UK-based LGT Wealth Management appointed Rory Whitmore as investment manager in its Birmingham office. The role newly-created. Whitmore was previously an investment director at UK wealth manager Evelyn Partners.

UK-based Chikara Investments LLP, a Japan, India and emerging market investment specialist, hired Theo Wyld as an analyst on the Japanese equity team responsible for the Chikara Japan Income & Growth Fund and the CC Japan Income & Growth Trust plc. Wyld, who was latterly co-manager of the Ruffer Japanese Fund, started at Ruffer in 2018, initially as an analyst. 

First Sentier Investors, a Sydney-headquartered global investment manager, appointed John Bennett as the new head of UK Wholesale. He took over from the previous incumbent, Carl Tomlin. Bennett joined First Sentier Investors in November 2022 in the UK Wholesale team as sales director. 

Cazenove Capital, the wealth management arm of investment manager Schroders in the UK, appointed Sandra Dailidyte as portfolio manager in Edinburgh. The role is newly created. Dailidyte has more than 12 years of experience in the financial services industry; previously she served as a client director at Brown Shipley.

Asset Risk Consultants appointed Dr James Cooke CFA as deputy chief investment officer. Dr Cooke re-joined the firm; he spent five years before at Ashburton Jersey Ltd. 

London-based Wren Investment Office, a multi-family investment office, advising families, family offices and foundations, appointed Jo Robinson as client relationship director, along with a trio of new analysts. Robinson was previously a fund manager at Kleinwort Benson Private Bank (later becoming Kleinwort Hambros) looking after UHNW private clients, pension funds and charities. Subsequently, at Barclays Private Bank, she managed the advisory fund management desk before moving to a relationship management role working with UHNW families.

Edmond de Rothschild AM appointed Melinda Käsdorf as head of marketing private markets. Based in Paris, she reports to Rupert Pybus, global head of marketing and products. Prior to joining the group, since 2019 she served as marketing director at BlackRock for France, Belgium, and Luxembourg.

Lombard Odier appointed Mark Goddard as UK chief executive officer. Based in London, Goddard replaced Duncan MacIntyre, who led the business for eight years. MacIntyre is staying with the Swiss firm as a limited partner and UK region head. Goddard reports to MacIntyre as well as Stephane Herrmann, CEO Lombard Odier Europe.

Switzerland’s Compagnie Bancaire Helvétique (CBH) appointed Simon Benhamou as CEO. He took over from Philippe Cordonier, who retired. Geneva-headquartered CBH also named Alfonso Liparulo as the new head of private banking. Liparulo took over from Benhamou, who had been wealth management head since 2018.

State Street appointed Barbara Roth as chief administrative officer for Continental Europe of State Street Bank International. Roth reports to Yvette Hollingsworth Clark, chief compliance officer at State Street and Andreas Przewloka. Roth has more than 20 years of experience in the financial services industry, having served in several senior executive roles at leading financial institutions. 

Charles Russell Speechlys appointed James Stewart as a partner within the firm’s corporate tax and incentives team. Formerly, Stewart, a corporate tax specialist, was a partner at Sheridans. 

Brown Advisory, an independent and privately held global investment management firm, appointed Tessa Pilkington to join its international private client portfolio management team. Pilkington has more than 15 years’ involvement in financial markets with M&A, investment research and multi-asset fund management experience.

ZEDRA appointed Peter Brown as managing director of its Luxembourg office. Brown, who has over 30 years’ experience in the financial services sector, has served in senior roles in fund and corporate services, finance and institutional banking.

Comgest, a Paris-based global equity asset manager, appointed Catriona Marshall as head of sustainable investment. Previously, Marshall was head of sustainable finance at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) financial markets division.

Equiom, which provides private client, family office, and corporate services, appointed Jonathan Wheeler as head of Middle East. Wheeler has held various senior leadership positions, including group director for strategy and strategic partnerships and regional director for the Middle East and Africa at TMF Group.

Lombard Odier Investment Managers appointed Christèle Clémence as senior sales strategic accounts. Based in Zurich, Clémence opened the Swiss Branch of a US asset manager where she was in charge of business development for Switzerland and German-speaking regions of Europe. Prior to that, Clémence was deputy head of wholesale at Robeco. She also served in senior roles at UBS and Bank Syz.

