LPL, Wells’ FiNet Tap New Execs

LPL Financial said in early June that Dan Arnold, currently head of strategy for the largest independent broker-dealer, had been named chief financial officer of the company, the latest step in a management reorganization that has played out over the last few months.

In assuming the CFO position effective June 15, Arnold replaced Robert Moore, who became LPL’s president (replacing LPL veteran Esther Stearns, who took a new job at the company) and COO on May 1. Following what Arnold says is be a three-month “deliberate and thoughtful” transition period, he will begin reporting to Mark Casady, chairman and CEO of LPL.

Running strategy for the company, Arnold added that he gained a “whole perspective” on the company, noting that he “had the good opportunity to run Uvest for 12 years,” eventually selling Uvest—which provides brokerage services through regional and community banks and credit unions—to LPL in 2006.

Prior to becoming head of strategy for LPL, Arnold was president for four-and-a-half years of LPL’s Institution Services division, which includes Uvest and provides brokerage and insurance services to 680 banks and credit unions.

Becoming CFO, he explained, a role in which he will be able “to support the entire customer base” of LPL, including its nearly 13,000 representatives, “was very appealing to me.”

As CFO, he will continue to manage the public company’s capital with a “strategic outlook” and to align LPL’s investments so as to expand its capabilities, enter new markets and drive more automation and productivity to all its constituents. LPL, he said, will continue to support organic growth opportunities and “acquisition opportunities.”

Wells Fargo Advisors said in early June that Kent Christian is the new president of Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network (FiNet), the firm’s independent channel. Christian replaces John Peluso, who was recently tapped to become president of First Clearing Correspondent Services, a non-bank affiliate of Wells Fargo.