A round-up of moves, appointments and personnel changes in the world's wealth management industry.

Billy Obregon was appointed as head of private clients Americas and CEO of Vontobel Swiss Financial Advisers. Obregon, who is based in New York, has over 20 years of experience in the financial industry and a track record in wealth management and advisory services. Prior to joining Vontobel SFA, Obregon worked at Deutsche Bank, where he was responsible for covering US and Latin American clients.

UK investment manager Schroders appointed Oliver Gregson as its new CEO of wealth management. He replaced Mary-Anne Daly, who is slated to step back from her full-time responsibilities as the CEO of wealth management at the end of June. Daly is continuing as a strategic advisor to Schroders’ wealth business.  3

Gregson is due to report to Richard Oldfield, group chief executive and assume responsibility for Cazenove Capital, the high net worth wealth management arm of Schroders in the UK, Benchmark and Schroders Personal Wealth in the UK. Gregson has 25 years of experience in wealth management, private banking and asset management.

UK wealth manager Brooks Macdonald made two senior hires: Neil Cowell was named distribution director, and Debbie Dalzell was appointed as chief people officer.

Lincoln Private Investment Office, a UK-based firm, appointed Stuart Moss as a wealth planner. Moss, who has more than 20 years of experience in financial service, was previously a partner at Tavistock Select.

UK-based Monument, a cloud-native challenger bank dedicated to serving the mass affluent, appointed Michael Morley as a board member. Morley, who has more than 30 years of executive and board experience in international services, served as an independent non-executive director with Hargreaves Lansdown in the UK since 2022 and with Deutsche Bank in Spain and in Switzerland. He was previously CEO of Coutts and Co and Deutsche Bank’s UK wealth management business.

Quilter Cheviot Europe, a European subsidiary of UK wealth manager Quilter Cheviot, appointed Gabriel Ramsey as head of distribution for Ireland. Ramsey, who has more than 20 years’ experience in building and leading business development teams, joined from Treasury Products & Investments (TPI), a firm he founded and led. 

FNZ, the global wealth management platform, appointed Aashish Kamat as group chief financial officer and member of the executive committee. He succeeded Stewart Maclean, who moved into a group finance director role, after a period leading the finance function in 2024. 

Kamat has more than 32 years of experience in banking and financial services, private equity and public accounting. Between 2019 and 2021, he was a co-managing partner at L Catterton’s GCC Asia Growth Fund, and a senior partner in the Singapore Office. Prior to this, Kamat served in senior roles across wholesale, investment, private and consumer banking. He was country head for UBS India between 2012 and 2018 and held regional chief operating officer (COO) and CFO positions at JP Morgan and Bank of America in New York and Hong Kong.

FNZ appointed James Dunne as managing director, client management and business development, reporting to Alastair Conway, FNZ’s group head of UKMEA. Previously at Santander, Dunne served in several senior roles driving growth and digital transformation. 

Saxo Bank appointed Christian Grønning as global head of communications, PR, and social media. In this role, he directs PR and communication efforts across all regions. 

Edmond de Rothschild, the European private banking house, named Penny Lovell as UK private banking head. She joined from Citi Private Bank, after being at the US group since 2023. Hottinger CEO Mark Robertson became board chairman. Lovell, who joined Citigroup in 2022, has more than 20 years of banking experience. Previously, she was managing director and head of HNW clients at Citi Private Bank. Before Citigroup, Lovell worked at Fleming Family & Partners, Rothschild & Co Asset Management and Close Brothers Group.

VG, a Jersey-based private wealth, funds and corporate services provider, appointed Stacey Anne Sunley as associate director in its private wealth division. Sunley operates from Jersey. 

UK-based Wealthify, an investment and savings service, appointed Jessie Kwok as its chief investment officer, succeeding Colleen McHugh. McHugh continues to contribute to Wealthify as part of its investment committee and as an investment consultant. Kwok was previously a senior investment director for over three years at Investec. 

Ocorian appointed Simona Watkis as head of its private client arm in the Cayman Islands. Watkis, who brings a decade of wealth management experience to the role, was most recently president and CEO at PROVEN Wealth. 

