Morgan Stanley Smith Barney promoted James F. Walker to managing director to run its consulting services group, which provides investment consulting and managed account services.
Walker, 47, succeeds James J. Tracy, who was promoted in July to chief operating officer of distribution and development for U.S. wealth management for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. Walker will continue to report to Paul Hatch, the head of the investment strategy and solutions group.
Walker was chief operating officer of investment strategy and solutions at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. Before that, he was director of finance, risk and strategy for Citi Global Wealth Management Investments. He was hired by Citi in 2006 as chief operating officer of investment advisory services.
Earlier in his career, Walker worked for Merrill Lynch's global wealth management group.
With over $385 billion in client assets, the consulting services group is the U.S. wealth management industry's largest managed account manager, with a market share of nearly 21%. According to Cerulli, It also leads in several of the fastest growing managed account categories, including rep as portfolio manager (35.3% market share) and unified managed accounts (33.8% market share.)