Hundle, a Mayfair-based multi-family office, added Ruffer portfolio manager Kate Forsyth as deputy chief investment officer. At Ruffer, Forsyth managed portfolios and served as investment specialist for one of Ruffer’s flagship funds. 

UK-based corporate finance advisory firm, Continuum hired two new dealmakers Patrick Lawther and Cody Nissen to strengthen the M&A advisory business. Lawther is a financial services banker with two decades of experience advising clients in the wealth, pensions, and asset management sector. He joined from Deloitte. Nissen joined from Goldman Sachs, where he was a vice president in their financial institutions group investment banking team.

EFG Asset Management(Switzerland) appointed Damian Burkhardt as senior portfolio manager, Swiss equities. Burkhardt is based in Zurich and reports to Daniel Murray, deputy CIO and global head of research at EFG Asset Management. Burkhardt had previously served as head of Swiss equities since 2023 at Credit Suisse Asset Management. 

Ogier Regulatory Consulting welcomed Jamie Biddle as a director, based in Jersey. Biddle has a background in handling complex regulatory matters, reinforcement investigations, and offering guidance across multiple jurisdictions.

Nedgroup Investments, a multi-boutique global asset manager, appointed Rob Burdett, as head of the International Multi-Manager business. Burdett was most recently head of Columbia Threadneedle multi-manager solutions, a role he left in April 2024 after 17 years. 

UK wealth management group Titan Wealth appointed Giles Whittingham as business development director. Whittingham has 14 years’ sales experience.

Global professional services business JTC said that May Hong Mei Knight joined the board as an independent non-executive director, based in London.

UK-based Attivo, a chartered independent, lifestyle financial planning business, appointed Jo French as CEO. She is based in the head office in Cheltenham.

Heritage Holdings, a technology-enabled investment platform, named Niccolò Ferragamo, senior principal at Apax Partners, as founding partner and co-CEO. 

Ferragamo has more than 10 years’ experience in private and growth equity. 

UK-based GraniteShares, a global issuer of exchange-traded products, recruited Catarina Donat Marques as its first head of European Retail Strategy. Donat Marques has more than 10 years’ experience in the European ETF market.

Stonehage Fleming Investment Management (SFIM), the multi-family office’s asset manager, appointed Carolyn Bell as deputy portfolio manager for its £3.8 billion ($4.97 billion) Global Best Ideas Equity Strategy. She joined SFIM as partner in April 2024.

Bank Syz, the Swiss firm, said Philippe Turrian, former head of client solutions and marketing and communications, joined Nicolas Syz as co-head of wealth management. They run the front-office teams. Konstadinos Hatzinikolis joined as the new head of Europe International, and took over the leadership of the Europe and Middle East teams. He joined from HSBC Private Bank (Suisse). 

Specialist Sydney-founded active fund manager ECP Asset Management appointed Ryan Rajkumar as principal, distribution, based in London. Rajkumar was previously director of the global strategic client group at Ecofin.

abrdn Adviser appointed Derek Smith to the newly-created role of chief technology and product officer in its leadership team led by Noel Butwell, CEO, abrdn Adviser. Smith is a global product and technology executive with a record of leading business lines across startup, transformation and growth phases.

UK law firm Farrer & Co recruited Abigail Nott, a specialist in tax, trust and estate planning for UK and international individuals, to its private client team, with the status of senior counsel. Previously, Nott worked at McDermott Will & Emery. 

ValidPath, a UK-based network for independent financial advisors, appointed three professionals to join its compliance team: Paul Thompson, Lezanne O’Donoghue and Michael Walker. 

At Killik & Co, promoted Clem MacTaggart and Sarah Threadgould to take on the joint responsibility of managing partner.

Accounting and advisory firm, Saffery named two partners in its London-based team to expand its corporate tax offering: Zoe Thomas and Jonathan Hornby. They each have more than 25 years’ experience of providing corporate tax services to UK and international businesses.

UK wealth management group Titan Wealth appointed sports sponsorship and events specialist Jo Plinston as its new head of partnerships and events. Plinston, who has experience in the sports sponsorship space, served in a commercial role at the Rugby Players Association from 2022 until earlier this year, for example. 

