Advisors on the Move: Gearing Up For Change

Industry lobbying group the Financial Services Institute elected two new directors to its board on Thursday. Raymond James Financial Services President Scott Curtis and the president of Cambridge Investment Research Amy Webber will serve as members the group’s 16-representative Board of Directors for 2014. FSI also voted Valerie Brown, CEO of Cetera Financial Group, as the new Vice Chair of the Board and Adam Antoniades, president and CEO of First Allied, to serve as FSI PAC Board Chair.

Hartford Funds added to their team on Tuesday, with Joshua West joining from Fidelity Investments. West—who has over 10 years of experience in the industry—will service as an advisor consultant to non-wire advisors in Southern California.

RBC Wealth Management added two new complex directors in their West and South divisions on Monday. Kirstin Turner, who has more than 13 years of experience in the financial services industries, will become the new director of the West Palm Beach complex. Turner joins RBC from Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. RBC Wealth Management also brought onboard Rob Spawn as a senior managing director of the firm’s San Francisco complex. Spawn joined RBC from UBS and has over 30 years of experience in the industry.

HighTower snagged The Andriole Group, which has $700 million in client assets, from Merrill Lynch on Monday. The group is led by Charles Andriole and includes Geoffrey Gregory, Robert DeLucca and Matthew Montana. The Andriole Group is based out of Madison, Conn., and will be the 40th team to join High Tower since the firms founding. HighTower also picked up the Klein Wealth Management group last Monday. While previously affiliated with UBS, the group has over $210 million in assets under management. The Melville, N.Y. based group is led by Peter J. Klein, whowill join HighTower as a partner and managing director.

Benjamin F. Edwards & Co opened two new offices in Baltimore, Md., and Edwardsville, Ill., last Friday. The Baltimore office will be led by managing director Nancy J. Eshmont and includesJeffrey N. Weiner and Brian H. Rubin. Meanwhile, Marcy Pinnell and Lea Ann Bollinger will run the Illinois office. With these new offices, the firm now has a total of 41 locations over 22 states nationwide.

UBS Private Wealth Management appointed a new office manager for its San Francisco branch. Stephen McCashin has been with UBS, starting his career in the firm’s graduate training program. McCashin recently worked as a complex director for Northern California, overseeing six offices with revenues of $100 million.

Texas-based Prospera Financial Services picked up an advisor with over $100 million in assets under management last Thursday. Scott Pyle brings over 20 years of experience to Prospera from Raymond James. Pyle is based out of Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Merrill Lynch acquired an advisor from Goldman Sachs last Wednesday. Kendall Cotton, who is based out of Dallas, Texas, had $325 million in assets under management while with Goldman Sachs. He will report to Robert Johnson at Merrill Lynch.

During SIFMA’s annual meeting last Wednesday, the industry group elected Morgan Stanley’s Jim Rosenthal as chair, replacing Raymond James’ Chet Helck. SIFMA’s members also voted Davidson Companies’ Bill Johnstone as chair elect, Ariel Investments’ John Rogers as vice chair and M.R. Beal & Company’s Bernard Beal as treasurer. Four additional executives were elected to the board of directors: Cetera’s Valerie Brown, Wells Fargo’s Brand Meyer, Neugerger Berman’s George Walker and Alliance Bernstein’s James Wallin.

Raymond James lured the team at Private Wealth Management at Heathrow—with more than $310 million in AUM—away from LPL Financial last Tuesday. The group is led by CEO and founder Dominic Nori and includes Patrick Buchanan and Adam Goldstein. The team is based out of Lake Mary, Fla.