Raymond James snatches 2 teams with over $900M

Raymond James continues on its recruiting tear, bringing in two teams that managed $900 million in client assets.

A former Wells Fargo group signed on with the company’s independent broker-dealer while the other left Mesirow Financial to join Raymond James’ employee channel.

Raymond James has been aggressively increasing its headcount and benefiting from a wave of wirehouse departures.

Independent advisors with Raymond James 2011-2018

The St. Petersburg-based firm’s headcount increased from 7,604 advisors in the first quarter of 2018 to 7,862 for the first quarter of 2019, according to the company’s earnings report.

On the independent side, Raymond James grew its advisor headcount from 3,827 producing reps in 2016 to 4,269 in 2018, according to Financial Planning’s data on independent broker-dealers.

The former Wells Fargo team managed $587 million in client assets and advised on $385 million in institutional investments. The Dallas-based advisors now operate under the name Wealth Partners Alliance.

Wealth Partners Alliance includes veteran advisors Michael Mikeska, David Mcbee Jr. and Michael Peschel. All three advisors have over two decades of industry experience, according to FINRA BrokerCheck records. They are joined by Brittany Smith, who has seven years of experience.

The former Wells Fargo team joined two advisors who left UBS in February to form Wealth Partners Advisors. From left to right: Courtney Andring, David McBee, Brittany Smith, Michael Peschel, Lauren Thompson, and Michael Mikeska.

“We believe that for us to continue to build on our team culture and to run a practice that we can all be proud of, being independent and launching [Wealth Partners Alliance] was our best option,” McBee said in a statement.

The team leaving Merisow joined a Raymond James office in Deerfield, Illinois. They operate as the Talman Nicow Salzer Group of Raymond James. The team previously managed $319 million in client assets.

The group includes Daniel Nickow, who has been an advisor for 20 years, and Brett Salzer, who has 12 years of experience, according to BrokerCheck. Prior to Wells Fargo, both advisors had worked at Morgan Stanley and Smith Barney.

Spokeswomen from Wells Fargo and Mesirow declined to comment.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
Recruiting Career moves Regional BDs Independent BDs Going independent Raymond James Financial Wells Fargo Advisors
MORE FROM FINANCIAL PLANNING