Even during a pandemic, the North America wealth management market witnessed plenty of moves and hires, covering a range of business models, from family offices through to investment houses.

North American moves for May 2020
Barings, the global investment and financial group, appointed Steve Boehm as chief operating officer; he reports to Barings president, Mike Freno. Boehm replaced an executive, Paul Thompson, who left the business. 

Boehm has more than 20 years of experience in technology, financial services, technology, operations, merger integration and fintech. Most recently, he was a senior vice president, customer delivery group and chief operating officer of AvidXchange. Before joining AvidXchange, Boehm served as SVP, global customer experience of eBay, Barings said in a statement.  

The Retirement Advantage, the retirement services company, hired Pam Mayer as a regional sales consultant, covering a territory that includes Arizona, Southern California, Hawaii, New Mexico and Nevada. Mayer reports to her predecessor, Darin Erdmann, TRA’s national sales manager. Mayer has worked in the financial services and retirement plan industry for over 25 years. For the past several years Mayer has held various executive posts, including vice president with The ERISA Advisory Group. She has also worked in sales and service roles at VOYA and TransAmerica.

Slate Asset Management, the asset management platform concentrating on real estate, promoted Katie Fasken in the Toronto office to managing director of investor relations. Fasken is responsible for leading the firm's capital raising and investor relations. Fasken joined Slate in January 2016. Prior to arriving at the firm, she worked on the investment banking team and institutional equity sales desk at CIBC World Markets. She earned her honors business administration from Ivey Business School at Western University.

Good Life Companies, a financial products business, appointed Joe Sponcia as senior vice president of mergers and acquisitions. Sponcia was previously at SmartRIA. Prior to this role, Sponcia spent nine years in the technology sector working most recently for SmartRIA, TAC Insight, The IT Company LLC, and Digital Crossing Networks.

Billionaire investor Daniel Loeb took back the reins as sole chief investment officer at his hedge fund Third Point LLC, less than one year after he appointed long-time colleague Munib Islam to be his co-chief investment officer, according to a letter the firm sent its investors.

BNY Mellon Wealth Management named Steve Kutz as a regional president in Los Angeles, California. In this role, he oversees all aspects of the wealth management business in greater Los Angeles, including advisory, investments, fiduciary, private banking, and marketing. Kutz is based in Los Angeles and reports to West Regional president Rob Kricena. He has over 30 years of experience in the financial services industry and an extensive background in serving ultra-high net worth families, endowments and foundations. 

Diamond Hill Capital Management appointed Anna Corona as chief people officer. Corona reports to Heather Brilliant, CFA, Diamond Hill's president and chief executive, and serves on the firm's management team. Before joining Diamond Hill, Corona was head of talent and culture for Morningstar Australasia, based in Sydney.

Thornburg Investment Management, the Santa Fe, New Mexico-based firm with $38 billion in assets under management, recruited John V Hackett as chief marketing officer. Hackett succeeded Leigh Moiola, who retired after 28 years with Thornburg and has served as chief marketing officer since 2018.

Fiduciary Trust International appointed Maudie Long, CFA® as a senior portfolio manager in New York. David DeStefano also started at the firm’s New York office as trust officer. Long reports to James Le Rose, managing director. She was most recently senior vice president and senior portfolio manager at US Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management. Long previously worked for 10 years at Evergreen Investments-Wachovia Bank. DeStefano reports to Debra Feeks, managing director and senior relationship manager, and Kimbrough Towles, managing director and senior portfolio manager, at Fiduciary Trust International. He joined from BNY Mellon Wealth Management. 

ETHIC, the Boston, Massachusetts-based bank, appointed Matt Morse, CFA, as chief investment officer of ETHIC Wealth Advisors, an RIA. Prior to this, Morse worked in the wealth management division of Eaton Vance, where he was also CIO. 

BNY Mellon Wealth Management named Elizabeth Luk as head of BNY Mellon Trust of Delaware, which administers trusts for fiduciary clients where BNY Mellon Trust of Delaware serves as sole trustee, co-trustee, or directed trustee. Luk is based in Greenville, Delaware, and reports directly to Ben McGloin, head of advice, planning and fiduciary services. 

BNY Mellon Wealth Management named Dan Steinberg as a senior wealth manager. He is responsible for advising high net worth clients and family offices. Based in Newport Beach, California, Steinberg reports to managing director, Chad Johnsrud. A Chartered Financial Analyst, Steinberg has more than 20 years of financial services industry experience, including 15 years as a research analyst and portfolio manager at organizations such as Millennium Partners, the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, PIMCO, and Bank of America.

BNY Mellon Wealth Management named Camille Alexander as a regional president in Washington, DC. She is responsible for all aspects of wealth management product, service, and sales delivery. Alexander reports to regional president, Central Region, Andrew Paterson. Prior to joining BNY Mellon in 2013 as a senior client strategist for the Washington, DC region, Alexander held senior positions at JP Morgan, Bank of America and USAA. As a Chartered Financial Analyst, she has served two terms as chairman of the board of the CFA Society of Washington, DC. She is the Eastern Region representative to the President’s Council of CFA Institute and a co-chair of CFA Institute’s US Society Advocacy Advisory Committee.

BNY Mellon Wealth Management brought back a former senior figure, Myriam Soto, as head of international wealth planning and fiduciary services. She reports directly to head of international wealth management, Charles Long. Soto re-joined BNY Mellon, where she previously had a number of roles within international wealth management, including head of global fiduciary planning and development, and president and chairman of the board of the BNY Mellon Cayman Trust Company. Prior to returning to BNY Mellon, she spent two years as a senior wealth advisor for JP Morgan’s Latin America Private Bank.

