WealthTrust Hires COO: Riotto-Jones & Company Handled the Search
- 01/10/2008

Holly Deem, former chief risk officer with investment management firm Invesco, has joined wealth advisory firm WealthTrust as coo. The firm was attracted to Deem for the newly-created post because of her background in technology, strategic planning and investments from both her time at Invesco as well as Bank of America.
"Also her ability to draw on deep-seated industry contacts will help us implement our plans," said Rush Benton, ceo. Deem reports to Benton in the Nashville-based post. The firm has been aggressively growing via acquisition of smaller wealth management firms, which most recently included buying a majority interest in a Pennsylvania and Cleveland-based company (PAM, 11/19). Riotto-Jones & Company handled the search for WealthTrust. 
At Invesco, Deem was also chief administrative officer. The firm has equity partnerships with 11 firms in 10 states, totaling $8.6 billion in assets.

JP Morgan Chase Trust Exec Heads To TIAA-CREF:
Riotto Jones Company Conducted the Search
- 07/24/2007
JP Morgan Chase Trust Exec Heads To TIAA-CREF
Dale Keyser, former New York State head of trust and market director with JP Morgan Chase Bank, has joined TIAA-CREF’s trust division. Keyser steps in as president of the trust company in its St. Louis branch. He reports to Eric Jones, Manhattan-based senior v.p. of individual products. Jones referred calls to a spokeswoman who said Keyser is slated to start at the end of August. Keyser, who was with J.P. Morgan’s Rochester-based office for 18 years, left the firm and could not be reached. A spokeswoman there said a replacement will start Aug. 1, but declined to name the new hire. Manhattan-based Riotto Jones Company conducted the search.

Advisory Services Seen As Integral: Riotto-Jones Brings Firms Together
- 07/18/2004

Independent wealth advisory firms are becoming "the next big thing." Lydian Wealth Management's recent acquisition of Windermere Investment Associates and Copper Beech Advisors is being held up as the start of a trend of advisory firms coming together to increase competitiveness. At the same time, private banking groups and brokerages will continue to pick up advisory firms to expand their roster of services. Wealth advisory firms that have the capital are going to be out there looking to buy, and there is still an interest on the part of large institutional firms to add these advisors to their suite of services, said Kevin Sheehan, consultant at Family Office Exchange. "Given the desire by families of substantial wealth to have access to a holistic service offering, you either build one, buy one, or partner with one," said Elizabeth Nesvold, managing director, Berkshire Capital.
Nesvold, who negotiated the Lydian acquisition, cites an industry-wide focus on open architecture and conflict-free advice as reasons for the emergence of these firms. Advisory firms need more capital and more complex services to serve complex high-net-worth clients, while traditional financial institutions are recognizing the importance of open-architecture investment lineups and independent advice, especially as market scandals have brought conflict-of-interest issues to the fore.
Large financial institutions started showing significant interest in open-architecture firms four or five years ago, prompting a series of acquisitions. In 2001, SunTrust purchased Palm Beach, Fla.-based Asset Management Advisors, CSFB acquired Chicago-based Frye-Louis Capital Management and Laird Norton acquired Seattle-based Tyee Asset Strategies. The next year Wilmington Trust completed its acquisition of Atlanta-based Balentine & Co. The Tyee-Laird Norton deal was the first significant purchase of a wealth advisor by another advisor, but the industry failed to take notice, said Nesvold. The Lydian acquisitions sparked the industry's interest because the deal showed that advisory firms are mindful of strategic positioning, she said. "I believe this will set a trend in the industry. These advisories are nimble, flexible and entirely client-centric,".  Riotto-Jones & Co.initially suggested the Lydian-Windermere acquisition and brought the firms together.

Lydian Eyes National Expansion - Retains Riotto-Jones & Company
- 10/17/2003

Lydian Wealth Management, an independent wealth management firm with over $4 billion in assets under management, has its sights set on expanding its presence nationally. Toward this end, the firm has retained investment banking boutique Berkshire Capital to seek acquisition targets and lift-outs and executive search firm Riotto-Jones for team lift-outs and hires in select cities, said Andrew Putterman, president of Rockville, Md.-based Lydian Wealth Management. The firm is going national at a time it has experienced a growth of over $4 billion in assets in six years and has launched its current brand name, switching from CMS Financial Services.

Recruiting Begins To Pick Up In 2002, Anthony Riotto Comments
- 02/04/2002
The long hiring freezes of 2001 are beginning to thaw out, and industry officials report a rise in recruitment since the beginning of January. Financial professionals say they've received multiple calls from recruiters, while recruiters say they've received multiple search requests. The uptick in recruiting activity comes at a time when people are becoming optimistic about the economy, noted an industry recruiter. The trend appears to be more in the private banking community--a recruiter said the climate was "fair, not great" for broker recruitment.
Industry officials getting called have taken notice; it's been a while since their phones rang this frequently. The ushering in of the new year has made firms reassess their goals and the economy, said an industry consultant, adding, "Firms are realizing that if they want to achieve their goals, they have to staff correctly."
In general, firms hiring aren't ramping up their headcount at the pace they did in the bull market, but are carefully selecting hires in key markets. Industry officials throughout the country cited Citigroup Private Bank, Fleet Financial, Credit Suisse Private Bank, J.P. Morgan Chase and PNC Bank among those heard from. Mary Sedarat, a spokeswoman for J.P. Morgan Chase, confirmed that the bank was hiring selectively. Spokespeople at Citi, PNC, Fleet and CSPB did not return calls seeking comment.
Anthony Riotto, chairman of New York-based Riotto-Jazylow & Company, noted that firms actively recruiting were those replacing people who were let go during the economic downturn, or firms entering new marketplaces. He noted his firm has received five new searches in the first three weeks of January. The ability for professionals to retain clients in this down market is an attribute closely looked at, he added.

Please click on the following articles for more information:

Demand Pushes Salaries Of Wealth Advisors
Careers in Finance & Accounting
May 3, 2006
Wealth advisers are in increasingly high demand - a trend reflected in the increasingly sexy compensation packages they're being offered.

"Death of a Salesman"
Private Asset Management
September 27, 2004
So what will the sales stars of the future look like after this fluid landscape has congealed?.

"Measuring Production"
ABA Journal
August 2003
Production offers a quantitative approach to assessing sales professionals.

"Apples & Oranges"
Private Asset Management
February 3, 2003
Private newsletter for Institutional Investor Magazine wrote an article featuring some ground breaking methodologies Riotto-Jones has developed regarding assessment of sales performance.

"Retaining Relationship Managers"
American Banker
April 29, 2002
Outlines the value of the RM as a form of branding and the cost of placement.

"Myth of the Million Dollar Producer"
Private Asset Management
February 5, 2001
Discusses the fallacies of measuring absolute sales performance.

"Lydian/Windermere Acquisition"
Washington D.C.
June 1, 2004
Riotto-Jones and Company, LLC (RJC) has been closely monitoring the evolution of the role and increasing market share of independent advisory firms in the Ultra-High Net Worth space. RJC has been engaged by some of the premier firms to include: Lydian and Windermere.

In the course of RJC's simultaneous engagements by Windermere and Lydian, RJC identified a number of key synergies and suggested an acquisition. RJC worked closely with Berkshire Capital to advise Lydian and the enclosed press release announces the successful conclusion of this highly beneficial collaboration.