Raymond James has promoted Kirk Bell to director of the central region for Raymond James Financial Services, the firm’s independent broker/dealer.

Bell replaces David Patchen, who was recently appointed senior vice president of PCG Education and Practice Management.

Bell began his financial services career at Merrill Lynch and joined Raymond James in 2000. Since that time he has managed numerous financial advisor and branch professional support areas including RJFS branch services, concierge services and operations support.

As a regional director for RJFS, Bell is responsible for risk management and supervision, branch manager and advisor relationship management, and advisor recruiting. His region includes 12 states, with more than 450 advisors in 217 branches. In addition, he provides practice management coaching to advisors and their teams, who range from mid-level advisors to some of the top advisory firms affiliated with Raymond James.

In other recent hires at the firm, last month Raymond James hired Chris Rogers, Steve Guthrie, Dana Ricker and David Mitchell, as financial advisors in Portland, ME.