Raymond James CFO to Retire
Jeff Julien has been with the independent broker-dealer for 32 years and will remain on the board of Raymond James bank.
Raymond James said Chief Financial Officer Jeff Julien — who has been with the firm since 1983 — will retire at year-end. He is set to be replaced by Paul Shoukry, the firm’s treasurer and senior vice president of finance and investor relations.
“Jeff has had an extraordinary career, serving over 32 years as Raymond James’ CFO, during which time we have enjoyed 124 consecutive quarters of profitability,” according to Chairman and CEO Paul Reilly.
“In addition to leading our finance function during a remarkable period of organic and acquired growth, Jeff also oversaw the formation and development of Raymond James Bank, which represented 38% of the firm’s pretax income this past year,” the executive added.
As part of Julien’s retirement, he will remain a director on the bank board and a member of several management committees.
In a related development, Jennifer Ackart, senior vice president and chief accounting officer, has been tapped as CFO of the firm’s employee advisors channel. This post was previously held by Richard (Rick) Franz, who retired earlier this year.
“Paul and Jennifer have done an outstanding job managing critical aspects of our finance functions and bring considerable expertise and institutional knowledge to their roles,” Reilly explained. “A meaningful part of Jeff’s legacy is the strong leadership team Paul, Jennifer and others represent.”
Shoukry, CPA, joined Raymond James in the firm’s Assistant to the Chairman program in 2010, while Ackart, CPA, is a trustee for the firm’s retirement plans and serves on the board of directors for the Raymond James’ Canadian subsidiary. Earlier, she was the controller of HSW Environmental Sciences, after serving in the audit/assurance division of Price Waterhouse (now PricewaterhouseCoopers).
Latest Results
In the quarter ended Dec. 31, Raymond James topped analysts’ estimates with net income of $249 million, or $1.69 per share, vs. $119 million, or $0.80 per share, a year earlier. Sales improved 12% year over year to $1.93 billion.
Though assets dropped as markets declined, the Private Client Group produced a 10% increase in revenues from last year to $1.36 billion, which topped the earlier quarter by 4%. Pretax net income for the unit rose 6% from last year and 25% from the prior quarter to $164 million.
Raymond James has a total of 7,815 advisors, up two from the prior quarter and 278 from a year earlier. The number of independent advisors stands at 4,679 in the U.S., Canada and United Kingdom.
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