US in the news: JP Morgan revamps wealth operation

A round-up of people moves and M&A deals across North America

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People moves

JP Morgan

The banking giant has bolstered its US wealth management business, Chase Wealth Management, with change in its leadership team to oversee its 3,800 branch-based advisers across the country.

The US wealth management business will be divided into three divisions covering 18 regions. The changes will be effective 1 July.

Nikki Hartung, Joe Skarda and Barry Simmons will become divisional directors for the west, central and east regions, respectively.

The newly appointed regional directors are:

West division

  • Regino Diaz, north/central California; and
  • Chris Goebel, mountain and northwest.

Central division

  • Beth Brown, Dallas Forth Worth/Austin;
  • Laura Stone, east Chicago/Wisconsin; and
  • Karen Montgomery, west Chicago/central Illinois.

East division

  • Scott Ford, Brooklyn/Bronx/Queens and Long Island;
  • Gregg Kleinbaum, Manhattan;
  • Mike Ayerov, New Jersey/Staten Island;
  • Mike Perrone, New York north/Connecticut; and
  • Seth Jones, north Florida and Atlanta/Louisiana.

In the next few weeks, the bank plans to fill the remaining open positions from a pool of internal and external candidates.

BNY Mellon Wealth Management

The wealth firm has named Dan Steinberg as a senior wealth manager.

He will be based in Newport Beach, California.

Steinberg was previously at Millennium Partners, the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, Pimco, and Bank of America.

Also, BNY Mellon Wealth Management has named Elizabeth Luk as head of BNY Mellon Trust of Delaware.

Prior to joining BNY Mellon, she held the position of executive director and trust officer for JP Morgan Trust Company of Delaware.

Elsewhere, Steve Kutz has joined the firm as a regional president in Los Angeles, California.

Prior to joining BNY Mellon Wealth Management, he worked as the regional director of the Pacific Northwest Region at Bessemer Trust.

Avantax Wealth Management

The US wealth manager has hired the Rozovics Group, a family-owned firm in Park Ridge, Illinois.

Founded in 1977 to deliver tax and accounting services, the Rozovics Group added financial services specialising in wealth management and employer benefits in the 1980s.

The Rozovics Group includes 13 tax and accounting professionals, five support staff, and one financial adviser leading a team of three to serve clients’ financial advisory and investment needs.

Oppenheimer & Co

The wealth manager has named Gary Domoracki as the Boston office branch manager and managing director of investments.

Domoracki joins Oppenheimer from Stifel Financial Corp. where he served as a managing director and branch manager.

RBC Wealth Management

The wealth firm has hired a six-person team to its midtown Manhattan branch.

The Sheresky-Samsen Group comes to RBC Wealth Management from Morgan Stanley managing approximately $650m (£534m, €596m) in client assets.

The team is composed of:

  • Steve Sheresky, senior vice president and financial adviser;
  • Jeffrey Sheresky, senior vice president and financial adviser;
  • Jeff Samsen, senior vice president and financial adviser;
  • Kenny Sheresky, financial adviser;
  • Jeannine Barlotta, senior business associate; and
  • Stanley Weeks, senior registered client associate.

Fiduciary Trust International

The global wealth manager and wholly-owned subsidiary of Franklin Templeton has hired Maudie Long as a senior portfolio manager.

Long reports to James Le Rose, managing director at Fiduciary Trust International.

She was most recently senior vice president and senior portfolio manager at US Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management.

David DeStefano has also started at the firm’s New York office as trust officer.

He joins Fiduciary Trust from BNY Mellon Wealth Management, where he served as associate wealth manager.

Raymond James

The wealth firm has hired financial advisers Charles Isaacs and David Paller and their team to its office in Woodland Hills, California.

The team, which includes financial adviser Thomas Rockel and senior client service associate Stella Llamas, operates as Isaacs & Paller Wealth Management of Raymond James.

They joined in May from UBS, where the advisers previously managed more than $360m in client assets for a variety of clients, including entertainment executives.

M&A

AmeriLife Group

The US life, health and retirement solution provider has acquired an interest in Pinnacle Financial Services.

This deal further expands AmeriLife’s capabilities and distribution reach to meet the Medicare and life insurance needs of America’s retirees.

Pinnacle, founded in 2001, has locations in three states Pennsylvania, Nebraska and Nevada.

Kevin Shields, Pinnacle’s founder, president and chief executive, and Angela Palo, Pinnacle’s executive vice president, will continue to lead the organisation from its Warminster, Pennsylvania headquarters.

Shields will also become a principal and member of the management team with AmeriLife’s brokerage distribution channel.

They will both will maintain an ongoing profit participation and a significant ownership interest in Pinnacle.

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

MAI Capital Management

The independent registered investment adviser (RIA) firm has acquired Grisanti Capital Management.

GCM was founded over 20 years ago by Christopher Grisanti.

Grisanti, formerly chief executive of GCM, will assume the role of chief equity strategist and senior portfolio manager at MAI.

In this position, he will oversee the construction of MAI’s equity products and continue his role as a portfolio manager.

The remaining members of Grisanti’s team, including Rashida Alexander, Suzanne Fawbush, Tom Marra and Mike Pietzak, will join MAI as well.

The financial and legal terms of the deal were not disclosed.

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