HighTower Brings In Another Advisor Into Its Arms

Tom Burroughes

14 March 2017

A pair of ex-Merrill Lynch advisors, Jim Ewing and Michael Cona, have formed Ewing/Cona Wealth Management and affiliated with HighTower Advisors, the financial advisor network.

The team, which managed nearly $200 million in assets at Merrill Lynch, is based in Marlton, NJ, in the Philadelphia metropolitan area.

Ewing has worked at Merrill Lynch for nearly a decade. Cona oversees financial planning for the team.

In January this year, HighTower brought in Fortress Wealth Planning to its orbit. The Jacksonville-based team at Fortress includes founding partners Michael Skowfoe, Eileen Ortega, Jay Rolfe and Jim Williams. Previously with Wells Fargo Private Bank, Fortress Wealth Planning managed $1 billion in assets under management.

In 2016, HighTower welcomed a combination of 14 new teams and tuck-ins representing approximately $4 billion in AuM, and expanded into 6 new states throughout the US Fortress Wealth Planning is HighTower's first transition for 2017. With 67 teams and offices in 26 states, HighTower now has representation in over half of the states in the country.