Lebenthal Bets on Michigan Recovery with New OfficeLebenthal Bets on Michigan Recovery with New Office

Betting on an economic recovery in the Detroit area, Lebenthal Wealth Advisors has opened a new office in Birmingham, Mich., the firm's fourth office outside of New York. Lebenthal tapped former Morgan Stanley advisor William Burke to head and manage the new office. 

“Michigan is going through a tremendous renaissance, and not only in downtown Detroit,” said Frank Campanale, the chairman and CEO of Lebenthal Wealth Advisors. “[It is] a tremendously wealthy area in two ways: personal wealth and the tremendous amount of industry with pension plans and defined contribution plans. [There is] also philanthropic work with endowments and foundations.”

Campanale said Burke had already transitioned most of his clients over to Lebenthal. Campanale wouldn’t provide an exact amount of assets under management coming along, but said it was “considerably over” $100 million.

Burke has been in the advisory industry for more than 30 years, starting in 1983 as an account executive at E.F. Hutton’s Detroit office. Campanale said Burke helped pioneer the sale of variable rate demand bonds. Burke remained with the firm when it became part of Smith Barney, where Campanale was chairman and CEO until 2004, and when Morgan Stanley acquired it in 2009.

Campanale, a Michigan native, said the Birmingham office is the first of many to open in the area and that Lebenthal is looking to open facilities in Miami and Los Angeles in the upcoming quarters.