Robeco appointed Matthew Jackson to join its global credit team as a senior IG credit portfolio manager. Jackson was formerly a portfolio manager for numerous global, euro and UK investment grade credit funds and mandates at Western Asset Management. 

UK wealth manager Charles Stanley appointed Charlotte Aspinall as a senior investment manager based at its Tunbridge Wells office. Aspinall is a chartered wealth manager with over 20 years of discretionary investment management experience.

Titanbay, a platform providing private market solutions for wealth managers and private banks, appointed Ros Price to join its board of directors. Most recently, Price served as managing director and EMEA region head at Brookfield Oaktree Wealth Solutions.

London-headquartered investment manager Downing appointed Russell Catley as head of retail in the liquid alternatives team. Catley founded Lakeman Securities in 2008, before launching Atlantic House Investments in 2013. 

Deutsche Bank established a markets investment team – a unit for the region’s top-tier clients; it hired a new family office expert Adam Bergenfield, based in London. Liya Rozman, who previously led the investment managers for emerging Europe and Switzerland, leads this team in Central Europe. The team reports to the head of private bank Central Europe and US investment management, George Varoutsis. Marc Fezer leads the Central Europe investment managers, covering North and Central Europe, emerging Europe, Switzerland and the UK, and Sean Magee leads the US investment management business, building the US investment franchise in the different client segments.

Swedish banking group SEB named one of its senior figures, Christoffer Malmer, as its new chief financial officer. Malmer succeeded Masih Yazdi whose decision to leave the CFO position at SEB was announced in September.

Asia-Pacific
Jonathan Gan, a former head of the family office group, South Asia, for Citigroup in Singapore, moved to work as executive director, alternative capital markets group, at Goldman Sachs. Gan, who worked at Citigroup from July 2021 until October this year, was previously an MD at HSBC from 2012 to 2021.

The Hong Kong business of Knight Frank appointed Virginia Huang as the managing director, North and East China based in Shanghai. Reporting to Craig Shute, CEO of Greater China, Huang, who oversees the firm’s operations in the Beijing and Shanghai offices, has more than 27 years’ experience in commercial real estate.

Raffles Family Office named senior LVMH figure Chris Chong as a board advisor. Chong is the LVMH Group’s executive vice president for South and South East Asia, including Oceania. Before this, he was CEO for retail and workspace at CapitaLand Investment, a global property investment manager. 

M&G Investments appointed Kristy Wong and Alfred Foo as head of intermediary distribution for Greater China and Southeast Asia, respectively. Based in Hong Kong, Wong leads M&G’s intermediary distribution business across Greater China, in particular Hong Kong and mainland China. Wong, who has more than 15 years of experience in the region, previously served as senior vice president of intermediary distribution for Greater China at PineBridge Investments. Based in Singapore, Foo builds on M&G’s distribution partnership with OCBC Singapore.

Bank of Singapore appointed Canis Chi as market head of Greater China, Hong Kong. Chi reports to Rickie Chan, head of private banking, Greater China, and CEO of the Hong Kong branch. With more than two decades’ experience, Chi worked at Bank of China (Hong Kong) Private Banking for 10 years. She has also worked at Deutsche Bank and Citibank.

EFG Bank AG, part of Zurich-listed EFG International, appointed former Credit Suisse senior figure Dr Urs Buchmann as vice chairman and Ashish Gumashta as a member of its regional Asia advisory board. Dr Buchmann has more than three decades’ experience in Greater China. Most recently, he served as VC of Credit Suisse in Hong Kong, where he was responsible for developing its activities in Greater China and other markets in the region, including Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, Bangladesh and Mongolia.

Gumashta, who has 30 years’ experience dealing with the Indian market, has served as managing director of strategic initiatives at Motilal Oswal, the Indian financial services group, and as the executive chairman and CEO of Julius Baer, India.

The former chief executive of UBS and Dutch bank ING, Ralph Hamers, became an external advisor of Arta Finance, the AI-driven wealth platform in the US that recently obtained a licence in Singapore and a capital injection from the Asian city state. 