Oak Group in Guernsey, which provides private client, fund and corporate services, appointed Siobhan Bousfield as director. Bousfield, who has almost two decades’ experience in the finance industry, held positions with both local and multi-jurisdictional trust and company service providers. 

Rathbones appointed Gemma Gooch as head of charities distribution, a new group-wide role. Based in London, she reports to Jayne Rogers, Rathbones’ chief distribution officer. Prior to joining Rathbones, Gooch was managing director, co-head of social impact at BlackRock; she was also co-president of The BlackRock Foundation.

Charles Stanley, the investment manager, appointed Paul Measures as the new head of intermediary sales and strategic partnerships (North). In the previous 10 years, he was head of intermediary sales Legal & General Asset Management. 

Former CEO of Bordier & Cie (UK) Jamie MacLeod became the first-ever director general of the Big Issue Group, a UK-based social enterprise.

Bob Cossey, the wealth management consultant whose business – Parkwell – bought Compeer over 20 years ago and helped drive the business’s success, died at the age of 69. 

IQ-EQ promoted regional CEO, UK, Ireland and Crown Dependencies, John Legrand to deputy group CEO and recruited Richard Surrency as group chief commercial officer. He replaced Emma Crabtree.

Crestbridge Family Office Services appointed Steve Sokic as its new chairman, succeeding John Harris, who remained with the business in a senior advisor role. 

International financial advisory firm Hoxton Wealth opened its first office in Mexico City with a team of four. The team is led by newly-appointed country manager Aaron Vickery. Vickery started his career in finance in 2003 working as an analyst for St James’s Place in London.

ZEDRA appointed Tony DeBiase as group chief financial officer to drive financial strategy and growth, based in Jersey. With over three decades of industry experience, DeBiase joined from The Davies Group, where he was group CFO for 12 years. 

Ocorian appointed Veena Karuthasen as head of Bovill Newgate in Dubai, coinciding with Ocorian’s launch of Bovill Newgate in the Middle East. Karuthasen has more than 15 years’ expertise in the space. Prior to this, she led the business advisory compliance function for a UAE-based bank. 

Avaloq appointed Dr Heiko Beck as managing director for Europe to oversee the firm’s activities in Germany, the UK, Luxembourg and the rest of Europe. He is based in Zurich. The role was previously held by Thomas Fischer. 

Mohamed Kallala, Natixis CEO – in charge of corporate and investment banking, and Philippe Setbon, deputy CEO – in charge of asset and wealth management, joined the executive management committee of parent bank BPCE.

Lombard Odier Investment Managers appointed Fabian Huonder as senior sales for wholesale distribution in Switzerland, based in Zurich. He reports to Samira Sadik, head of wholesale distribution Switzerland, and works with Christèle Clémence, who joined LOIM in September last year to lead strategic accounts. Huondon, who has 20 years’ experience across banking and asset management, was most recently responsible for sales and distribution for JP Morgan Asset Management in Switzerland. 

EFG Private Bank appointed Rajiv Gaglani as the new head of UK wealth planning. He succeeded Ken Chapman, who decided to step down after six years with EFG to pursue other opportunities. Gaglani reports to Michael Vlahovic, head of private banking at EFG Private Bank and Evgenia Goti Koukoumaki, global head of wealth planning at EFG International. Prior to joining EFG Private Bank, Gaglani worked at UK-headquartered banking group Standard Chartered where he served as a wealth advisor.

Zurich-listed Leonteq, a structured products and insurance products firm, appointed a new chief executive, Christian Spieler, succeeding Lukas Ruflin, one of its founders. 

7IM hired two senior managers – Daniel Willsher as head of network relationships and Lloyd Swinton as senior platform relationship manager.

London law firm Hunters Law appointed Caroline Foulger as a partner in the private client department. Foulger specialises in advising on tax planning, trusts, wills and probate and lasting powers of attorney.

