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Industry Spotlight > Broker Dealers

Raymond James to Reorganize Employee Advisor Channel

By Jeff Berman

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Raymond James on Thursday announced a regional reorganization of its Raymond James & Associates employee advisor channel. Effective Oct. 1, the shifts will establish “further leadership alignment across” RJA and the firm’s Alex. Brown division, it said.

The firm explained that it is targeting a more unified approach to supporting current and future advisors, according to Tash Elwyn, RJA CEO and president.

“Providing advisors and their clients with a strong leadership team focused on furthering the combined efforts of Raymond James & Associates and Alex. Brown is a key component of our growth strategy,” Elwyn said in a statement.

“Doing so will help identify efficiencies, bolster continued growth, optimize advisor support and add support for expanding strategic markets,” he added.

Playing down the significance of the latest Raymond James’ development, Timothy Welsh, head of the consulting firm Nexus Strategy, told ThinkAdvisor by email Friday: “With brokerage firms the size of RJ, they go through these re-orgs all the time, as various business units grow, shrink or are offloaded — so nothing unusual [is] going on here. Often, they get triggered by the retirement or exit of a senior executive, which looks to be what is happening here.”

In 2020, some two weeks after announcing layoffs of about 4% of its staff, or roughly 500 workers, as part of its need to cut costs in the face of declining earnings, Raymond James said it was merging its investment advisor and custody and clearing businesses into the newly created RIA & Custody Services Division.

Western Division Director Retiring

Raymond James also announced Thursday that Pat Allison, Western division director and senior vice president, will be retiring at the end of the current calendar year.

Allison has been a “valued member of our RJA leadership team” and has had a “remarkable impact … over the past 30 years,” according to Elwyn.

“Our culture of thinking long-term in regard to succession planning has allowed for a thoughtful reimagining of divisional leadership with highly qualified individuals,” Elwyn said.

Allison will be succeeded as division director by Bert White, who will oversee strategic development of the Western division, the firm said. White previously served as regional director in the RJA Eastern division and joined the firm as managing director of the South Florida Complex in 2017.

Tim Killgoar will replace White as regional director of Florida, transitioning from his role as senior vice president and head of the Financial Institutions Division (FID)within Raymond James Financial Services.

Since 2008, Killgoar has served in several capacities at Raymond James, including assistant to the chairman, vice president of client experience and marketing strategy, and vice president, director of Strategy & Consulting for FID.

Steve Kruchten will succeed Killgoar as head of FID, shifting from his position as FID senior vice president of National Relationship Management.

RJA also plans to add a regional director focused entirely on supporting and developing the California market as part of the reorganization, the firm said.

That plan “reflects its continued investment in the Western U.S. to support both the growing number of existing advisors as well as plans for enhanced advisor recruitment,” Elwyn said.

Parent company Raymond James Financial has about 8,700 advisors throughout the U.S., Canada and overseas. Total client assets were about $1.23 trillion as of May 31.

Jeff Berman

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