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Asset Management Americas, the US arm of Japan’s SuMi TRUST, appointed Yusuke Karube as its new president and CEO. He took over from Shigeki Katoh, who returned to Tokyo. The new CEO was part of the team that established SMTAMA in 2020 where he worked alongside Katoh. Karube has spent 17 years of his 30 years’ experience in the financial services industry at SuMi TRUST.

Knight Frank appointed Craig Shute as CEO of Asia-Pacific (APAC), effective 1 April 2025. He is CEO of the Greater China business and took over from Kevin Coppel, who retires in March 2025. Shute, who joined Knight Frank last year, has more than 25 years of experience in the real estate industry, gained in senior leadership roles across Australia, Malaysia, Hong Kong SAR, and the US.

Bank of Singapore appointed former Credit Suisse senior figure Karthik Shenoy as its new head of platforms and transformation in the lender’s chief operating office. Shenoy, based in Singapore, reports to COO, Jacky Ang. Shenoy, who has more than 20 years of experience in the financial services industry, has held senior positions in business and technology domains. Previously, he worked at Credit Suisse where he was global head of financing technology and head of Asia-Pacific wealth technology. 

New York-headquartered BNY appointed Jamie Pratt as head of APAC corporate trust, responsible for leading and continuing to develop and execute the corporate trust strategy for the region. Pratt joined from HSBC where he led the issuer services business in the Americas region, providing client solutions across the spectrum of corporate trust, loans, structured and project finance client segments for both domestic and international transactions. Pratt replaced Kenneth Cheong who left the role in the summer. Prior to leading the corporate trust business at HSBC, Pratt worked at BNP Paribas in London and New York in private capital and corporate trust.

Ogier Global, the corporate and fiduciary services arm of Ogier, appointed Hoan Nguyen in the newly-formed role of commercial director of its Singapore office. Nguyen has over 17 years of experience in asset and wealth management.

BNP Paribas’ Securities Services business, the custodian for buy- and sell-side market players, appointed Laure Ly as head of Hong Kong. Ly succeeded Julien Kasparian, who was appointed as regional head UK & Middle East for Securities Services, subject to regulatory approvals. She started her career with the Securities Services business of BNP Paribas in 2004.

Fiera Capital Corporation appointed John Cappetta, who is based in Singapore, as managing director, head of Asia, excluding Japan and Korea, Fiera Capital Asi. This is a newly-formed role. Cappetta, who has over 34 years’ experience to Fiera, was most recently head of private banking and Asia advisor to global investment manager Ninety One. Prior to that, Cappetta served as managing director senior advisor to Swiss private bank Julius Baer where he was based in the bank’s Singapore office for six years. Cappetta reports to Rob Petty, executive director and CEO, Fiera Capital Asia.

Investment house Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo, or GMO, appointed Dexter Chua as its head of intermediary business, Asia – excluding Japan – for GMO Singapore. Chua, who has more than 15 years’ industry experience, previously worked at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, where he served for more than nine years as an executive director and head of Southeast Asia in its third-party wealth business.

MSCI appointed one of its senior figures, Shane Edwards, as head of Asia-Pacific client coverage. Edwards, who was head of Australia and New Zealand client coverags, reports to Axel Kilian, chief client officer. Kazuya Nagasawa, the previous head of APAC client coverage, left to pursue new opportunities. Before he joined MSCI in February 2024, Edwards was global head of equity derivatives at UBS. 

North America
Cresset named one of its senior figures, Jessica Malkin, as chief growth officer and executive managing director. Malkin, at the US firm since 2019, has served as chief marketing officer since 2021, and continues in that role. Prior to Cresset, Malkin held leadership positions at startups within the technology, consumer goods, and non-profit industries. 

Citigroup named former senior Goldman Sachs figure Anne McCosker as head of lending for the US bank’s wealth business. Previously, McCosker worked for nine years at Goldman Sachs, most recently as global head of private bank lending and origination. 

RBC Wealth Management brought in The Smalley Girardi Group to its Westport, Connecticut branch. The team, which came from Morgan Stanley with more than $400 million in assets under management, includes Richard Smalley, first vice president, and financial advisor; and Ali Girardi, first VP, financial advisor, and portfolio manager. 

