Top Program Managers, 11-20

May 14, 2019 12:25 PM

20. Leo Iacobelli

Bank: ESL Investment Services
Location: Rochester, N.Y.
TPM: LPL Financial
Years in wealth management: 32
Years in current job: 20
Number of advisors you personally oversee (as of 12/31/18): 30
Number of advisors you personally oversee (as of 12/31/17): 29
Team AUM (on 12/31/18): $1.25 billion
Team AUM (on 12/31/17): $1.20 billion
Team 2018 production: $8 million
Team 2017 production: $6.6 million
Production per advisor: $270,712
% of 2018 production from fee business: 50%

Leo Iocobelli has been a pillar at ESL. Since joining in 1997, he has helped establish the wealth management business and trust services. He also participates in the credit union's broader corporate strategy, striving to attract talent and onboard those who embody the company's core values. One of the most important duties of being a program manager is communicating the value of the wealth management business to institution leaders, along with fostering collaboration between business lines. Leo focuses on the customer experience, trying to understand their journey and designing processes around their perspective allows ESL to enhance the experience and help them in their investment journey.

19. Jeffrey Zimmer

Bank: Bankers Bank
Location: Madison, Wisconsin
TPM: LPL Financial
Years in wealth management: 18
Years in current job: 1
Number of advisors you personally oversee (as of 12/31/18): 55
Number of advisors you personally oversee (as of 12/31/17): 52
Team AUM (on 12/31/18): $1.50 billion
Team AUM (on 12/31/17): $1.47 billion
Team 2018 production: $10.3 million
Team 2017 production: $8.9 million
Production per advisor: $191,601
% of 2018 production from fee business: 42%

Jeff Zimmer says that having almost 20 years of securities experience in wirehouse, independent and bank/credit union channels gives him a unique understanding of the needs of advisors and their support teams. The bank is working to change the landscape of the financial institutional channel by introducing and developing service models that take the advisors’ business to the next level. Adopting new technology, new products/platforms, efficiency adoption and embracing change are paramount to success in the future of our business and the industry as a whole.

18. Jason Dilorenzo

Bank: Citi Personal Wealth Management
Location: Melville, New York
TPM: none
Years in wealth management: 22
Years in current job: 2
Number of advisors you personally oversee (as of 12/31/18): 34
Number of advisors you personally oversee (as of 12/31/17): 28
Team AUM (on 12/31/18): $3.42 billion
Team AUM (on 12/31/17): $3.42 billion
Team 2018 production: $18.7 million
Team 2017 production: $17.7 million
Production per advisor: $603,236
% of 2018 production from fee business: 22%

Jason Dilorenzo has attracted new talent to the area, and they have been among the most successful in the firm. With a focus on daily activities, accountability at the branch level and a commitment to excellence, this region has performed above plan and expectations. Jason was the second highest-ranking regional sales manager in Citi’s annual assessment among his peer group.

17. Mike Zito

Bank: Trustmark
Location: Jackson, Mississippi
TPM: LPL Financial
Years in wealth management: 29
Years in current job: 16
Number of advisors you personally oversee (as of 12/31/18): 17
Number of advisors you personally oversee (as of 12/31/17): 18
Team AUM (on 12/31/18): $1.85 billion
Team AUM (on 12/31/17): $1.79 billion
Team 2018 production: $11.5 million
Team 2017 production: $10.0 million
Production per advisor: $659,600
% of 2018 production from fee business: 61%

Over the past 30 years, Mike Zito has worked as an institutional advisor, sales manager, program manager and retail advisor. He says he has learned the good and bad from previous managers. The key is to hire the right people who are self-starters and have an entrepreneurial spirit. Always be available when needed but let them run their various business models. They are compensated to produce results and to take care of the clients. Service is the key to success in this business. Bank advisor books have become too large to service so tools to utilize efficiencies will be key to continued growth. His program has been successful, he says, by adding junior advisors rather than reducing territories like others.

16. John Zaia

Bank: Citi Personal Wealth Management
Location: Melville, New York
TPM: none
Years in wealth management: 30
Years in current job: 5
Number of advisors you personally oversee (as of 12/31/18): 33
Number of advisors you personally oversee (as of 12/31/17): 30
Team AUM (on 12/31/18): $3.42 billion
Team AUM (on 12/31/17): $3.43 billion
Team 2018 production: $23.7 million
Team 2017 production: $22.9 million
Production per advisor: $751,383
% of 2018 production from fee business: 30%

For the second consecutive year, seven of John Zaia’s advisors have been recognized at the Citi annual conference, while four were among the top 20 performers at the firm. His New York suburban region is the third-largest for the company and grew 6% in 2018. The area had $103 million in net new managed account AUM to finish the year just north of $1 billion. John was a former retail bank market manager with Citi, and has a broad understanding of the investment franchise and the importance of both the broker dealer, and the retail branches where he spent three years as the retail market manager.

