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May 04, 2015 at 09:57 AM
The employee advisor channel of Raymond James Financial (RJF) said Monday it hired three complex managers from UBS (UBS) and Wells Fargo (WFC) to support its growth efforts.
In addition, Raymond James & Associates recently recruited a team of two female advisors in California from Morgan Stanley (MS) with about $140 million in client assets and annual fees and commissions of $1.1 million. Meanwhile, the independent advisor group Raymond James Financial Services added an advisor in Wheaton, Illinois, from BKD Wealth Advisors, where he previously managed some $130 million in client assets and had about $1.3 million in annual production.
“It’s exciting to have such experienced and proven managers as … all [three] decide[d] the time was right for them to join the Raymond James team and help us continue our expansions in the Northeast and Midwest,” said Tash Elwyn, president of RJA, in a statement. “We look forward to supporting their efforts and offering and extending our firm’s culture, technology and high level of service to advisors in each of their respective markets.”
The new complex managers include Judson Potter, CFP, who will be based in Westport, Connecticut. He moved to Raymond James from UBS, where he was a financial advisor, branch manager and complex manager during his time with the firm.
Most recently, Potter oversaw 40-plus advisors with $4.5 billion in client assets under management. He began his financial services career in 1992 with PaineWebber, which was acquired by UBS in 2000.
Christopher Leavy, formerly with Wells Fargo Advisors, has been named the Northern New Jersey complex manager for RJA in Paramus, New Jersey. At Wells Fargo Advisors, he managed more than 65 advisors with some $5 billion in assets.
Leavy entered the industry at Oppenheimer in 1982, moving to PaineWebber in 1990. In 1998, he joined Wheat First, which was folded into Wachovia and later Wells Fargo.
In Wisconsin, Gary Sievewright was hired as RJA’s Wisconsin complex manager and is based temporarily in Brookfield, a suburb of Milwaukee. Sievewright joined from Wells Fargo, where he was the managing director of the Greater Milwaukee market and oversaw seven offices, 95 advisors, client assets of over $8 billion and annual revenues in excess of $65 million.
Sievewright began his financial services career with Merrill Lynch in 1988 and moved to Prudential Securities 10 years later; Prudential merged with Wachovia in 2003.
“It’s wonderful to be at a firm that owns a bank and is not owned by one,” said Sievewright, in a press release. “As many firms in our industry have become subsidiaries of major banks, Raymond James can operate more nimbly than most of its competition while still providing products and services for both sides of a client’s balance sheet.”
These moves follow Raymond James’ announcement in late April that it appointed marketing veteran Michelle Lynch to the role vice president and director of the firm’s Network for Women Advisors. Lynch, who has 11 years of experience with the company’s Private Client Group and Asset Management divisions at Raymond James, will lead the Network for Women Advisors — which includes more than 800 reps — and other diversity initiatives.
Lynch is replacing Nicole Spinelli, who moved to the Lincoln Financial Network (LNC) earlier this year.
“I am honored to represent and support these successful women,” Lynch said, in a statement. “With a solid foundation in place and strong leadership support for the program, I look forward to leveraging my experience to provide our women advisors with unrivaled dedication to meeting their unique needs and increase the growing number of qualified women advisors joining the firm.”
