US Bank has hired four managing directors based in Cincinnati, OH, for Ascent Private Capital Management, its ultra high net worth business.

US Bank has hired four managing directors based in Cincinnati, OH, for Ascent Private Capital Management, its ultra high net worth business.

Christopher Baucom will provide portfolio services to individuals and family foundations. He spent the past 11 years at Fort Washington Investment Advisors, formerly as a managing director of private equity and a member of the firm’s investment committee.

Meanwhile, Justin Stone will oversee services provided for families and foundations, while organizing educational and entertainment activities for wealthy families. Prior to joining Ascent, Stone was an assistant vice president of marketing and product development, also at Fort Washington Investment Advisors.

Larry Lesko will work with UHNW individuals and families, serving as their chief financial officer. He has over 18 years of experience in accounting, auditing, investment portfolio management and financial reporting for family offices, having previously served as an investment officer and portfolio manager at Fifth Third Bank.

Lastly, Scott Mahon will focus on providing multi-generational planning, family governance and trust and fiduciary advisory services. Mahon has over 23 years of experience assisting high net worth families and business owners, with about six years of experience working at the Private Client Reserve - another wealth management unit of US Bank.

The firm said all the appointees will also work closely with other Ascent professionals in the areas of financial administration and reporting, trust administration, fiduciary services, private banking, philanthropy, investments and family education.

Ascent Private Capital Management serves clients with over $25 million in investable assets.

Ascent positioning for growth

US Bank appears to have been pushing its wealth management business to grow lately. It has made numerous hires at Ascent, the highest-end business of its wealth units, as well as the Private Client Reserve, which caters to clients with over $1 million in investable assets.

In December, Ascent added Michelle Walker and Robert Stadler as managing director of investment consulting and managing director of private banking, respectively, in Seattle. The business also opened its doors in Cincinnati with plans to open its doors in San Francisco and San Diego next year, local media reports said. The firm did not respond to Family Wealth Report when contacted about this.

The local office added some clients who previously dealt with US Bank’s Private Client Reserve wealth management unit, and also took on a new local client worth over $100 million who joined Ascent from Fifth Third Bank’s Mirador Family Wealth Advisors, the report said. Michael Cole, Ascent’s San Francisco-based president, told Business Courier that the 60 relationships it has nationally average about $200 million in net worth each.

In other notable moves last year, the bank hired a senior wealth dynamics coach for Ascent in September, in the shape of Kristen Armstrong.

Hires across wealth management

In December Minneapolis-based US Bank also made a bank-level appointment that works across its wealth management businesses, bringing in Terry Sandven as chief equity strategist, a newly-created position in which he reports to chief investment officer Tim Leach.

Sandven is in charge of the equity team that manages individual stocks not managed by third-party managers for all client accounts of Ascent. He also leads the equity workgroup, which supervises equity investment policy and process, and distributes information on equity investment. He joined the firm from Piper Jaffray.

In other important hires for the bank’s wealth management arm as a whole, Gailyn Johnson was brought in as chief operating officer for this unit last July. She leads technology, operations and corporate shared services across all wealth management business lines at US Bank, reporting to Mark Jordahl, president of the wealth management business. She also joined the wealth management executive committee.

Johnson was previously a senior managing director at Wells Fargo Advisor's direct financial solutions business, responsible for multi-channel investment services for mass affluent customers.