People Moves

Summary Of Moves In North American Wealth Management – July 2023

Editorial Staff September 15, 2023

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A roundup of moves and appointments across the North American wealth management industry.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group has appointed Alla Whitston as chief information officer for the Americas and Matt Abrusci as general counsel for the Americas.

Whitston is responsible for all IT strategy, infrastructure, architecture, and technology systems for all corporate and business functions within the company. As general counsel, Abrusci is responsible for the overall management of legal affairs and board of directors' administration related to MUFG's combined operations in the Americas. 

Most recently, Whitston served as the chief information officer for Silicon Valley Bank/First-Citizens Bank. Abrusci served as the global head of the capital markets law group of the Royal Bank of Canada. 

Deloitte, one of the “Big Four” accounting firms, appointed Mike Wade as national sector leader in the US for banking and capital markets. Wade succeeded Deron Weston, who continued to serve as Deloitte's US financial services industry consulting leader.

Dynasty Financial Partners named Ron Insana, a prominent broadcast journalist and commentator, to the new role of chief market strategist. Rated as one of the “Top 100 Business News Journalists of the 20th Century,” Insana is known for his high-profile interviews with figures such as President Bill Clinton and President George Bush, billionaire investors including Warren Buffett and George Soros, captains of industry such as Bill Gates and Jack Welch, as well as economists, analysts, and influencers. Insana was praised for his coverage of the market crash of 1987 and one of the first eyewitness accounts of the collapse of the World Trade Center towers on 9/11. He has also worked as an asset manager. 

Steward Partners Global Advisory welcomed Vantage Point Private Wealth, a business led by wealth managers Mark Morasky, Erik Clay, and Chris Figaro. Morasky, who has been a financial advisor since 1996, is a 1988 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and earned a Bronze Star in Desert Storm as a Military Intelligence Officer. He holds an MBA from Western Michigan University.

Clay holds the Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP®) and Chartered Retirement Planning CounselorSM (CRPC®) designations awarded by the College for Financial Planning. He spent eight years as a professional equity trader prior to joining Merrill Lynch Wealth Management in 2011. Figaro joined Merrill Lynch Wealth Management where he was a vice president and senior financial advisor in 2014 after spending six years as an options and equity trader in New York City.
 
JP Morgan Private Bank launched its US Family Office Practice. It will be led by William Sinclair, a 17-year veteran of JP Morgan and a member of the US private bank operating committee. Sinclair is also head of the private bank’s financial institutions group. 

Manhattan West, a Los Angeles-based wealth management and alternative investments firm, added two senior advisors to its team: Orin Winick as managing director and financial advisor, alongside Nicholas Wolf, CFP®, who is executive director and financial advisor. With expertise in private lending, Winick has decades of experience and extensive industry relationships. Prior to his new role, he held leadership positions at Aspiriant, Barclays, and Merrill Lynch. Wolf, who has more than a decade of experience in giving advice, specializes in areas including retirement planning, insurance, commercial lending, tax planning, and mortgage lending. Most recently, Wolf was vice president, relationship manager at Key Private Bank. 

New York-listed Citizens Financial Group named Susan de Tray as the head of its Citizens Private Bank unit. She previously served as senior vice president, deputy chief credit officer and head of credit administration for First Republic Bank. She is based in San Francisco.

Miracle Mile Advisors, a registered investment advisor, appointed Nate Angelo as the firm's head of wealth management. Prior to this role, Angelo served in senior leadership roles at RBC Wealth Management. 

Fiduciary Trust International, a subsidiary of Franklin Templeton, appointed Scott Small as a trust counsel based in its Radnor office. Most recently, Small was a senior vice president of estate services, and senior regional fiduciary manager for the US East and North areas, at Wells Fargo Wealth and Investment Management. 

Fiducient Advisors appointed former senior London Stock Exchange Group figure Sabrina Bailey as its CEO. Bailey most recently served as LSEG’s global head of investment and wealth solutions. She succeeded Bob DiMeo, the firm’s founder, who became chairman and remained actively engaged in the business. 

Law firm McGuireWoods appointed New York partner Helen Gavaris to add to its fiduciary litigation capabilities. Gavaris has over three decades of experience representing corporate fiduciaries and high net worth individuals in complex disputes. Before this role, she worked at Loeb & Loeb. 

Ameriprise Financial said that financial advisor Amanda Hale moved her $250-million practice to the firm from PNC Investments in Port Arthur, Texas. Hale joined Third Coast Advisors, a financial advisory practice within the Ameriprise Financial Institutions Group (AFIG), which provides advice and investment services to Third Coast Bank branches across Southeast Texas.

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