Merrill Lynch is restructuring its divisions, streamlining its regional organization structure and giving new responsibilities to a number of high-level managers.
The announcements were made via an internal memo sent to all employees from Andy Sieg, the head of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management.
Bank of America’s brokerage unit is reducing the number of regional divisions from 10 to six and the executives heading each one will, in effect, serve as “an extension” of Sieg, according to the memo he sent Wednesday afternoon.
The changes to the divisions include the promotion of two employees to market executives: Lindsay DeNardo Hans, who will oversee the Mid-Atlantic Division, and Vince Fertitta, who will oversee the Texas Mountain South Division. Hans was previously the market executive of the Philadelphia metro area. Fertitta was previously the executive of what the brokerage called its "Lone Star" market.
Two of the previous division executives — Don Plaus and Ben Prince — are transitioning to new roles within Merrill Lynch.
Plaus, who was previously the head of the Southeast Division, Caribbean, and Latin America, was named the new head of Merrill Lynch’s Private Banking & Investment Group (PBIG) and International.
The market director of Treasury, Fulfillment, Service and Operations, Mike Adornetto, will be the first chief operating officer of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management.
In an effort to develop its presence in smaller regions, Ben Prince will now be the head of Community Markets. In the new role at the b/d, he'll be in charge of creating a strategy focused on a set of nearly 150 smaller Merrill Lynch offices that “represent in aggregate a significant market opportunity,” Sieg wrote.
Merrill Lynch is also making changes to its advisor development program. Hong Ogle, who is the head of the Houston market for Merrill Lynch, and the market president for Bank of America, is taking on a new role in advisor development. She will now lead an expanded and “enterprise-oriented” program at the b/d as head of advisor development. She will not continue in her current roles and a replacement has not yet been named for her two positions, according to a Merrill Lynch spokesperson.
Along with the above changes, the former head of Personal Retirement, Kirstin Hill, will be the new strategic performance executive, another new position within the b/d, and will oversee functions at the firm that drive business growth including advisor compensation.