HighTower Lands $600M Morgan Stanley Team

A Morgan Stanley advisor team that managed $600 million in assets has left the wirehouse to join forces with HighTower.

Gryphon Financial Partners, formerly the Guth Group at Morgan Stanley, will join the advisor-owned financial services company's nationwide network.

The new HighTower team is based in Columbus, Ohio and consists of advisors Joel Guth and Cathy Cory, along with team members Angelo Manzo, CFA, Judy Roseberry, CRPC, Maria Kardassilaris, Jean Sturges and Kathy Payne.

The move is the latest of a string of defections to HighTower from wirehouse firms. Last week, the advisor-owned partnership was joined by a former Wells Fargo team in Baltimore that had managed nearly $400 million in client assets while at the bank.

“The HighTower Network supports teams like Gryphon as independent financial advisors, while reducing the operating risks associated with launching and growing their businesses,” said Elliot Weissbluth, HighTower’s CEO, in a statement. “Network teams gain access to a wide array of services . . . from technology, to compliance, to operations – as well as strategic input from other top-performing HighTower teams."

Guth is a two-decade veteran of the financial services industry, having launched his career at Merrill Lynch in 1994, according to FINRA documents. He moved to Morgan Stanley in 1995.  Cory started at Merrill Lynch that same year and moved to Smith Barney in 1996, where she continued to work following its 2009 merger with Morgan Stanley. 

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