James Gorman, the Merrill Lynch defector who, since February, heads the retail brokerage unit at Morgan Stanley, continues to build his leadership team. Gorman announced in a memo to employees on Thursday that Donald Herrema will join the company on May 1 as the head of Private Wealth Management Americas, the U.S. and Latin America division of the old Morgan Stanley institutional group; that group focuses on the ultra-rich, clients with $20 million and up. Herrema will also become president of Morgan Stanley Trust Company, where he will focus on further expanding the firm’s trust service offerings.
The hire should be a further step towards integrating the old Morgan Stanley institutional group with the Dean Witter retail brokerage arm—now called the Global Wealth Management group. Almost nine years after the 1997 merger between Morgan Stanley and Dean Witter, these units still aren’t fully integrated, a big criticism of former CEO Philip Purcell’s reign over the firm. John Mack replaced Purcell as CEO last summer.
“We are committed to building the leading ultra-high-net-worth business within a more fully-integrated Global Wealth Management Group,” wrote Gorman in the memo. “This is a critical business for us, and we intend to grow it meaningfully under Don’s leadership.” Herrema will report to Gorman and will serve as a member of the Global Wealth Management Group Executive Committee.
Herrema was most recently president, CEO and chairman of Loring Ward International, a wealth- and life-management firm. Prior to that he was chairman and CEO of Atlantic Trust Private Wealth Management and a member of the Executive Management Committee of AMVESCAP, one of the largest independent global investment managers. He also served as chief operating officer and then president and CEO of the Bessemer Group, where he raised assets under management to nearly $40 billion from less than $10 billion, “while dramatically improving profit margins, opening new offices and introducing additional investment offerings, including alternative assets and funds,” Gorman wrote.
Michael McVicker, former head of U.S. Private Wealth Management, will become the chief operating officer for Private Wealth Management Americas.
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