JP Morgan Private Bank Expands In "Dynamic" Northern California With Raft Of Hires

Eliane Chavagnon

27 November 2013

has added five new advisors to its private banking offices in Northern California, which the firm said it regards as a “dynamic and diversified economy.”

Tom Catanese, Dennis Hearst, Andy Micallef, Katie Wert and Jesse Wood join as vice presidents and private bankers, except Micallef who is a VP and investment specialist. They will all report to managing directors and heads of the Northern California market, Jeremy Geller and Christine Leong.

JP Morgan opened its San Francisco private banking office in 1990 and a second Palo Alto-based one to serve Northern California in 2011. The firm’s roots in Northern California date back to 1968 and it now has some 100 advisors dedicated to that region.

The new appointees will join a team that advises and provides wealth management strategies to individuals, their families and non-profit organizations.

“Northern California’s dynamic and diversified economy is driving an enormous amount of wealth creation,” Geller said. “Beyond the well-known entrepreneur and venture culture here, we have the largest concentration of public companies in the country, and are seeing a growing presence of hedge funds and private equity firms in the area.”

Hires

Cantanese has transferred from JP Morgan’s asset management division to focus on wealth management services for public company executives. With 14 years of industry experience, Cantanese has spent time working for JP Morgan, Charles Schwab and Northern Trust. He also spent five years in corporate development with Advent Software in San Francisco.

Hearst has joined the firm to focus on wealth management services for hedge fund principals. Hearst has spent 18 years advising hedge fund clients in the Bay Area, most recently as a vice president in institutional equity sales with Goldman Sachs. Previously, he was vice president in institutional equities with Credit Suisse and before that, with Volpe Brown Whelan.

Meanwhile, Micallef, a vice president and investment specialist, spent the last nine years at UBS in London, where he held positions in both the private banking and investment banking divisions. In his new role as an investment specialist, he will construct and oversee client investment portfolios.

Wert comes across from JP Morgan’s private bank office in New York to focus on wealth management services for public company executives and principals at privately-held financial institutions. Wert spent the last seven years advising some of the “most sophisticated clients” in New York, JP Morgan said - primarily in the financial services industry. Wert joined JP Morgan in June 2006 as part of the Private Bank Analyst program.

Lastly, Wood will focus on wealth management services for public company executives and venture capitalists. Wood spent the last 11 years in the fixed income division at Goldman Sachs, where he also helped to start a desk for hedge fund financing. He later moved to the Bay Area to cover corporate bond trading funds. Throughout his career, he has focused primarily on advising hedge funds, money managers, insurance companies and pension funds.