UBS Wealth Management Americas recruited eight groups, as well as a string of individual financial advisors, bolstering nine of its offices nationwide and marking its second hiring spree of the month.

The Baldwin, Naples and Associates group, the Reckinger Loynes Group, the Sage Group, the PKC Financial Group and the Ohmstede-Sheridan Financial Group joined the firm’s CA, UT, LA, and TX offices respectively. In addition, the firm hired Marc Hagger and Ricardo Lima for its Dallas office, Bruce Smith for the GA office and John Meldrum for its MI base.

Jamie Rosica and Alex DiMartini also joined the NY office while Lucie Sabella joined the firm’s FL office. 

A group of eight advisors from US Wealth Management joined independent broker-dealer LPL Financial, based in the firm’s Massachusetts office. 

John Napolitano, chief executive of US Wealth, joined alongside principals George Clarke, Thomas Morrone, Michael Alexander, Max Kolbrenner, Gary Oman, Timothy McCarthy and Michael Vlazquez.

Atlantic Trust, the private wealth management division of New York-listed Invesco, made two hires within its multi-manager investment program and strengthened its Texas office. Lester Duke joined as a vice president and alternative investments analyst within the firm's Boston office, while Scott Burg started as vice president and traditional investments analyst, also in Boston. 

Choate, Hall & Stewart, the Boston-based law firm, hired Patrick Lavoie as a tax manager, responsible for overseeing tax advisory services for the firm’s wealth management group.

The fee-based advisory network United Capital Financial Advisers brought in a team from New York-based Harold C Brown & Co, to join as managing directors.

John Hancock made three appointments at its Financial Network business, including that of president, vice president of sales and business development, and assistant vice president of field resources. Brian Heapps was named as president, replacing Peter Gordon, who became general manager of John Hancock Retirement Plan Services. Based within the firm’s Buffalo office in New York, Peter Grogan, Will Kelly and Mimi Schanzlin will operate under the United Capital name going forward.

Wells Fargo recruited seven financial advisors from UBS and Morgan Stanley Smith Barney to bolster three of its financial advisory teams. Christopher Zich, Kenneth Fruehauf, Thomas Buhl and Keeland Howe joined the firm’s Legacy Wealth Management Group from UBS, based in Grosse Pointe Woods in Michigan, and Scottsdale in Arizona. Meanwhile, Matthew Montini, who also joined from UBS, was added to the firm’s FINET channel. The remaining appointments were that of Avery Wilkins and Michael Cox, who joined as the Cox Wilkins Group from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.

First Western Trust promoted former vice presidents Victor Alonzo and Matt Gorr to president of its Phoenix and Boulder offices respectively.

BNY Mellon’s wealth management business boosted its ultra high net worth family team with a new promotion, which was the latest in a string of appointments as it seeks aggressive expansion in 2012. Gregory Simpson started as a family wealth advisor, part of a team who work with UHNW families and family offices. Effective 1 March 2012, Simpson will report to Ridgway Powell, who was promoted to lead this group late last year.

The Atlanta-based wealth management firm Reliance Financial Corporation appointed William Harlow as president of Reliance Trust Company.

Chicago-based HighTower marked its expansion into the Phoenix market with a trio of appointments to be based within its new Arizona office. James Pupillo was named as managing director and partner while partners Brian Hein and David Brasfield work alongside Pupillo in each of their new roles.

Florida-based Newbridge Financial brought in Todd Newton as president and co-chief executive of its broker-dealer and registered investment advisor subsidiaries. Newton took over the role at Newbridge Securities Corporation, the broker-dealer unit, and Newbridge Financial Services Group, the SEC-registered investment advisor.

John Wilson, who left his role as chief investment officer of Cumberland Private Wealth Management, joined Sprott Asset Management as a senior portfolio manager.

Montana-based DA Davidson & Co added to its individual investor group, recruiting from Morton Clarke, the Seattle broker-dealer and registered investment advisor.