Baird, a US wealth management, investment banking and capital markets firm, welcomed The Berry Peña Group and The Elder Group to its new branch in Franklin, Tennessee. Combined, the two teams brought $580 million in assets to the new office.

-- The Berry Peña Group – came from B Riley. Team members include Tyler Berry, a director, financial advisor, and Rachel Peña, a senior vice president, financial advisor. They are supported by senior client specialist Cherie Seale.

-- The Elder Group – came from Janney Montgomery Scott. Team members include Steve Elder who joined as a director, financial advisor, and Ben Elder as VP, financial advisor. They are supported by senior client specialist Tamara Hackett.

Chilton Trust appointed David Daniel, former CEO and chairman at executive search firm Spencer Stuart, to join its board of directors. At Spencer Stuart, Daniel served for three decades in various leadership positions, first joining as a consultant in the consumer practice in 1994. Following his tenure as CEO, he was chair of its board from 2018 to 2024, having been a board member since 2011. Since completing his final term as chair, he remains an active partner at Spencer Stuart.

MSCI appointed former Goldman Sachs senior manager Luke Flemmer as head of private assets. Flemmer, who is based in New York, reports to Alvise Munari, chief product officer. Previously, Flemmer served as managing director, head of digital strategy for alternative investments at Goldman Sachs. 

ALTSMARK, a private capital portfolio management and services provider for the wealth sector, appointed Josh Krapf and Erik Norrgard as company principals. Former Blackstone senior figure Krapf assumed the role of chief operating officer and Norrgard, who has worked at places including BNY, became chief experience officer. Krapf spent more than 15 years with Blackstone as managing director and head of investor services, data and reporting for its multi-asset investing arm. Norrgard worked in the alternatives investment space for three decades, most recently as principal and director and head of middle office – institutional services, with BNY. 

Realta Wealth, a wealth manager, appointed Abbey Eastham in the newly-formed role of head of advisor relations, reporting to Kevin Keefe, CEO. A former senior investment solutions manager for Cetera Financial Group, Eastham has more than 15 years’ industry experience. 

UBS Wealth Management appointed former Morgan Stanley financial advisor James Kosan to join its Riverside, California office. Kosan mainly works with affluent families, providing family office services and specializing in life transitions. At Morgan Stanley, Kosan worked at the US firm from 2012; before that, he spent six years with Merrill Lynch.

Osaic, the US wealth management platform, appointed Kristy Britt as chief financial officer. The previous CFO, Jon Frojen, stepped down after five years with the company. Brit is based in Osaic’s Scottsdale headquarters and reports to president and CEO Jamie Price. Previously, she worked at Thomson Reuters, where she held several positions in financial leadership and strategic planning across the business, most recently serving as head of finance for the operations and technology organization. 

Laird Norton Wetherby, a trust company and RIA, appointed Ed Lazar, a family office expert and long-time wealth management executive, to join its board of directors. Lazar has more than three decades of tax, management and family office experience. He is executive director and responsible for strategic leadership at Milburn Services, a single-family office in Charlotte, North Carolina. 

Baird appointed Robert M Sargent as a director and financial advisor in its wealth management office in Fairfax, Virginia. He was joined at the branch by client assistant, Kaitlyn Powell. Sargent previously worked at Edelman Financial Engines where he managed $245 million in assets. He has 15 years of industry experience and holds the Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) designation. Baird also added Robert S Bowman, and Matthew L Preddy as directors and financial advisors to a new office opening in Richmond, Virginia. Bowman is assisted by Dustin H Dodge, associate financial advisor, and Preddy is upported by client assistant, Ana Rawls.

