People Moves
HighTower
The wealth management firm has made three hires.
It appointed Abby Salameh as chief marketing officer, Greg Fink as head of adviser success and Catherine Davies as chief of staff and head of business management.
Salameh will lead HighTower’s corporate and field marketing teams.
She spent over 20 years building top-line solutions for independent advisers and her most recent role was chief marketing officer of Private Advisor Group.
Fink specializes in working with large RIAs on practice management and growth strategies.
He has more than 20 years of experience in the financial industry, most recently as president and chief executive of ACG Wealth.
Davies will be responsible for running a number of cross-enterprise initiatives in addition to supporting the day-to-day functioning of the executive leadership team.
She brings more than 20 years of strategic experience from firms such as Fidelity Investments and Charles Schwab.
Aviso Wealth
John Bai has been named as vice president and chief investment officer of Aviso Wealth and NEI Investments.
Bai will be responsible for the strategic direction of the firm’s investment approach and philosophy, including its disciplined asset allocation process, sub-advisor research and due diligence.
He has more than 25 years of investment experience working with some of Canada’s top financial institutions.
Prior to joining NEI, John held leadership positions at TD, Merrill Lynch Canada, DundeeWealth and most recently, Scotia Wealth Management.
Rockerfeller Capital Management
Elaine Powell will join the firm as a managing director and senior client adviser in the Rockefeller multi-family office division.
She will start with Rockefeller in August 2019 and will be based in the firm’s Saratoga Springs, New York office.
Powell will join Rockefeller from Ayco, a unit of Goldman Sachs, where she has been serving as a senior client adviser, advising ultra-high net worth.
M&A
Cerity Partners
The US-based wealth manager made its second merger of 2019 with a deal with Fort Worth firm Karsten Advisors.
It brings nearly $22bn (£17bn, €19.6bn) in assets under management and eight offices to Cerity Partners.
Led by president and chief investment officer, Tom Karsten, Karsten Advisors provides wealth management advice, including tax planning and preparation.
Crestwood Advisors
Catamount Management Group will join wealth management firm Crestwood Advisors Group for an undisclosed fee.
The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2019.
Catamount is a registered investment advisor based in Westport, Connecticut. Catamount provides wealth advisory and investment management services to high net worth individuals and families located primarily in southern Connecticut and the New York City area.
Allworth Financial
The business formerly known as Hanson McClain Advisors has acquired Chicago-based investment firm Blueprint Financial.
The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Blueprint manages approximately $80m of client assets.
With this acquisition, Allworth has now added over $1.1bn in acquired assets in a little over a year and is now managing total assets under management of over $4bn.
EP Wealth Advisors
The independent registered investment adviser has bought Conlon Dart Wealth Management in Seattle.
Conlon Dart is an independent, fee-only wealth management firm founded by Mitch Conlon and Stephen Dart.
Conlon and Dart will assume the roles of regional director and partner at EP Wealth, whereas Rick Bryan and Joe Boden will become senior vice presidents, senior wealth advisers and partners.
This is EP Wealth’s fifth acquisition since taking a minority investment from Wealth Partners Capital Group, a financial services holding company, in July 2017.
The acquisition will increase EP Wealth’s assets under management by more than $500m, while adding more than 300 clients.
Financial and legal terms of the deal were not disclosed.