Northern Trust Asset Management hired 13 investment personnel, including quantitative researchers, portfolio analysts and quantitative developers in Amsterdam. They joined NTAM’s quantitative strategies team under the leadership of global head of quantitative strategies Mark Sodergren and Guido Baltussen, head of quantitative strategies international. The joiners included Maarten Smit; Tim Zwinkels; Edmund Wadge, and Gijsbert de Lange. 

Nuveen appointed Harriet Steel as global head of institutional business. Based in London, Steel reports to Mike Perry, head of the firm’s global client group. The role is a newly formed one. Before this role, Steel was partner and head of global clients for Pemberton, a European private debt manager.

Broadridge Financial Solutions appointed Quentin Limouzi in the new role of global head of post-trade. Prior to joining Broadridge, Limouzi served in leadership and senior executive roles with LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group), TS Imagine (formerly TradingScreen), HSBC and BNP Paribas.

GAM Investments hired three European equity team members from Janus Henderson Investors. The team, led by Tom O’Hara, includes Jamie Ross and David Barker. 

JTC Law made two partner appointments, including establishing its first on-the-ground presence in the Caribbean. Ruth Hatt is JTC Law’s first partner based in the Cayman Islands, while Fiona Dalton was appointed as head of banking and finance within the firm’s Jersey team.

Stonehage Fleming Investment Management said Nick Burchett assumed the full management of two of the firm’s funds: TM Stonehage Fleming Opportunities Fund; and the TM Stonehage Fleming AIM Fund.

State Street Global Advisors, the asset management arm of Boston-headquartered State Street Corporation, appointed Gordon Kearney as head of investments, State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) Europe. Based in Dublin, Kearney reports to Olivia Engel, head of investment strategy and operations.

North America
In unquestionably the largest story of the month, Bob Oros left Hightower as CEO and it replaced him with a Goldman Sachs lifer, Larry Restieri, most recently CEO of Ayco, the Goldman unit that manages portfolios of corporate executives.

Billy Obregon was appointed as head of private clients Americas and CEO of Vontobel Swiss Financial Advisers. Obregon, based in New York, has over 20 years of experience in the financial industry and a track record in wealth management and advisory services. Prior to joining Vontobel SFA, Obregon worked at Deutsche Bank, where he was responsible for covering US and Latin American clients.

Louisiana-based Argent Financial Group appointed Dan Bryan as senior vice president and director of trust services in its Atlanta office. Bryan has more than 35 years of financial services experience, primarily in trust and wealth management. Prior to this, Bryan worked at Regions Bank, where he served as fiduciary business leader and senior vice president in its private wealth management division. Before that, he spent 17 years at SunTrust Bank as fiduciary executive and senior vice president. He reports to chief investment officer John McCollum.

Citi Private Bank appointed Chris Biotti, a former Bank of America Private Bank senior figure, as its North America team head. Biotti, who has more than 25 years’ private banking and wealth experience, worked at BoA’s private bank for 13 years, most recently as Northeast division executive. Previously, Biotti held management positions in private banking for Neuberger Berman and Lehman Brothers in San Francisco. Earlier in his career, Biotti played professional ice hockey. 

The US business of international financial advisory firm Hoxton Wealth appointed a former senior US regulator Justin Burse as its new US compliance chief. Burse most recently served as the Deputy Commissioner and then the Acting Commissioner for the Kentucky Department of Financial Institutions, where he oversaw regulated entities, including banks, credit unions, investment advisors, broker-dealers and the mortgage industry.  

Hoxton also opened its first office in Mexico City with a team of four. The team is led by newly-appointed country manager Aaron Vickery. Vickery started his career in finance in 2003 working as an analyst for St James’s Place in London. He divides his time between the US and Mexico helping professionals and high net worth families to build and protect their wealth.

Rockefeller Global Family Office, the wealth management division of Rockefeller Capital Management, added Meyer DeMartini Wealth Partners, based in San Francisco. The group used to work at Merrill Lynch Private Wealth Management. Meyer DeMartini is led by managing director and private advisor Lorna Meyer. The group also includes senior vice presidents and private advisors James DeMartini, Andrew Meyer and William Meyer, and vice presidents and senior client relationship managers Becky Chen and Keri Chan. The team reports to Brian Riley, Western divisional director of Rockefeller Global Family Office.  

