and high net worth families make more confident decisions through comprehensive financial planning.