Avantax, a financial planning and wealth management firm that is part of the Cetera Holdings group of firms, added new financial advisors to its ecosystem. Bringing about $390 million of combined assets under administration, the following financial professionals and firms have joined the Avantax network in 2024:

-- Ali Kazemi and his Sentinel Financial Group, based near San Francisco, joined Avantax from LPL Financial; 
-- Financial advisor Amy Wright, based near Des Moines, Iowa, joined after being affiliated with LPL Financial. She plans to operate as Wright Financial Solutions; 
-- Joseph Schwan, CPA, and his Long Island, New York-based Premier Wealth Management LLC, joined from LPL Financial; 
-- Independent financial advisor Allan Thompson, based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, joined from Ameriprise Financial; 
-- Financial advisor George Escobar and his Covina, California-based Xavier Consulting, joined Avantax from Next Financial Group; 
-- Ken Ulrich and John Ariola, both independent financial advisors, brought their East Amherst, New York-based Progressive Planning Services from Lincoln Financial; 
-- Scot Sageser and William Hubbard, both independent financial advisors, joined along with their Defender Financial Services Group, based near Seattle, from World Equity Group; and 
-- Independent financial advisor W Townsend Morris, based in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, joined Avantax from Kestra Financial.

Fusion Risk Management, which provides operational resilience and business continuity software, appointed Lisa Schreiber as chief customer officer. Schreiber has more than 25 years’ experience in technology, professional services, and risk management. A financial advisor, Tom Wolf, joined Cetera Advisors’ network after leaving Arvest Wealth Management. 

Star Mountain Capital, an investment firm, promoted Scott Couto to president and he joined its executive committee. Couto, a senior advisor, has more than 30 years of experience in the asset management business including executive leadership, risk management, investor communications, investment strategy, distribution, marketing and investment product development. Most recently, Couto was executive vice president and head of North America for Columbia Threadneedle Investments. 

RIA Nepsis appointed Derek Malmquist as vice president of marketing. He was formerly VP of global marketing and content development for Reinsurance Group of America. 

Realta Wealth, an RIA based in Wilmington, Delaware, appointed Paul Tyler as senior vice president, director of business development. Tyler reports to CEO Kevin Keefe.

Seattle-headquartered Russell Investments hired Shelly Heier as global head of institutional client service – a newly-formed role. Most recently, Heier served as president and senior consultant at Verus Investments. She has worked in the industry for 26 years and is based in Seattle.

Vistra, the corporate services company, appointed five senior figures for its North America funds team: Frank Anduiza, Christopher Murphy, Sean Ward, Matt Podolsky and Tony Olivo.

Perigon Wealth Management made three hires: David Scarpello, as chief financial officer, replacing Chuck Pinson-Rose, who continued to support the firm on special projects as the managing director; Brian McGunnigle, director of operations, and previously with the Mather Group; and Debra Dunham, director of transitions and integrations. Dunham most recently led and managed integrations for The Colony Group. Most recently, Scarpello served as the CFO of Pathstone. McGunnigle, who was with the Mather Group, has 25 years of industry experience. 

Brown Brothers Harriman appointed Michael McGrann as managing director in the firm’s Center for Family Business, based in Philadelphia. In addition to his work supporting private business owners, McGrann has taught at several universities. He founded the Family Business Center at St Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. 

Northern Trust Wealth Management named Dino De Vita as president of Global Family and Private Investment Offices (GFO), and Marc Cosentino was named as West region president of Northern Trust Wealth Management.

De Vita leads a global team of more than 300 professionals who provide advice and services to Northern Trust’s client base. Before assuming the role of president, De Vita was GFO’s regional managing director of the Central and West regions. 

Cosentino oversees Northern Trust’s wealth management business in the West region, which encompasses Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, Texas and Washington. Cosentino’s career with Northern Trust spans three decades and numerous leadership roles. Previously, he served as president of Northern Trust's Pacific Northwest and Northern California regions. 

Las Vegas-headquartered RIA Wealth Consulting Group hired Talley Léger as chief market strategist. Léger, who has more than 25 years of experience in financial services institutions, previously served as managing director of equity strategy at Raymond James and the chief equity strategist at Invesco. 

UK-listed wealth manager Schroders made a number of promotions in its Americas client group. Nicolas Giedzinski, previously head of wealth, US offshore, became head of US family offices and offshore. He reports to Phil Middleton, CEO Americas and Gonzalo Binello, head of Latin America and US offshore. Alberto Vazquez, formerly the sales director, moved to serve as the head of offshore brokerage sales. Ever Zambrano was promoted to head of discretionary clients, and Mauricio Calmet assumed the role of client director, US offshore.

