RBC recruits $5B ex-First Republic team from JPMorgan: Advisor Moves

April 17, 2025 4:22 PM

The Degenaars Babb Group, a former First Republic team who had formerly managed $5 billion at JPMorgan, has joined RBC Wealth Management.

More than two years after JPMorgan bought First Republic out of receivership, advisors formerly registered with the regional bank are still heading for the exits.

RBC Wealth Management announced on Thursday that it had recruited a team of them previously managing $5 billion. It was just one of many recruiting deals this week involving AUM tallies well in excess of $1 billion. Read about them below.

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RBC Wealth yanks $5B team from JPMorgan

RBC's U.S. wealth division is bolstering its presence in New York with an 11-person team of former First Republic advisors recruited from JPMorgan.

The Degenaars Babb Group was affiliated with First Republic up until the regional bank's purchase out of receivership by JPMorgan in 2023 and has roughly $5 billion under management, making it one of the largest RBC has ever recruited. The team is led by Glenn Degenaars and Jason Babb, both financial advisors and senior portfolio managers.

Joining them are the financial advisor and wealth strategist Kristin Asham, as well as Jennifer Mackley, Ryan Carney, Elizabeth Botti, Antonio Salcfas, Griffin Wellington, Michael Telesco, John Rehill and Diana Zapata.

RBC said in a release that The Degenaars Babb Group made Barron's Top 250 Private Wealth Management Teams in 2024 and was ranked among the Top 50 in Forbes America's Top Wealth Management Teams the same year.

Degenaars started his career at Deutsche Bank in 2008 and joined First Republic two years later. Babb started at Deutsche Bank in 2007 and went to First Republic the same year as Degenaars.

This isn't the first time RBC has pulled a former First Republic team away from JPMorgan. RBC announced in January that it had recruited a group of ex-First Republic advisors managing $1.2 billion.

Stifel brings on advisors managing $2.9B from Merrill

Stifel Financial has recruited two advisory practices with hefty AUM totals from Merrill in Dallas.

The first, a team led by Melissa Transier and Chris Green, had previously managed $1.5 billion. And the second practice, run by the solo advisor Andrew "Ryan" Bell, managed $1.4 billion.

Joining them are the senior registered client service associates Deborah Griffith and Laura Martin-Bernard, as well as the senior client service associate Stacey Jacobson. Transier cited Stifel's "streamlined structure" as an impetus for the team's move, stating it would improve their service to high net worth clients.

According to BrokerCheck, Transier joined the industry in 1998 at J.P. Morgan, followed by stints at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, Credit Suisse First Boston and Smith Barney before moving to Merrill in 2009. Green started in 1997 at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, and also went through Credit Suisse First Boston and Smith Barney before joining Merrill in 2014. Bell started at Goldman Sachs in 1998 and went to Merrill in 2003.

Merrill pulls $1.9B private wealth advisor from Raymond James

Merrill has recruited to its Los Angeles market a former managing director in Raymond James' Alex. Brown division.

Micah Scheinberg, previously a managing director and client advisor at Alex. Brown, had managed $1.9 billion through a practice called Scheinberg Group. He's joining Merrill Private Wealth Management as a managing director in Los Angeles and will be part of the firm's Mountain West Private Wealth market.

Scheinberg has 28 years of industry experience according to BrokerCheck. He spent less than a year at Montgomery Securities before moving to Goldman Sachs in 1997, then Deutsche Bank in 2003 and Raymond James in 2016.

Rockefeller draws team from $2.3B UBS team

Rockefeller Capital's wealth management unit is adding to its presence in New Jersey with a team recruited from UBS.

Chase Newman Riordan Wealth Partners joins Rockefeller Global Family Office in Florham Park, New Jersey. The team was formerly part of the Certus Financial Group at UBS, which oversaw $2.3 billion in assets at the end of September last year, Barron's reported. It's led by the private advisors and managing directors Raymond Chase and Angie Newman, and private advisor and senior vice president Dan Riordan.

Chase started his career at Lehman Brothers in 1987 and moved to Smith Barney in 1993 and Merrill 1996 before joining UBS in 2012. Newman started at Lehman in 1985, moved to Smith Barney in 1993 and then UBS in 2004. Riordan, with 21 years of industry experience, spent the early years of his career at PFS Investments and Raike Financial before joining Merrill in 2006 and UBS in 2012.

Joining them at Rockefeller are Eric Schenk, Julianne Rose, Jack Worth, Julia Chase and Nikita Chhabria.

RBC recruits advisor with more than $1B from U.S. Bank

RBC Wealth Management has turned to U.S. Bank for an advisor recruit to its Minneapolis branch.

Jim Kirk had previously managed more than $1 billion at U.S. Bank as a private wealth advisor working with high net worth clients and families. Kirk started his career at Thrivent in 2004 and had stints at Smith Barney, Merrill, Morgan Stanley and Ameriprise before joining U.S. Bank in 2015.

Wells Fargo’s indie channel draws Janney team managing $380M

An advisory team formerly with Janney Montgomery Scott in New York is moving over to Wells Fargo's channel for independent financial advisors.

Noah Doyle and Charles Princiotto had formerly managed $380 million through a practice called Battery Park Financial Partners at Janney. They're starting a new advisory group called SoundRidge Private Wealth at Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, or FiNet, Wells' channel for independent advisors.

According to BrokerCheck, Doyle's career began at Smith Barney in 2006. He joined Morgan Stanley in 2009 after its acquisition of Smith Barney, went to Merrill in 2011 and then to Janney in 2017. Princiotto started at Merrill in 2011 then joined Doyle at Janney in 2017.

EP Wealth buys $385M practice in Cincinnati area

The RIA aggregator EP Wealth Advisors is moving into the Cincinnati market with its purchase of AlphaMark Advisors.

AlphaMark, which has its headquarters in the Cincinnati suburb of Fort Wright, Kentucky, has roughly $385 million in assets under management. The firm was founded in 1999 and specializes in retirement planning, small-business services and helping clients cope with divorce and other events in life. It also has a Women & Wealth initiative.

AlphaMark founder Michael Simon and three other members of the firm will be joining EP Wealth. The purchase of AlphaMark comes as EP Wealth's fourth such deal this year.

EP Wealth had $31 billion under management at the end of last year. It has its headquarters in Torrance, California, and offices in 16 states.

LPL moves five execs into new managerial positions

LPL Financial has tapped five executive vice presidents to fill out a new managerial layer.

In a reflection of their broadening responsibilities, Christa Carone, Gary Carrai, Brett Goodman, Scott Posner and Brent Simonich have all been named managing directors.

In their new roles:

Christa Carone will continue as chief marketing and communication officer
Gary Carrai will be chief product officer, overseeing the design and delivery of the firm's advisor and institutional client systems
Brett Goodman will continue as head of corporate development, treasury and investor relations, overseeing mergers and acquisitions, treasury functions and shareholder relations
Scott Posner will remain head of business development, overseeing advisor recruiting and institutional sales
Brent Simonich will continue as chief risk officer and head of business operations

Current managing directors Althea Brown, Marc Cohen, Matthew Enyedi, Greg Gates and Aneri Jambusaria will all become group managing directors and remain on LPL's management committee. LPL Financial supports more than 29,000 financial advisors and manages roughly $1.7 trillion in brokerage and advisory assets.