It was a very tough year for branch managers. Major firms such as Morgan Stanley Smith Barney [MS] and UBS [UBS] moved to a "complex" management structure, under which one complex manager oversees a number of branches. And the producing branch manager model is back in demand.

But our Top 100 Honorees in the 2009 On Wall Street Branch Manager Awards, sponsored by MainStay Investments have proven themselves to be exceedingly resilient in dealing with this overwhelming change. From this group, the top 10 will emerge later this year.

Go to this link for the full list:

http://www.bma.onwallstreet.com/

Frances McMorris was named editor-in-chief of ON WALL STREET in February 2008, after serving as executive editor since December 2004. She also created and serves as the host of AdvisorTV, an online video interview show appearing at onwallstreet.com.

From indictments to verdicts and appeals, Ms. McMorris has covered many major, high-profile cases in both federal and state courts as a legal affairs reporter for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Daily News, Newsday and The New York Law Journal. The cases that she has covered include: the seditious conspiracy trial of Sheik Oman Abdel Rahman, the blind Egyptian cleric convicted of being the spiritual mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center; the constitutional battle over the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” military policy; the Crown Heights riot murder trial; federal racketeering cases against violent gangs; the Long Island pet cemetery trial and several securities fraud and insider trading cases, among others.

The legal issues she has written about are diverse and numerous, ranging from economic espionage to employment discrimination rulings and the first story to report that there is no expectation of privacy for employee emails written in the workplace.

Ms. McMorris is a 1993 graduate of Fordham University School of Law and admitted to the New York and New Jersey bars. She has appeared on the former CNNfn to give expert commentary on trials.

She also served as president of the Newswomen’s Club of New York for three years while working as an assistant managing editor at The Daily Deal in New York.

ON WALL STREET magazine has a circulation of more than 90,000—reaching financial advisors and brokers at the most prestigious brokerage firms who serve high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth investors.