Meghan McCartan, who stepped into the top marketing role at Hightower in 2021, has left the company, according to a LinkedIn post. McCartan, who became chief marketing officer at Hightower in July 2022, shared the “bittersweet update” that she had departed the firm, saying she was unsure but excited about her next opportunity.
“I loved so much about my time there,” McCartan said in the LinkedIn post. “My team, helping drive the organic growth of our advisors, building our brand and messaging platform, and I could go on.
“I’m eager to explore the possibilities and take advantage of the opportunity to reconnect with so many industry friends,” she wrote.
McCartan did not return a request for comment prior to publication.
“Meghan was a senior leader of the Hightower team for nearly five years. As she moves on to new opportunities, we are grateful for her service with Hightower and extend our best wishes on her next chapter," said a Hightower spokesperson.
She took on the top marketing position when Abby Salameh, Hightower’s former CMO, stepped down after two years with the firm. Salameh is now serving as chief growth officer at RFG Advisory, a hybrid RIA platform.
McCartan, who was one of WealthManagement.com’s Ten to Watch in 2020, led the firm’s Outsourced CMO initiative launched in late 2019. This initiative was part of Hightower’s strategic shift made a couple of years ago to sharpen the focus on providing the firm’s advisors with the marketing strategies and collateral to bring in new clients.
Prior to joining Hightower, she was CMO at FiComm Partners.
Hightower recently named Gurinder Ahluwalia, lead director of the firm’s board of directors, as president, a newly created position. Ahluwalia is currently an executive partner in the financial technology and services vertical at Thomas H. Lee Partners, Hightower’s private equity owner. He’s been registered with Hightower Securities, the firm’s broker/dealer, since November.
The firm also named Michael DiBiasio, a managing director at Morgan Stanley, as chief operating officer and Daniel Berg, an executive director of corporate finance at Hightower, as CFO, a role previously held by Dan Watanapongse.