Bank channel

Some staffers say Tim Ratty is the best manager they've ever had. Unflappable in a crisis and still responsive to his advisors' needs, he encourages professional development. One of his career challenges was in joining the bank channel from a wirehouse, but his team says he's a "quick study" and can speak to any audience, large or small.

When Aaron Persons became program manager at University Federal CU in 2010, production was low, turnover high and branch employees had lost faith in the program. To better integrate the program into core offerings, he promoted a "give to get" mind-set where advisors should be the ones giving referrals. He also empowered reps to make decisions.

Britt Woods from Fifth Third Bank tops our list this year. He and other winners discuss the importance of providing their bank partners with referrals.

John Olerio's team at Webster Bank posted record numbers in 2012 for sales, production, assets under management and new advisory accounts. His leadership in developing the discipline for each advisor to complete a personalized business plan has had a significant contribution to these strong results.

Jack Nelson focuses on building a fully integrated team to help clients achieve their financial goals. He encourages his team to gain a full understanding of each client's needs by utilizing a holistic, consultative approach. He puts his 30-plus years of experience to work to gain clients' trust and ensure that they realize his team has their best interests at heart.

Jules Mbogi brings more than 14 years of experience in international wealth management to the UN, where he heads a team of multilingual advisors. His areas of expertise include international portfolio management, investment, retirement, and estate and insurance planning. Previously, he was an advisor at Citigroup's international division.

Robert Leach spent the first eight years or so at Heritage Bank as the sole producer before he started to slowly hire advisors in key markets served by his bank. He still gets in the office every day at 6 a.m. to make calls from lists the bank provides or make calls to companies he works with on their 401(k) plans.

Over his 19-year tenure as a program manager, Andrew Kaplan has played a critical role in each of his bank's 11 acquisitions, eight of which had existing programs where broker-dealer conversions followed. Kaplan's top priority through all of this has been maintaining a strong alignment between the bank and its investment program.

In a region that has seen foreclosures and layoffs, Joe Devine's team has spent a great deal of time on investor education, while also integrating the investment program into the core offering of the credit union. Among other things, they have revamped their website and increased referrals by instituting a compensation incentive program.

Alec Ardito is a positive role model who takes the time to get to know the staffers' styles. He helps them develop their skills to fulfill their goals. His enthusiasm and his style of giving constructive feedback prompt some advisors at Wells Fargo to seek him out as a manager. And even with high expectations of him, they report being pleasantly surprised at his effectiveness as a leader.

When Mike Haggerty became program manager in 2006, he began educating executives on the potential ROI of the program, and now investments are tracked as one of the six core offerings at the CU. Other efforts are as varied as creating a center for families with special-needs members, and shifting toward a younger client demographic for long-term sustainability.

Mike Petramalo takes the time to meet every FA he oversees to discuss ways to improve their productivity, all the while encouraging them to use their strengths to excel. He works to improve the well-being of every employee he works with, and always asks how he can help. Despite his professional success, he emphasizes that family comes first.

Gerald Rixie, the former CFO of Calamos Family Partners, joined the Private Client Reserve as a wealth management consultant.

Madorie O’Hara, a former Citi Private Bank portfolio manager, will manage investment portfolios for Webster’s private banking clients. She will be based in Stamford, Conn.

Software makers Geezeo and Access Softek are teaming to offer money management tools that banks can deliver to customers via smartphones and other mobile devices.

The Wealth Management Division’s assets under management hit $7 billion; looking for $8 billion by end of 2014.

Jim Rohr says cybersecurity is one of the biggest issues banks face. The frequent distributed denial-of-service-attacks on banks' web servers that have occurred since September are doing more than disrupting service.

Revenue from insurance commissions generated $26.6 million for the Tupelo, Miss.-based financial holding company, up 15.1% from the same quarter a year ago.

Consumer advocate Jennifer Openshaw is launching a new company that offers advisors a platform in which to build social media communities, with some compliance features built in.

The unit added about $3 billion in fee-based assets over the past few years, with sales going up about 74%.