John Morton and Trent Morton were appointed to the roles of senior vice president of DA Davidson's individual markets division, while Scott Hitchcock started as a senior registered associate. Audrey Morton also joined on 27 January as a financial consultant trainee within the firm’s Seattle office.

Focus Financial Partners, the group of independent wealth management firms, appointed Garry Taylor as director of advisor services. As part of the Focus Connections program, the firm's turnkey service, Taylor assists breakaway advisors undergoing the transition to RIAs.

Toronto-based Cumberland Private Wealth Management named Peter Jackson as its chief investment officer. Jackson replaced John Wilson, who had been CIO at Cumberland since 2009, as well as the firm’s primary technology and telecom analyst.

Greenwich, CT-headquartered Fieldpoint Private Bank & Trust nabbed a New York-based advisory team from Wilmington Trust, where it managed nearly $1 billion in assets. The team joined Fieldpoint’s new offices at 400 Park Avenue. It is comprised of Thomas Hakala, Al Jacobi and Joanne Schwind, who worked at Wilmington for over a decade and specialize in ultra high net worth clients.

Delaware-based national trust company Barclays Wealth Trustees, part of Barclays Wealth Americas, named David Chambers as president. 

San Francisco-headquartered Union Bank, part of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, made two internal promotions and a new hire at its private banking division. As part of the changes, Chris Merrywell was promoted to regional managing director of The Private Bank, the firm’s private banking brand, in the Pacific Northwest.

RBC Wealth Management, part of Royal Bank of Canada, appointed John D’Amato as manager of investment services for the Caribbean. The George Town, Grand Cayman-based role was a newly-created one at the firm, and saw D’Amato take responsibility for the delivery of international wealth management services to high and ultra high net worth clients.

Fifth Third Private bank, a division of Pennsylvania-based Fifth Third Bank, hired Jeff Martin as director of wealth planning. Martin leads the bank’s wealth planning team, which specializes in estate and retirement planning, cash flow analysis and family wealth transfer, among other services for high net worth individuals and senior executives.

The PrivateBank, part of PrivateBancorp, promoted Andy Dawson to the role of market president for St Louis. Dawson, who joined the firm in 2009 as a managing director, oversees commercial, personal and private banking in the St Louis market going forwards. He has a particular focus on growing the firm’s middle-market commercial banking relationships.

RBC Wealth Management added Jeremy Proffitt – latterly of Vestra Wealth in the UK – to its private banking team based in Nassau in the Bahamas. Proffitt left Vestra, where he was an equity partner, about six months ago and moved to the Bahamas.

New York-listed FNB Corporation, the parent firm of First National Bank, appointed Vincent Delie as its new chief executive, effective 18 January 2012. Delie, who had been with the firm for seven years, succeeded Stephen Gurgovits, who serves as chairman of FNB going forwards, and also continues as chairman of First National Bank. Delie was also elected to the board of directors and will carry on as president of FNB and CEO of First National Bank.

Lloyd George Management, part of Toronto-based BMO Global Asset Management, made a trio of appointments within its frontier markets equity team. Greg Mills, who was most recently national director of the South African Institute of International Affairs, joined as an advisor to the LGM frontier strategy. He also heads the Johannesburg-based Brenthurst foundation, which is dedicated to strengthening Africa's economic performance.

Pamplona Capital Management, a London-based private equity firm, appointed Brian Ratzan to lead the expansion of its private equity practice in the US. Ratzan joined Pamplona from Vestar Capital, where he worked for 13 years and was most recently a managing director.

BNY Mellon Wealth Management appointed Timothy Barker as a family wealth advisor based in New York. Barker is part of a specialist team servicing ultra high net worth families and family offices. He reports to Ridgway Powell, who was recently promoted to lead the UHNW group.

Celent, a division of Oliver Wyman that works with sectors such as wealth management, appointed Craig Weber to replace Mike Harding as its chief executive. Under the change, Harding, who has been CEO since 2009 - shortly after Oliver Wyman bought Celent - resumed his responsibilities at the parent firm but retains his role as Celent’s chairman.

