People on the Move: Spotlight on Alvi Abuaf

Alvi Abuaf, who was recently promoted to partner and leader of Capco’s North America Wealth and Investment Management Group, has a pretty good idea of what financial advisors at the major brokerage firms want, as well as their high-net-worth clients.

Simply, they want to retain clients, especially after the market downturn has encouraged advisors — and their accounts — to leave large companies in favor of independent or smaller institutions promising more transparency and improved services.

That might entail building practices in emerging markets like Brazil and Hong Kong, Abuaf said. “In those markets there are higher and higher concentrations of wealth with high-net-worth individuals,” he said. “We’re helping clients understand the market and develop a presence there.”

Abuaf, who wrote Capgemini annual world wealth report during his tenure as vice president of the New York-based company, said that he expects regulatory changes to encourage new fee models for advisors. He said he also expects the industry to develop new financial products to promote investor protection, suitability and the fiduciary standard.

Capco is looking to add 40 professionals, from associates to partners, to help guide its clients through those changes as they take hold. Abuaf was hired by the company on March 2, after serving as president and chief executive officer of CPM Braxis USA, an information technology service and operations service firm in Brazil. Before that, he was a managing director of global strategy and program management for Citigroup. [C]

* * *

Also on the move this week:

Breeden Capital Management in Greenwich Conn., named Joshua W. Fenton as its senior managing director and director of research and trading. He was director of global equity research at Clay Finlay.

The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards has added two industry professionals to its disciplinary and ethics commission: Matthew Murphy, the president of Murphy Capital Advisors, in Glendale, Ariz., and Chris Beard of Raymond James Financial Services. [RJF]

Fogel Neale Partners in New York City hired Demaris Cosme as its director of client services. She was a financial advisor for Merrill Lynch, which is now part of Bank of America Corp. [BAC]

GMAC Financial Services named James Mackey interim chief financial officer. He is a group vice president and senior finance executive at GMAC, which he joined last year.

Great-West Retirement Services, which is based in Greenwood Village, Col., hired Todd Champney as a sales director. He will develop business throughout the Dallas, Fort Worth and Northern Texas markets. Champney worked for John Hancock, where he was a regional vice president of sales for the northern Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Memphis markets.

Mercer, which is based in Norwood, Mass., promoted Doug DeNigris to its Taft-Hartley business leader for its U.S. outsourcing business. He has worked for the company since 1998.

New York Life Insurance Co. promoted Michael Gordon a senior vice president in charge of the newly formed agency life operations. He was a first vice president, in charge of market strategies in New York Life’s agency department.  

National Penn Investors Trust Co., which is based in Boyertown, Pa., hired Judith A. Savchak as a senior vice president and northern region manager, and Michael Torbert  as vice president of personal wealth services. Savchak was head of trust administration at San Diego-based Millennium Wealth Management, and Torbert was vice president and senior investment officer at Millennium.

Check out more "People on the Move" or click here for some of our other columns.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
Career moves
MORE FROM FINANCIAL PLANNING