Miles Lewis, CFA, joined Royce Investment Partners as a portfolio manager on Royce Total Return and Dividend Value Funds, part of Royce & Associates. Prior to coming to the firm, he was a portfolio manager (2014-2020) and investment analyst (2010-2014) for the Small-Cap Value Fund and Strategy at American Century Investments.

A team of former UBS financial advisors operating as Isaacs & Paller Wealth Management of Raymond James joined the employee advisor channel at Raymond James & Associates. The advisors are Charles Isaacs and David Paller, and they are based in Woodland Hills, California. The team includes financial advisor Thomas Rockel and senior client service associate Stella Llamas. Prior to this, the team worked at UBS, overseeing more than $360 million in assets for a variety of clients, including entertainment executives.

Raymond James also welcomed financial advisors Jason Jachimowicz and Lynn Shook to its employee advisor broker/dealer in Boulder, Colorado. Jachimowicz and Shook joined from Morgan Stanley, where they previously managed around $140 million in client assets. They joined the Boulder Downtown office, which is part of the Denver Complex managed by Ari Litvin. The team operates as Emerald Peak Wealth Management of Raymond James.

Raymond James welcomed financial advisor Jac Carrington to its employee advisor broker/dealer in Columbia, South Carolina. Carrington has been in the financial services industry for over a decade and joined from Morgan Stanley, where he previously managed about $134 million in client assets. 

EisnerAmper, the global business advisory firm, appointed Carol Surowiec as a tax partner in its real estate services group in the US. Concentrating primarily on pass-through entities with a heavy emphasis on real estate, Surowiec has more than 30 years of public accounting experience serving clients from individual entrepreneurs to multinational companies - both publicly traded and closely held. Surowiec is based in EisnerAmper’s Miami office. 

The Cetera Financial Group, a network of wealth management firms, forged new teams to build client growth. The advisor growth teams are led by Elisa Del Valle and Craig Markham, elevated to the position of advisor growth officers. The team was completed with Malissa Lischin, who recently joined Cetera and brings 25 years of experience in financial services with a core competency in key account management and strategic growth. Kim Holweger was promoted to head of operations for Cetera. Holwegger has 34 years in service roles at Cetera and will be expanding oversight across operations teams.

Steward Partners Global Advisory, a wealth firm associated with Raymond James Financial Services, opened its newest office in Norfolk, Virginia. The group comprises George Nottingham, Susan Nottingham, and Michelle Huffman, who joined from Wells Fargo where they oversaw $220 million in client assets. Other joiners were Tommy Leeman, and Karen Bittenbender, also from Wells Fargo.  

Pritzker Private Capital, a direct investing shop, appointed Jeff Carlson as director of technology, a newly-created position. Carlson served as director of information technology at Pritzker Group since 2014.

Verus, an investment consulting and outsourced chief investment office provider, opened a new office in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, marking its expansion to the mid-west and the east coast. Staff at the office include consultant Mark Brubaker, who joined as managing director, senior consultant, and member of Verus' management committee. Max Giolitti, chief risk officer, managing director, and Verus management committee member, relocated from Seattle to join the Pittsburgh team. Giolitti, who joined Verus in 2011, served as risk director for Microsoft Corporation and the Alaska Permanent Fund.

David A Valenti, an attorney and certified financial planner with 37 years of wealth management experience, joined multi-family office Virtue Asset Management in Barrington, Illinois, as a financial advisor. Valenti most recently was a senior vice president at Bank of America Private Bank in Chicago. 

Kristen Bauer was appointed chief executive of Laird Norton Wealth Management, part of the Laird Norton group which is based in Seattle, Washington. Bauer succeeded Robert Moser who retired. Bauer came to Laird Norton from Tiedemann Advisors.

Adams Street Partners, a private markets investment management firm with more than $41 billion of assets under management, appointed Robin Murray and Dave Brett to join the firm's executive committee. Murray succeeded Terry Gould as head of growth equity investments. Gould remained an active member of Adams Street's growth equity team.

Murray joined the firm as a partner on the growth equity investment team in 2008, and is based in Adams Street's Menlo Park office where he focuses on the technology sector. Murray is a member of the Growth Equity Investment Committee, the Diversity and Inclusion Committee, and the Environmental, Social and Governance Committee. Brett, based in Chicago, joined Adams Street in 2005 as head of co-investments and chairs the co-investment committee. 

Michigan-based Northpointe Bank appointed Brian Kuelbs as its chief financial officer and chief investment officer. Kuelbs leads the bank's corporate financial strategy. Prior to this role, Kuelbs' served as chief financial officer and CIO for public and privately held depository institutions, private-equity-backed ventures and specialty real estate finance companies.  

Alex Brown, a division of Raymond James, brought in advisors Enrique Triana and Ricardo Kassin to the division’s Miami, Florida, branch. Triana joined from UBS, where he managed $110 million in client assets. He has been in the financial services industry for over 36 years and serves a diverse range of clients that includes business owners, entrepreneurs, landowners, independent professionals, corporate executives and corporations. 

Prospera Financial Services, the Texas-based business, said that Dan Chapman, Chris Chapman, and Tasha Chapman of Chapman Wealth Management affiliated with the firm. The investment planning team is located in Sartell, Minnesota. Dan Chapman, president and founder of Chapman Wealth Management, has worked in the space for more than 30 years.