Tolleson Wealth Management appointed Peter Chilian, an experienced industry figure, as its new president and chief investment officer. Chilian joined the firm’s board in 2024. Following more than two decades at JP Morgan, Chilian’s most recent tenure was as managing director and head of Texas coverage at BDT & MSD Partners.

Private Advisor Group, a US wealth manager, expanded a program designed to help advisors scale up their businesses. As part of the change, PAG added John Farnham as a director of advisor growth and engagement. Farnham, who has over 15 years of industry experience, served in business development and relationship management roles at LPL Financial and other large RIA firms. 

Domain Money Advisors, a US financial planning platform and RIA, added three certified financial planners to its roster of professionals: Alicija Dearth, Christine Damico and Michael LaCivita.

Cresset hired Melissa Karetny as executive managing director and chief people officer. Karetny has more than 20 years of experience as a human resources leader. Most recently, she completed a transition role with JP Morgan Chase supporting the integration of talent and human resources processes following the acquisition of First Republic Bank. She is based in San Francisco.

US-based investment house Baron Capital appointed Jamie Stone as global head of product development. He has more than 35 years of experience on Wall Street, including nearly 16 years at Baron Capital. 

Bank of America Private Bank appointed Mike Marino as Georgia market executive. Previously, he worked at JP Morgan Private Bank, where he was vice chairman of its South Atlantic region.

Chicago-based Gresham Partners promoted Irene Zhang to investment director. Zhang, who joined the firm in 2020, is a senior member of the private team reporting to Sean Warrington, partner and head of private investments. Prior to Gresham, Zhang worked in PwC’s Deals practice, advising Fortune 500 clients on complex accounting issues during M&A transactions. 

Luma Financial Technologies appointed Jeff Schwantz joined as its chief growth officer. Schwantz, who has worked in platform strategy, sales leadership, and successor success for 25 years, has served in executive roles at Pershing, Morningstar, eMoney and, most recently, as chief revenue officer (CRO) at Advisor360. 

Integrated Partners, an RIA, promoted Matt Ackermann to chief brand officer. He joined the firm in 2020 as chief content officer.

AssetMark a wealth management platform provider, appointed Doris Meister and Lisa Opoku to join its board of directors. Meister is a financial services CEO with experience in strategy, business transformation, finance, investments, and governance. Most recently, she served as chairman and CEO of Wilmington Trust.

Opoku, chief operating officer at FS Investments, has more than two decades of leadership experience in global financial services. Prior to joining FS Investments, Opoku held senior leadership positions at Goldman Sachs, including global head of the Goldman Sachs partner family office within asset and wealth.

Financial advisor Jeff Impey joined the branch channel of Ameriprise Financial, from LPL Financial, with $130 million in assets in Roseville, California. Impey has more than 18 years of experience in the financial services industry. 

CD&R appointed former Charles Schwab chief financial officer Peter Crawford as an operating advisor to CD&R funds. Crawford spent 23 years at Charles Schwab, holding a number of senior management positions. 

Georgia-chartered Synovus Bank named Walt Deriso as CEO and Hamilton Hilsman as president of The Family Office (TFO) at Synovus, respectively. Deriso reports to Wayne Akins, executive vice president, chief community banking and wealth services officer for Synovus, and Hilsman reports to Deriso.  

Deriso has been with Synovus for nearly a decade, most recently serving as senior vice president, director of strategic growth and family office solutions for TFO. Hilsman has more than 30 years of experience in the financial services industry, with 28 of those years at Synovus. He joined TFO in 2004.

Mercer Advisors appointed Alisa Maute in the newly-created role of executive managing director, head of client development. Maute was previously an executive vice president at LPL Financial where she worked with advisory firms across the country.

Financial advisor Ronnie Sansom joined the independent channel of Ameriprise Financial from Edward Jones with $110 million in assets. His practice is in Andalusia, Alabama and includes branch administrator Karen Philpott.

