People Moves

Who's Moving Where In Wealth Management? – RWA Wealth Partners, Axtella, Raymond James

Editorial Staff October 21, 2025

Who's Moving Where In Wealth Management? – RWA Wealth Partners, Axtella, Raymond James

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

RWA Wealth Partners
RWA Wealth Partners, a firm overseeing $19.7 billion in client assets, has announced that senior advisors Jennifer Votano and Evelyn Pepe have joined its family office team.

Votano and Pepe will serve as managing directors at RWA Family Office, reporting to Nicole LaChapelle, president of family office at the business.

“Following our welcome of the San-Francisco-based Moirai team led by Karen Schmid in August, the addition of Jennifer Votano and Evelyn Pepe to RWA’s East Coast presence is yet another exciting sign of the momentum we are building here at RWA Wealth Partners,” Michelle Knight, CEO of RWA Wealth Partners, said. 

Votano brings 25 years of experience in the financial services industry. Prior to joining RWA, Votano served in advisor roles at Clarfeld | Citizens Private Wealth and New England Private Wealth Advisors. 

Pepe spent 15 years as a senior private wealth advisor at Clarfeld | Citizens Private Wealth, where she advised executives, business owners, and multigenerational families.

RWA has its main offices in Boston, Massachusetts, and in the San Francisco Bay area, with additional locations in Newton, Massachusetts, Chicago, Illinois, Traverse City, Michigan, and Costa Mesa, California.

Axtella
Axtella, a financial network of two broker/dealers and a registered investment advisor, has added two advisory teams for the New York area.

Christopher W Judge, and The Commonwealth Agency, collectively manage assets worth $108 million.

Judge is based in Ossining, New York. With Axtella as his broker-dealer, Judge has access to an expanded suite of investment solutions and financial planning resources. 

The other joiner is Bill Gillett from Commonwealth Agency in Fishkill, New York.

Axtella is the parent company of broker-dealers Sigma Financial Corporation and Parkland Securities, and RIA, Sigma Planning Corporation. It serves 700+ financial advisors. It is led by owner and CEO Jerry Rydell and president Brandon Rydell.

Raymond James
Financial Advisors Tim Kelly and Coleman Kelly have joined the independent advisor channel of Raymond James in Red Wing, Minnesota. Operating under the brand of Endurance Wealth Management, they have arrived from LPL Financial, where they managed more than $250 million in client assets.

The advisors are joined by branch operations coordinator Katie Bakke, practice business coordinator Tait Kelly, and client relationship consultants Surbhi Moore and Matthew Brady.

Tim Kelly, father to Coleman and Tait, has more than 28 years of wealth management experience. 

Register for FamilyWealthReport today

Gain access to regular and exclusive research on the global wealth management sector along with the opportunity to attend industry events such as exclusive invites to Breakfast Briefings and Summits in the major wealth management centres and industry leading awards programmes