Stone & Youngberg has hired Stephen Collins as senior vice president nad New York branch manager for its private client group.

Collins, who used to be the institutional and retail sales and development head at Laidlaw & Co, will be responsible for building the firm's high net worth private client operations in the Northeast. The New York office is the firm's second largest outside of its main San Francisco branch.

Stone & Youngberg provides investment services and specializes in tax-exempt and taxable securities. This latest hire is part of the company's drive to strengthen operations in the Northeast and comes shortly after the hire of three specialists to its public finance division in New York.