BNY Mellon Wealth Management appointed Leo Mutchler as escrow sales specialist for the tri-state region, based in New York. Mutchler has 15 years of experience with the likes of JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America. He was latterly head of custody sales at HSBC Private Bank. At BNY Mellon, he reports directly to Carolyn Kozlowski, national escrow sales manager.

First Foundation, the Irvine, CA-based wealth management and trust firm, expanded its advisory team with two appointments. Richard Lange joined First Foundation Advisors as vice president of business development, while Pamela Rubin Cohen joined as VP of foundation services.

Minnesota Bank & Trust named Mary Ann Heine as senior vice president of private client services. Heine was previously a wealth management advisor and vice president at US Bank, managing multi-million dollar loan and deposit portfolios for executive, professional and family wealth clients. She has 20 years of private banking and wealth management experience. 

Gregory Fleming, president of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and Morgan Stanley Investment Management, was elected as a large firm governor on the board of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. Fleming replaced Sallie Krawcheck, who left her role as president of global wealth and investment management at Bank of America last September as part of a restructuring at the firm.

BNY Mellon appointed a new wealth management president for the firm’s central region in the latest of a string of hires at the Wall Street giant’s private client business. Managing director Andy Paterson was promoted to the position in the region which included Western Pennsylvania and Ohio. He replaced Joseph Banko, who became executive director of market strategy for the wider region of eastern US.

Barclays Wealth unveiled a number of major changes to its top-level management structure in the Americas and other regions as rival private banks such as UK-based Coutts also restructure their businesses. Mitch Cox, who had combined leadership of Barclays Wealth Americas with heading global research and investments (GR&I), solely concentrates on building the US business. Leadership of the GR&I function is now split between Tom Lee, head of global banking and investment solutions (GBIS), BWA, and Rob Brown, who will continue as head of GBIS, UK, EMEA and Asia. They were appointed as co-heads of global research and join Barclays Wealth’s management committee.

UBS Wealth Management Americas nabbed two Morgan Stanley Smith Barney teams for its offices in New Jersey and California. Mario Afram, Carl Ekroth and Harish Jashanani joined UBS’s Paramus, NJ office, bringing a production of around $1.4 million and assets under management of around $200 million. Afram was appointed first vice president – investments, and his team-mates joined as vice presidents.

BNY Mellon hired former Illinois state treasurer Alexi Giannoulias as a senior advisor for strategic relationships, as part of a build-out of the business in Chicago that will see five additional hires there.

First Republic Bank continued its hiring spree with the appointment of William Slayne as portfolio manager and managing director for the private wealth management unit. Based at the Rockefeller Center, NY office, Slayne is responsible for offering equity and fixed-income investment management services to clients.

Oak Hill Advisors, the New York investment management firm, promoted four of its investment professionals to partner. Alexandra Jung, Adam Kertzner, Jeffrey Kirt and Thomas Wong joined the firm's existing six partners in leading investment activities in distressed and performing credit markets in the US and Europe. 

Mark McMullen, vice chairman of Associated Bank, is set to retire on 10 February, following a 30-year career at the bank. McMullen spent the majority of his career growing the bank’s wealth management division, which he expanded to offer a full range of services including private banking, investment management, trust, financial planning and insurance services. He has been part of the firm’s executive committee since April 2001.

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney added 11 advisors managing $1.7 billion in combined client assets at their previous firms. The advisors, including two at the US firm’s ultra-high-net-worth private wealth group, joined from UBS, Wells Fargo, Oppenheimer and Bank of America's Merrill Lynch.

BNY Mellon Investment Management appointed Cynthia Steer as head of manager research and investment solutions. Steer joined from Russell Investments, where she served as managing director for investment strategy and consulting. Prior to that, she was chief research strategist at Rogerscasey, an investment services firm, where she oversaw global investment management and capital markets research, emerging and frontier markets research and fixed income research. 