Milemarker, a technology platform working with independent broker-dealers and RIAs, appointed Kailash Duraiswami as its chief technology officer. Previously, Duraiswami founded Pantenix, an artificial intelligence platform that automates manual data-entry processes for alternative investments. 

Global business advisor EisnerAmper named Dean Peterson as international tax services leader. Peterson has more than 20 years of experience providing tax consulting and compliance solutions for privately and publicly held companies. 

Cetera Financial Group announced that Corporate Plans Retirement Strategies joined Cetera Wealth Partners. CRRS, led by partners Brian Vieselmeyer, Peter Swansen, Jr and founder Gerald M Mirra, provides financial planning and investment advice. The group joined Cetera from Equity Services and operates from White Plains, New York. Cetera Wealth Partners is a community within Cetera Advisor Networks.

AssetMark, a wealth management technology platform for financial advisors, appointed Alex Pape as its new chief technology and product officer. Pape reports to Lou Maiuri, chairman and group CEO of AssetMark. Pape most recently served as the global head of product for BlackRock’s Aladdin Wealth Tech Business. Muk Mehta, chief information officer, continues to report to Maiuri, overseeing the company’s advanced infrastructure, security, and data strategy.

SimCorp appointed Keith Haberlin as global head of business services, sales, based in Boston. Haberlin has over 30 years of experience in delivering financial, technology and data solutions to asset managers and financial institutions. Most recently, he served as co-head of infomediary data solutions at Brown Brothers Harriman. 

Raymond James
The firm welcomed financial advisors Fred Arbusto and Ryan Vaughn to its independent advisor channel. As South County Financial Group in Wakefield, Rhode Island, the advisors provide financial planning to clients including business owners, families and those nearing or living in retirement. The team was previously at LPL Financial, where they managed around $110 million in client assets.

Anand Subramanian joined as head of private capital markets. Ken Novak transitioned to the newly-created role of head of private markets strategy for the private client group at Raymond James. Novak also serves as co-head of the alternative investments group alongside Chris Butler. The capital markets group is led by Kent Nelson.

Raymond James welcomed financial advisor Matt Schultz to its independent advisor channel, in Watford City, North Dakota.

Schultz joined the team at Midwest Wealth as Western division president, serving clients including business owners, families, retirees and farmers. Previously, he was affiliated with LPL Financial where he managed about $160 million in client assets.

Raymond James welcomed financial advisor Valerie Zwosta to the firm's employee advisor channel in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Zwosta arrived from Wells Fargo, where she managed about $110 million in client assets. She leads Zwosta Wealth Management of Raymond James.

Broadridge, a fintech firm, appointed Larry Conover as vice president, special advisor for proxy and corporate actions. Prior to this, Conover worked at Fidelity Investments, as vice president for the operations and services group. He has worked in financial services for more than 25 years. Based in New York, Conover reports to Swatika Rajaram, senior VP, head of US proxy and post-sale business.

Asia-Pacific
Sun Life appointed Georgina Farrell as chief human resources officer for Asia. She is based in Hong Kong, reporting to Helena Pagano, executive vice-president (EVP), chief people and culture officer, Sun Life, and Manjit Singh, president, Sun Life Asia. Before this, Farrell was chief people officer at RSA, UK, Ireland and Europe.

FWD Group, a pan-Asian insurance group operating in areas which include cover for HNW clients and other customer cohorts, appointed three board members: Andrew Weir, Dominic Leung Ka Kui, and Laura Deal-Lacey. Separately, Richard Sun Po Yuen retired from the board. 

DBS appointed Derrick Goh, group audit head, to the newly-formed role of group chief operating officer. 

Koh Kar Siong, group head of corporate and SME banking, took over as group audit head. 

Goh has been with DBS since 2008. Koh joined DBS in 2003 and has worked across businesses and geographies. 

Jimmy Ng, group head of operations, was due to retire from executive duties with effect from 1 July 2025 and be made senior advisor for the bank’s artificial intelligence efforts until 31 December 2025.

DBS made other moves: Chen Ze Ling, Singapore head of corporate banking, succeeded Koh as group head of corporate and SME banking. Chen reports to Han Kwee Juan, group head of institutional banking. Prior to his current role, Chen was most recently country head of DBS Australia, a role he assumed in 2019.

