National registered investment advisor HighTower’s latest recruits hail from Merrill Lynch and The Presidio Group, and are based on either side of the country.
Leo J. Kelly III and partner Brian Grumbach, formerly at Merrill’s Kelly Group, have opened a HighTower office in Baltimore. The RIA said Kelly and Grumbach manage $700 million in assets. Kelly, who has appeared on Registered Rep.’s Top 100 Wirehouse Advisors in America list, started with Merrill in 1996 and became a manager in its Financial Planning Group. He and Grumbach have CFP designations; they opened the HighTower practice on Friday.
James Hausberg, former managing director at The Presidio Group, will manage HighTower’s new office in Los Angeles, which also opened on Friday. The RIA said Hausberg manages $400 million in assets. He joined Presidio in 2005; he held other wealth advisory positions earlier at CS First Boston/DLJ, DabneyResnick, Prudential Securities, Bear Stearns, and Shearson Lehman.
A month ago HighTower announced it had recruited a top Morgan Stanley Smith Barney advisor, James Pupillo of Graystone Consulting in Arizona, with $2.5 billion under management.