What you missed in wealth management: April 19 to 23

April 22, 2021 11:37 PM

Rockefeller Capital Management poaches a team from Merrill Lynch, 32-year veteran John Hollyer retires from Vanguard, and Orion Advisor Solutions hires a handful of asset-management executives, among other industry news this week.

Here's what happened in financial advice.

Rockefeller Capital Management lured a four-person advisor team from Merrill Lynch Wealth Management to its private wealth unit in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, according to the firm. The group is led by John Low, who will serve as managing director and private wealth advisor, and includes Kristen Palazeti, vice president and private wealth advisor; Jennifer Byrne, vice president and client relationship manager; and Tori Torango, client associate.

Macquarie Asset Management announced the launch of The Sharpe Advisor, a tool providing advisors educational content on private markets. The program, named after the Sharpe ratio, includes a library of videos, webinars — for on-demand viewing and CE credit — and a terminology library.

T.J. Kirkpatrick/Bloomberg News

Former advisor Eddy Blizzard, 42, is facing embezzlement charges after the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland alleges he stole more than $1 million from a client’s retirement account. Blizzard, who worked at M&T Securities from 2003-2014 and then at SunTrust until 2017, according to BrokerCheck records, had most recently been operating as an independent advisor and was a FINRA-licensed registered broker and RIA, according to the affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint. “This defendant is charged with perpetrating a heartless scheme that preyed on a vulnerable elderly victim, allegedly stealing more than a million dollars,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner. “As a result of the fraud the victim’s house went into foreclosure and he owed the IRS at least $63,000.” Blizzard faces charges including wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in connection with the scheme. Anyone who believes they’ve been the victim of financial fraud is asked to contact the Elder Fraud Hotline at 833-FRAUD-11 (833-372-8311).

Callahan Financial Planning, an Omaha, Nebraska-based RIA established in 2010, will merge its operations with TS Prosperity Group, according to the firms. The combination will double the size of the two businesses to an estimated $450 million in assets under management. Callahan, which has offices in California, Nebraska and Colorado, will remain a separately identifiable division of TS Banking Group, the firm said. TS Prosperity Group will maintain its regulatory status as the trust division of TS Bank. Some employees and operations are expected to be shared between the two companies, they said.

Alto IRA, which provides a network of alternative investment providers for investors to put their self-directed retirement savings, closed a $17 million dollar round of funding led by Unusual Ventures. The round doubles the total funding the fintech startup has so far received, and is just the latest example of surging interest in alternatives.

Lisa J Godfrey

Principal and global head of Vanguard’s fixed-income group John Hollyer is retiring after 32 years with the firm. Hollyer, head of fixed income at Vanguard since 2017, first joined the asset manager in 1989. During his tenure, Hollyer worked as a fixed income and money market portfolio manager and previously led Vanguard’s investment risk management group. He has served on the firm’s Global Investment Committee since 2017 and currently chairs its senior investment strategy team for actively managed fixed income portfolios. Sara Devereux, Vanguard’s global head of rates since 2019, will succeed Hollyer as head of the division, according to Vanguard.

As Orion Advisor Solutions expands its capabilities as an outsourced investment management platform, the company is bringing some asset management veterans to its executive leadership team. The company has hired Steve DeAngelis, who recently served as head of distribution at FS Investments, as its new chief revenue officer. Brad Shepard, previously head of innovation at WisdomTree Asset Management, has joined Orion as chief strategy officer. Orion also hired Kristin Petrick, a long-time TD Ameritrade employee as the new chief marketing officer.

Recruiting news: Charleston, South Carolina-based advisor Steve Potter ($125 million in client assets) joined Ameriprise’s employee channel from Morgan Stanley. Ex-MassMutual representatives Frank Gordon and John Beninato ($107 million) picked the Ameriprise employee channel for their Red Bank, New Jersey-based practice. Rival Advisor Group’s Triad Advisors added ex-Ameriprise advisor Matthew Granite’s practice GL Capital ($175 million) in Lemoyne, Pennsylvania, as well as West Chester, Pennsylvania-based East Coast Advisory ($148 million). Advisor Ed Campbell leads the former Commonwealth Financial Network practice. Another Advisor Group firm, Royal Alliance Associates, lost Walnut Beech Advisors ($550 million) to LPL Financial. Tim Maurer and Managing Partner Rick Betancourt lead the 20-advisor office of supervisory jurisdiction, which is based in Rochester, Mich., and Long Beach, N.Y. LPL also added Evan Lereah’s Red Bank, New Jersey-based Lereah Financial Group ($400 million) from Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network. In employee brokerage recruiting news, RBC poached Michael Meehan, Michael Meyers and Kevin K. Clark of the New York-based MMC Group ($550 million) from Merrill Lynch. And Stifel recruited ex-Merrill Lynch advisor Paul Bridgers ($117 million) to a new office in Las Cruces, New Mexico. It’s the second new office opened by Stifel in a week.

At Advisor Group’s annual symposium this week, the IBD network announced that the firm had appointed Ladenburg Thalmann Asset Management CEO Philip Blancato to be Advisor Group’s chief market strategist. Advisor Group acquired Ladenburg last year for $1.3 billion, and the firm’s net new assets jumped 236% over 2019.

Founders Dan and Lisa Saur of D.R. Saur Financial joined Beacon Pointe Advisors’ office in Plano, Texas, after the RIA aggregator acquired the practice. With a team including Michael Welch, Haley Richards Rodriques, Matthew Wolfe, Amy Walley and Lindsay Thornhill, the practice manages $230 million in client assets. DeVoe & Co. advised the 28-year-old practice in the transaction. "I am really thrilled with the prospect of serving as my clients' advisor and letting others at Beacon Pointe take care of virtually everything else that I used to do as a business owner," Dan Saur said in a statement.

Kestra Financial hired Elena Stebakov, the former vice president of strategic programs at United Capital, to be its vice president of product and platform management. “Our goal is to equip our financial professionals with the tools and data necessary to make each client feel unique, without sacrificing efficiency and quality,” Stebakov said in a statement.