And the firm is recruiting brokers for planned offices in Philly, San Fran. Seeds planted last summer by the Private Wealth Management (PWM) arm of the Midwestern brokerage, capital-markets and asset-management firm Baird have born fruit with the official opening of a private-client office in Baltimore.

Baird recently added 15 brokers for a total headcount of 22 reps under Baltimore office head James Furletti, who joined Baird from Citigroup's Smith Barney last summer.

And Philadelphia

"By adding these talented financial professionals, Baird demonstrates its continued success attracting top advisors who are committed to the same mission: to provide the best financial advice and service to our clients, and to be one of the best places to work for all associates," says Baird PWM director Michael Schroeder.

"We are very excited to be opening our first Baltimore office -- yet another step forward in Baird's ongoing expansion in the mid-Atlantic region," Schroeder adds.

In terms of this expansion, Baird is in the process of opening a Philadelphia office under former Wachovia Securities brokers Brian McGrath and Howard Goodwin -- who, like Furletti, joined Baird in mid 2008.

Baird PWM already has an office in Reston, Va., near Washington, D.C.

West Coast

Baird is also in the process of expanding its PWM business on the West Coast. It has just hired ex-Wachovia Securities broker Paula Johnson, and she's set about recruiting brokers to establish the firm's first wealth management office in downtown San Francisco.

Johnson was a branch manager for Wachovia Securities in San Francisco -- and she managed the same branch for A.G. Edwards before Wachovia acquired the St. Louis-based broker-dealer in 2007.

Steven Stahlberg, who last year joined Baird from Morgan Stanley to help establish Baird PWM offices in northern California and Nevada, calls Johnson "a tremendous asset" to Baird's push for growth in the western U.S.

In addition to planning new offices in the region, Baird PWM added brokers last year to existing branches in Sacramento, Calif., and Phoenix, Ariz., and -- closer to its Milwaukee, Wisc., stomping grounds -- in Minnetonka, Minn.

Baird's 600 or so PWM advisors managed a total of $49 billion in client assets at the end of September 2008 -- down from about $54 billion on 30 June 2008.

Since McGrath, Goodwin and Johnson came to Baird, Wachovia Securities has joined the rest of Wachovia in becoming parts of Wells Fargo. Smith Barney is on it way to joining Morgan Stanley's retail-brokerage business in a private-client joint venture. -FWR

Purchase reproduction rights to this article.