Raymond James has hired Kevin Monaco to lead the establishment and expansion of new branches in San Diego and the surrounding areas. The firm now has a presence in ten California locations.

Monaco was latterly an executive director and business development manager for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management in Los Angeles, CA.

He began his financial services career in 1993 as an advisor trainee with Merrill Lynch in Cleveland, OH. He moved to Morgan Stanley in 1997 and then moved to Chicago, IL, in 2003 as a non-producing sales manager with Smith Barney. He was promoted to non-producing branch manager in Glendale, CA, in 2006, supervising the local Morgan Stanley/Smith Barney integration.

In other recent news, earlier this month Raymond James promoted Kirk Bell to director of the central region for Raymond James Financial Services. Bell replaced David Patchen, who was appointed senior vice president of PCG Education and Practice Management.