Raymond James Financial Inc. continued to attract financial advisors to its private client group during end of last year and into January.
Over the past four months, the St. Petersburg, Fla., based company added two advisors in Oklahoma City, two in Charleston, S.C., two in St. Louis, two in Houston, one in a new office in Ogden, Utah, and one in San Diego.
“Recruiting for both traditional employees and independent contractors has certainly slowed from the record levels of early 2009,” said Chet Helck, Raymond James [RJF] chief operating officer and head of its private client group. “But we are still attracting top tier advisors who recognize that Raymond James is a stable firm, where they can put their clients’ interests first, own their own book of business, access superior resources and research, all while receiving the highest levels of client service.”
In Oklahoma City, Raymond James hired 25-year veteran Ron Richardson and J. Dale Thurman, who both came from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney [MS] where they managed over $86 million in client assets. Alex Opoulos and Nick Holmes joined the Raymond James office in Charleston from Bank of America Merrill Lynch [BAC] where they had revenue of $1.1 million and managed over $200 million in client assets.
Tom and Steve Biermann joined Raymond James’ St. Louis branch from Wells Fargo Advisors where they had more than $770,000 of revenue and managed over $100 million in client assets. Tom began his career with A.G. Edwards more than 23 years ago and was joined by Steve in 2006.
Earlier this month, a
Among several advisors affiliated with the firm as independent contractors were Henry and Lloyd Graham, who came from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in Houston and have already attracted client assets of over $300 million. The company hired Billy Peterson, who has opened an office in Ogden. He worked for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney where he managed $200 million in client assets; and Jodi Vleck a $1 million-plus producer with 11 years experience moved from Essex National Securities in San Diego, where she managed $165 million of client assets.
Raymond James has a total of more than 5,300 financial advisors serving approximately 1.9 million accounts in more than 2,300 locations in the United States, Canada and overseas. The company had $232 billion of assets under management as of Dec. 31.