Welson Jamin, head of institutional banking group operations and international centres technology and operations, was appointed group head of operations. Jamin, who has 25 years of technology and operations experience with DBS, reports to Derrick Goh, who assumed the role of group COO.

WRISE Group appointed Chen Jingwei as regional chief investment officer. Chen Jingwei oversees all investment-related activities across the firm’s mass-affluent segment, WRISE Prestige Hong Kong, in addition to his responsibilities as chief investment strategist at WRISE Private Singapore. Prior to joining the firm in 2022, Chen Jingwei held prominent positions at Julius Baer, Leonteq, and Bank of America Merrill Lynch. 

Citi Private Bank hired Hoo Peng Han, as a director of its global family office group, concentrating on the Asia South market. Previously, he worked at UBS and Credit Suisse. Hoo Peng Han, a Singaporean, is based in Singapore. He joined Stephan Lanz, a Singapore-based director of the global family office team.

JP Morgan Asset Management appointed Naomi Finnigan as a high net worth client advisor for Australia. Based in Melbourne, she reports to Mark Carlile, head of wholesale, Australia and New Zealand. Prior to JPMAM, Finnigan served as the head of investment solutions at Netwealth, where she led the strategy and distribution of investment solutions, which involved collaborating with internal teams and external stakeholders. 

Global real estate investment manager LaSalle Investment Management made two key leadership appointments in Asia Pacific. Steve Hyung Kim was appointed Asia-Pacific co-chief investment officer; he partners with Kunihiko (Nick) Okumura who is continuing as APAC co-CIO.

Additionally, effective 1 July, Kim and Okumura, who succeed Keith Fujii as co-heads of Asia Pacific, were slated to join LaSalle’s global management committee. Kim and Okumura also continue to serve as CEO of Japan and head of Korea respectively.

Charles Russell Speechlys, the international law firm, appointed Gaven Cheong as partner within the funds team in Hong Kong. Previously, Cheong served as head of investment funds for three years from 2021 at Tiang & Partners.

BNP Paribas appointed Alexis Wu as market head for Hong Kong at its wealth management arm. Wu reports to Lemuel Lee, head of wealth management, Hong Kong. Previously, Wu was managing director and co-head of private wealth management at China Merchants Bank International (CMBI).

Monroe Capital appointed Galen Fu, director for business development. He is based in the firm’s Sydney office. Fu has more than 14 years of experience in capital raising, portfolio management and banking in the Asia-Pacific region. 

Citigroup appointed Christie Chang as the new CEO for Taiwan and the chairman of Citibank Taiwan. She took the helm from Aftab Ahmed, who was set to retire after 50 years of service with the US banking group. Chang reports to Marc Luet, head of Japan, Asia North and Australia and banking.

SCB Julius Baer appointed Adrian Mazenauer as the new CEO. Mazenauer had served as deputy CEO and head of wealth management Thailand at SCB Julius Baer. Still based in Thailand, he replaced Peerapong Jirasevijinda who stepped down last October for personal reasons.

JP Morgan Asset Management appointed Kaguya Komatsu as CEO for its Japan business. Komatsu took over from Shoichi Ohkoshi, who became the firm’s chairman. Both individuals report to Dan Watkins, APAC chief executive of JPMAM. Joining JPMAM in 2011, Komatsu most recently served as head of funds and institutional business for Japan. In the case of Ohkoshi, he joined JP Morgan in 1994 within its corporate and investment bank, switching to leading its Japanese asset management business from 2015. 

Howden appointed Steve Hutchinson as chief broking officer in its Hong Kong business. Hutchinson, who is based in Hong Kong, reports to Alfred Sham, CEO for Howden Hong Kong. Prior to this, Hutchinson was senior vice president and risk management practice team leader for Marsh Asia, based in Hong Kong.

PineBridge Investments appointed Angie Ng as chief executive for Malaysia, and managing director, equities. Based in Kuala Lumpur, Ng is responsible for PineBridge’s Malaysia office.