CEO of Lebenthal's Wealth Unit Quits Amid Executive Shuffle

The CEO of Lebenthal's latest entry into wealth management has quit.

Frank Campanale, a former executive at Smith Barney and E.F. Hutton tasked with building up Lebenthal's nascent wealth management unit, was stepping down as the chief executive of Lebenthal Wealth Advisors to pursue other opportunities, the firm said this week.

He was replaced by Alexandra Lebenthal, the muni bond scion who had been CEO of the wealth management firm's parent company, Lebenthal Holdings.

Campanale's departure was effective immediately, according to a spokesman. The firm did not respond to additional questions about the CEO's departure.

Campanale was hired in 2013 to help launch the wealth management business, after a similar effort lasted from 2007 to 2012. 

In an interview with On Wall Street's sister publication Financial Planning last year, Campanale said that the firm aimed to have about $25 billion in assets in five years. It was a conservative estimate that he intended to "blow past," Campanale said.

The firm also opened with a bang – recruiting a $1 billion team from Morgan Stanley. However, recruiting has been less robust since then and new hires have tended to have much smaller asset levels.

Lebenthal declined to disclose its current AUM.

"I want to thank Frank Campanale for his service to the firm and for the role he has played in creating and building Lebenthal Wealth Advisors to this point, and to wish him well as he moves on to the next step in his life's journey," Jeffrey Lane, chairman of Lebenthal Holdings, said.

Lane, Alexandra Lebenthal, and Campanale worked closely together to get the New York-based wealth management business started, and to capitalize on the Lebenthal brand.  Alexandra Lebenthal's grandparents founded an iconic municipal bond firm in 1925 that became a well-known consumer brand thanks to tireless promotion on TV and radio ads by her father, James A. “Jim” Lebenthal.

Lane, the former chief executive officer of Bear Stearns Asset Management, chairman and CEO of Neuberger Berman, and vice chairman of Lehman Brothers, praised the younger Lebenthal as "the heart and soul of the Lebenthal brand."

"Now she will be bringing her energy and brilliance more closely to bear at Lebenthal Wealth Advisors," he said.

Lebenthal remains at the holding company as Co-CEO alongside with newly hired executive Barbara Yastine. Yastine previously served as CEO of Ally Bank, where she had worked in different capacities since 2010.

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