Petra Funds Group, an independent private funds administrator, hired two people in its business development team: Richard Harris and John Manning. Manning was named senior director of business development. Harris has over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry, most recently serving as MD at HSBC Securities. Manning brings over 13 years of experience in business development and customer relationship management, including six years working with private equity firms and limited partners. He has held a variety of sales and relationship management positions at Salesforce, Catalant, Riverstone Holdings, and JP Morgan Asset Management.

RBC Wealth Management reorganized its three private client group divisions into four, starting in November. The firm’s West division was split into two. Colin Hawkes, the firm’s Pacific Northwest complex director, became the newest divisional director, leading the revamped West division, which spans 34 branches across three complexes in Washington, Oregon, California and Nevada. Hawkes, who joined RBC Wealth Management in 2023, has 24 years of industry experience.

Darryl Traweek, West divisional director, now has leadership responsibility for the newly-formed Mountain South division, comprising 32 branches across four complexes in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. 

Axyon AI, which works with asset managers by using AI tools and strategies, appointed a New York University senior academic as scientific advisor. Petter N Kolm is a professor and director of the Mathematics in Finance MS Program at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University. Professor Kolm is also a member of the boards of directors of the International Association of Quantitative Finance (IAQF) and the Society of Quantitative Analysts (SQA). 

Elevation Point appointed Caitlin Douglas as founding partner and chief operating officer. Douglas, who has worked in the sector for almost 20 years, was previously managing director of transition services and co-head of service at Dynasty Financial Partners, where she managed both transition and relationship management teams. 

US financial group State Street appointed former BNY Mellon senior figure Vanessa Fernandes as head of digital asset solutions. Fernandes, based in New Jersey, reports to Donna Milrod, chief product officer at State Street.
JM Finn appointed Jon Cunliffe to lead its investment office, a role that brings together JM Finn’s research and investment strategy capabilities.

Raymond James roundup
Financial advisors Kenneth Buckner and Ryan Tankelewicz joined its independent advisor channel. The advisors, who operate as Buckner Wealth Management in Cary, North Carolina, arrived from Edward Jones where they managed about $150 million in client assets. 

Buckner brings more than 14 years of financial services experience to his role as president of the practice. A North Carolina native, Tankelewicz launched his financial services career in 2022.

Financial advisor Craig Carroll works at the advisor group, CoWealth Advisors in Newman, Georgia. Prior to this, Carroll worked at Edward Jones, managing about $130 million of client assets. He started on his financial services career in 2019.

Advisors based in New York and Idaho joined Raymond James, bringing between them a total of about $1.5 billion in client money to the group’s employee advisor channel. 

A team from Merrill Lynch (over $1 billion AuM) joined in Williamsville, New York. It is led by Christopher Scott, Kevin Klein, Michael Gates, and Salvatore Gandolfo, and operates as Scott Klein Gates Gandolfo Wealth Management of Raymond James. The second group, also formerly with Merrill Lynch and operating as Riverview Wealth Advisors of Raymond James ($479 million AuM), is made up of Larry Stucki, Brandon Peebles, and Jake Waddoups, and is based in Idaho Falls, Idaho.
 
The firm brought in financial advisors Bryan Burkhart, Gretchen Burkhart and Gabriele Burkhart to its employee advisor channel, based in Sullivan, Indiana. The team is joined by senior client service associate Lisa Chastain and client service associate Megan Simpson, who arrived from Edward Jones. 

Four financial advisors in Las Vegas joined the employee advisor channel. The team includes Kerry Withrow, Ben Hamilton, Ryan D’Souza, and Elliot Bloch, as well as practice business manager Terri Criswell. 

Raymond James welcomed financial advisor Taylor Thompson to its independent advisor channel. At Thompson & Co Wealth Management in Rapid City, South Dakota, Thompson provides wealth management strategies to a variety of clients. He was previously affiliated with LPL Financial, where he managed more than $250 million in client assets.

Financial advisors Taryn Moll and Peter Henziak joined Raymond James at its employee advisor channel in Irvine, California. As Moll Henziak & Associates of Raymond James, the team includes client service associate Rebecca Jonas-Engel and senior registered client service associates Jiangyun “Julie” Dale and Matt Kearns.