Convergent Wealth Advisors is hoping to grow its business in New York with an executive shuffle and stronger ties with its parent company, City National Bank.

Ken Handy, a veteran director now at Convergent’s ultra-high net worth division in its Rockville, Maryland, headquarters, will move to New York next month to head the firm’s New York office, this publication has learned.

After closing offices in Philadelphia and Atlanta earlier this year, Convergent is now focusing on growing business in its New York, Los Angeles and Washington, DC-area offices.

“Ken will be responsible for business development in New York,” said Steve Lockshin, Convergent’s chief executive. “He will be building his network, and we will be focused on growth, and will be adding resources to do so.”

Handy said  he wants  to “build out our partnership” with City, and try to replicate the success Convergent has had working with City in Los Angeles, where the bank is based, and where it has strong ties to the entertainment community.

Those entertainment business relationships can also be leveraged in New York, according to Handy.

“We see excellent opportunities in New York,” he said. “We’re going to be in the same office, and City has a robust pipeline of prospects. It will be the same type of model as LA.”

City National, which bought Convergent in 2007 and has been building its presence in the New York market for several years with 60 bankers now in Manhattan, will serve as a “good foundation” for Convergent, said Steven Wade, partner at the New York-based consulting and executive search firm Knightsbridge Advisors.

“We’ll have to see how it plays out,” Wade said, “but it looks like a good fit. The entertainment business is bi-coastal, so both the bank and Convergent will be able to be more responsive to those clients, and City has a really good reputation here as a boutique bank with best practices.”

Handy said Convergent, which has about $10.2 billion in assets under management, just hired a client services associate in New York and has no immediate plans to hire a client-facing professional to add to the four already in the office.

In addition to trying to tap City National’s client base, and tout the fact that the bank emerged from the financial crisis unscathed, Handy said Convergent’s research team and “access to top managers” would help differentiate the firm in the tough – and crowded – New York market.

But personal relationships will win in the end, he said.

“It comes down to who the client is comfortable meeting,” Handy said, “who do they have a personal relationship with and who do they have confidence and trust in.”