NorthStar Financial Services is adding a new national accounts team to support the firm’s asset growth and relationships among subsidiaries like Gemini, Orion and CLS Investments. Todd Clarke, the former CEO of CLS, and Bill Wostoupal, the executive vice president of NorthStar, will lead the team and focus on driving the strategic direction for all NorthStar subsidiaries. Ryan Beach, CLS’ former president, will assume Clarke’s role of CEO. NorthStar has grown its AUM by 61 percent and added 133 new employees since January 2015. “We feel that we have the proven ability to accelerate each subsidiary's growth by maintaining focus on product innovation and providing the best possible service to our clients,” Clarke said.
DriveWealth, a broker/dealer that utilizes an app to help investors buy fractions of company shares, announced it is partnering with tech provider Invessence to offer their wealth management platform worldwide. DriveWealth recently released its Wealth Management APIs, allowing advisors to incorporate fractional shares to create customized portfolios for clients. Invessence's white-labeled robo technology provides asset managers, b/s and advisors a platform for automated client registration, portfolio management, account administration and reporting processes. Combining DriveWealth with Invessence lowers the client minimum account balance, opening it up to investors of any age and experience level. "Global investment advisors are beginning to recognize that they can create more diversified portfolios for their clients by including U.S.-listed stocks, ETFs and ADRs in their recommendations; however internally building a trading interface to support U.S. securities can be costly and time-consuming," DriveWealth founder and CEO Robert Cortright said in a statement. "Our collaboration with Invessence provides advisors with a cost-effective, streamlined platform to enable to U.S. securities access for investors worldwide.”
Pot of Gold at the End of Reading Rainbow for UNH
The University of New Hampshire just received a large gift from a surprising source: the school librarian. According to the Boston Globe, Robin Morin, who worked there for nearly 50 years left the entirety of his $4 million estate to the school. He was able to accumulate such a surprising amount of money through simple frugal living, reportedly driving a 1992 Plymouth for the past several decades. The will only specified that $100,000 go directly to the library, so the school plans to spend $2.5 million on expanding its career center and the other $1 million, predictably, on a new scoreboard for the football stadium.