People on the Move: Spotlight on Frank Minerva

There is a difference between high-net-worth clients and the ultra-wealthy: The ultra-wealthy require such specialized services that UBS Private Wealth Management has a group of 200 advisors trained to handle their needs and the firm promoted Frank Minerva to chief operating officer to manage the advisors who work with this niche.

Minerva has worked at UBS for 21 years, dating back to when he started at UBS-PaineWebber as a corporate vice president. He made headlines in 2006, when he opened the first of the Swiss bank’s private wealth management offices in New York City. After that, he spearheaded expansion nationally, opening offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Stamford, Conn., and Washington, D.C., according to Kris Kagel, a spokesman for UBS.

Minerva’s group includes 200 advisors; a small segment of UBS' [UBS] U.S. wealth management division, which has 7,084 advisors.

Private wealth offices provide more resources to their advisors, said Michael King, president of Michael King Associates, a New York City recruiting firm. Those groups often have trust attorneys, financial planners and other specialists to address a client's questions.

UBS' Swiss parent company has been working to overcome recent hits to its reputation. Last year, while adhering to Swiss banking secrecy laws, UBS got into a scuffle with the U.S. government over accusations that it was helping U.S. account holders evade taxes.

 “We’ve heard of positive things that they are doing,” King said. “They hire the best people. They are getting the services back to the branch system as fast as possible, and there is less bureaucracy.”

Minerva will report to Jason Chandler, who was named head of private wealth management for UBS last month. Although Minerva was promoted amid a management shuffle, it was not a scramble for power, Kagel said. Minerva replaced Douglas Black, who will stay on at UBS Private Wealth Management. His new role has not been confirmed. 

Other moves at UBS include Jay Messing, who is no longer head of private wealth sales, and Phillip Hsu, who is no longer head of business development. Both men will also stay at UBS, but their roles had not been confirmed.

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Also on the move this week:

Darryl S. Grayson was hired by Alpine Capital Research of St. Louis as a chief operating officer and national marketing director. He will oversee the firm’s marketing and sales efforts to the financial intermediary and institutional channels. Grayson was director of external distribution for Wilmington Trust.

Citi Private Bank [C] has hired Michael K. Smith as Midwest regional executive, and Mark Connally as its Southwest regional executive. Both were managing directors at Barclays Wealth, in New York City, where they were head of the Midwest and Southwest regions, respectively.

Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services, a unit of Boston-based Fidelity Investments, has promoted Scott Dell’Orfano to run its relationship management team. He was an executive vice president and head of sales. Fidelity also announced that National Financial, its clearing firm, has promoted Bobbi Masiello to vice president of relationship management. Masiello led the company’s strategic client relationship and emerging client management and sales segment.

Genworth Financial Asset Management in Encino, Calif., promoted Christian Hviid to chief marketing strategist, a newly created position. He was director of asset allocation, overseeing the asset allocation process for the firm’s discretionary, unified managed account programs.

Janney Montgomery Scott, which is based in Philadelphia, hired Anne Morse as a managing director to oversee its newly created healthcare municipal finance practice. She was a first vice president in the national municipal finance group at New York City-based Ambac.

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney [MS] has hired David S. Lynn as a financial advisor for its LaJolla, Calif., office. He was a financial advisor for Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management, a unit of Bank of America [BAC], based in Charlotte, N.C.

Northern Trust Corp. [NTRS] in Chicago has named David McPhillips as director of consultant relations for the corporate and institutional services business unit in North America. He was a member of the transition management team of Northern Trust Global Investments, the asset management arm of Northern Trust.

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