Citi Private Bank has hired Robert Blais and Hoyt Gier as managing directors in Seattle. The Blais-Gier team, which includes Lea Redfield, join from Goldman Sachs where they co-headed the firm's largest private wealth management team in Seattle, according to Citi.

They report to Nancy Pellegrino, head of the Pacific Northwest for Citi Private Bank. The additions to the team mark the latest development in an ongoing effort to grow the private bank’s headcount.

"They [new hires] will be instrumental in growing our Northwest franchise as we continue to expand in this important region," Pellegrino said in a statement.

Prior to joining Goldman Sachs in 2001, Blais practised law for more than 20 years. As a partner at Bogle & Gates and then as a founding shareholder of Gores & Blais, he advised ultra high net worth individuals and families on legal and planning issues.  

Gier has more than 25 years of investment management, business development and corporate finance experience. He opened Goldman's private wealth management Seattle office in 2000.  Redfield joined Goldman in 1998 as a client analyst in Los Angeles and relocated to the firm’s Seattle office in 2002.