A pair of brokers in Santa Rosa, Calif. said Thursday they were leaving their employer to join Raymond James & Associates, the firm’s traditional broker/dealer.
Linda Pardini and Douglas Wulbrecht, who were previously employed by Wells Fargo Advisors and managed $462 million, are opening a new Raymond James office in Santa Rosa and will report to the complex headed by Nathan Clakley. Pardini and Wulbrecht will both be vice presidents at Raymond James.
The new Pardini Wulbrecht Financial Group of Raymond James also includes client service associates Alicia Carinalli and Alexis Smith. It will continue to work primarily with individual investors focused on retirement income, according to a statement from Raymond James.
The group is the second eyebrow-raising team to recently leave Wells Fargo for Raymond James. The independent b/d said in late July it recruited a team in New Mexico from the wirehouse with $550 million in assets under management.
Tash Elwyn, who has been president of Raymond James & Associates since 2012 and was recently named CEO of the unit, told WealthMangement.com the firm is on pace for a record level of recruiting this fiscal year. Headquartered in Florida, Raymond James advisors are predominantly on the East Coast but Elwyn said its expansion westward has been strategic and opportunistic.
In the past, Raymond James was not a sought-after destination for advisors but that has changed and the firm has some recruiting momentum on its side, according to Louis Diamond, an executive vice president at Diamond Consultants, a recruiting and consulting firm. Raymond James is a client of Diamond Consultants.
Diamond also said while Raymond James has improved the compensation for new recruits, “people still don’t go there because of the deal or a better paycheck.” The firm’s culture is often what attracts advisors.
Raymond James is the only brokerage that writes into contracts that employee advisors own their book, meaning they can ask clients to move with them should they choose to leave the firm—an almost unheard of policy among brokerages.
“That’s a big deal and it’s a symbolic gesture as well,” Diamond said. “The management and leadership, they value the advisor-client relationships.”