Money on the Move in May

Money on the move in May:

• Hightower hired away a Morgan Stanley branch manager based in Pasadena, Calif. on Wednesday. Frank Epinger joined as an executive director in the firm’s Los Angeles office.

• Morgan Stanley said Tuesday it lured away a father-daughter duo from Stifel Nicolaus. Alissa Carloss joined Morgan Stanley’s Jackson, Tenn. office, while her father Terry Nance joined her team as a consulting group analyst. Meanwhile, former Wells Fargo advisor Paul Bagnato—with  $165 million AUM—started in Morgan Stanley’s Mount Kisco, N.Y. office. 

• Benjamin F. Edwards & Co. expanded its brokerage on Monday, brining on seven new advisors to staff two new offices. Steven S. Phillips and Thomas A. Luttrell joined in Birmingham, Ala. and James P. Luttrell Jr., Matthew J. Dahlman, Nicholas T. Barlotta Jr., Daniel R. Cauley and Nicholas T. Barlotta III will be based out of the Destin, Fla. office. Additionally, the firm picked up Darrelyn Brennan for its White Plains, N.Y. office and Thomas Trivers for its Chattanooga, Tenn. location. 

• On the West Coast, W.J. Bradley tapped industry veteran Kent Usell to run the Colorado-based mortgage banking firm’s new broker-dealer, W.J. Bradley Financial Services. Usell most recently served as the managing director of Banc of Manhattan Capitol.

• Wirehouse Merrill Lynch also saw a bump when it brought in alum Ashvin Chhabra on Monday to head up its Investment Management and Guidance division. For the past six years, Chhabra served as CEO of the Princeton-based institute. Prior to that, he was head of Wealth Strategies and Analytics between 2001 and 2007.
• Last week LPL also scored a new addition when Ingham Retirement Group moved to the company’s broker-dealer platform. With about $1 billion in AUM, the group, led by Kenneth Ingham, brought over 12 financial advsiors and 50 additional professionals.

• Earlier this month EP Wealth Advisors added two advisors with a combined total of $1.5 billion AUM. A former vice president with Bernstein Global Wealth Management, Sean Cartin, joined EP’s San Diego office and former Charles Schwab analyst Ben Porras will be based out of EP’s Los Angeles location.

• Two former Raymond James advisors with $100 million in AUM each also defected, landing at Hilliard Lyons the first week of May. Steven J. Smith and Sean Miranda joined the firm’s Louisville, Ky. office.