Capital Dynamics, an asset management firm focusing on private assets, brought in Marcelo Moraes as managing director and head of Brazil. Marcelo is a member of the board of directors of the Brazilian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association and of São Paulo Anjos, an angel investing association in Brazil.

Royal Bank of Canada added Michelle Wright as a director within its UK private client wealth management team in London. The new hire is part of the Americas desk which focuses on relationships with HNW clients with links to the Greater New York and East Coast areas. In her new role Wright reports to Martin Heale, who became head of Americas in July last year.

Germany's Deutsche Bank strengthened its private client business in Mexico with the appointment of Jorge Arce as chief country officer. Arce is a 16-year veteran of Deutsche Bank and most recently served as head of Northern Latin America for the private wealth management division. He replaced Juan Guthmann, chief operating officer for Latin America who has also served as chief country officer in the interim. He now reports directly to Bernardo Parnes, chief executive for Latin America.

First Republic Private Wealth Management, part of San Francisco-headquartered First Republic Bank, appointed Oliver Campbell as a portfolio manager and managing director at its Century City, LA office. Campbell was previously a senior vice president, director of equity investments at City National Asset Management, where he worked for 10 years.

Wells Fargo promoted Stephen Sanger to the role of lead director on its board of directors, a position he acquired on 1 January. Sanger served as a director since 2003 and now takes over from Philip Quigley, who held the role of lead director since January 2009, and who continues to serve as a director on the board.

Newport Beach, CA-headquartered Alliant Insurance Services recruited high net worth client and entertainment specialist Katie Knowles to its T&H Brokers group as a senior vice president.

Knowles, who joined from another national insurance brokerage, will be based in White Plains, NY. She had previously been a producer for Aon/Albert G Rubin in Southern California and Near North in New York.

Key Private Bank, the Ohio-based wealth management and banking firm, named Garett Feldkamp as senior vice president and relationship manager for the Southwest district. Feldkamp was previously the vice president of wealth management banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Ohio.

Bermuda-based Butterfield Bank nominated Brendan McDonagh for election to its board of directors as executive chairman. The decision surfaced as current chairman Robert Mulderig is set to retire from the board by the end of the year.

Raymond James added financial advisory team James Schmidt and Bernice Murff to its network. Schmidt and Murff recently formed The Schmidt Wealth Management Group of Raymond James and opened the first Raymond James & Associates office in Richmond, Virginia. The duo latterly worked at Wells Fargo, where they managed some $90 million in assets and recorded $1.1 million in annual fees and commissions. They were joined by Tameika Aldridge, their client service associate. 

PricewaterhouseCoopers appointed Brittney Saks as head of US personal financial services. Saks brings 20 years of financial planning experience to her new role, in which she leads a team of tax and wealth management professionals. She replaced Richard Kohan, who retired on 1 January 2012.

The Financial Planning Association named Catherine Seeber, a principal and senior financial advisor at Wescott Financial Advisory Group, as president for the Philadelphia tri-state area. Seeber is the first female president from the Philadelphia region in over 10 years and is set to serve a one-year term. Prior to her appointment as president, she was pro bono co-chair, vice president of public awareness/media relations and president-elect of the FPA.

Raymond James Canada, part of the US' Raymond James Financial, appointed branch managers for its Toronto and Victoria offices. David Finley joined the company as a senior vice president, branch manager for the Toronto flagship branch. Finley was previously the co-president of Accretive Advisor, an online firm that matches investors with compatible financial advisors, and has also worked for Wellington West and Clearsight Wealth Management. 

Lexington Wealth Management, a Massachusetts-based, fee-only financial advisory firm, added three senior officers to its team. Mark Carley joined as a managing director, while Frank Censullo and Scott Klein joined as senior relationship managers. The trio latterly worked at Wells Fargo and was part of the original team at Tanager Financial Services, collectively bringing around two decades of experience in wealth management in the Boston area.