15. Philip Hurst

Bank: Cathay Bank
Location: San Gabriel, California
TPM: Cetera Financial
Years in wealth management: 32
Years in current job: 2
Number of advisors you personally oversee (as of 12/31/18): 21
Number of advisors you personally oversee (as of 12/31/17): 18
Team AUM (on 12/31/18): $656.9 million
Team AUM (on 12/31/17): $464.4 million
Team 2018 production: $6.8 million
Team 2017 production: $2.2 million
Production per advisor: $348,702
% of 2018 production from fee business: 14

Philip Hurst’s success boils down to an essential defining skill set: an ability to identify and recruit talent. “It’s been instrumental in helping me achieve my accomplishments,” he says. As one example, Cathay’s licensed banker program has grown from 16 LBEs to 46 over the past 18 months. And with this in-house referral team in place, they’ve already surpassed 1,500 referrals – the record number set in 2014. To help maintain the cooperation between the bank and the wealth management team, each advisor and licensed bank employee is required to complete quarterly product training as well as referral training at each branch. One focus for his team has been life insurance; they hosted a campaign last September where they provided complimentary reviews of clients’ life insurance policies. Their work in this area helped grow the program’s insurance revenue to $526,707 in 2018 from $183,780 the previous year.

14. Laura Driver

Bank: Citi Personal Wealth Management
Location: Schaumburg, Illinois
TPM: none
Years in wealth management: 14
Years in current job: 9
Number of advisors you personally oversee (as of 12/31/18): 29
Number of advisors you personally oversee (as of 12/31/17): 30
Team AUM (on 12/31/18): $3.46 billion
Team AUM (on 12/31/17): $3.48 billion
Team 2018 production: $21.8 million
Team 2017 production: $20.2 million
Production per advisor: $739,008
% of 2018 production from fee business: 36%

Laura Driver has been working on building a successful team in the Illinois marketplace since arriving at Citi in 2017. She is focused on effectively managing the advisor staffing to ensure that it is putting clients in front of some of the best advisors in the Illinois market. She has had to make some “difficult personnel decisions” for the betterment of the business over the last 12 months. Her ability to execute on her plan has resulted in very good year-over-year growth across all of our key business metrics.

13. Joseph Hage

Bank: Citi Personal Wealth Management
Location: Fort Lauderdale, Florida
TPM: none
Years in wealth management: 33
Years in current job: 16
Number of advisors you personally oversee (as of 12/31/18): 45
Number of advisors you personally oversee (as of 12/31/17): 37
Team AUM (on 12/31/18): $3.51 billion
Team AUM (on 12/31/17): $3.49 billion
Team 2018 production: $21.4 million
Team 2017 production: $20.1 million
Production per advisor: $521,150
% of 2018 production from fee business: 21%

Joseph Hage leads the Florida market for Citi. Under his leadership, its productivity has gone from one of the lowest performing to one of the highest at company, and now posts YoYs growth in AUM and revenue growth. He has spent the time recruiting and onboarding the right advisors, and those two activities have been the main contributors to the growth of the Florida market. In addition to building his team, the daily engagement with his partners has also helped fuel the growth of Citi’s overall wealth management business in Florida.

12. William Desantis

Bank: Citi Personal Wealth Management
Location: New York
TPM: none
Years in wealth management: 15
Years in current job: 3
Number of advisors you personally oversee (as of 12/31/18): 45
Number of advisors you personally oversee (as of 12/31/17): 44
Team AUM (on 12/31/18): $3.65 billion
Team AUM (on 12/31/17): $3.69 billion
Team 2018 production: $21.0 million
Team 2017 production: $18.8 million
Production per advisor: $472,543
% of 2018 production from fee business: 32%

William Desantis manages the downtown Manhattan area, a diverse and critical market that includes Chinatown, not to mention Citi’s global headquarters. His team includes three of the top 10 performing advisors in the firm, and they continue to grow in all areas including revenue, AUM, and client satisfaction. A business owner prior to joining Citi, William has a broad understanding of the key relationships formed in the branches between associates, and clients who are bank clients only. He has successfully transitioned more than 20 new advisors to Citi, and has been successful in forming partnerships with tenured financial advisors in his market.

11. Chad Waddoups

Bank: Mountain America Credit Union
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah
TPM: LPL Financial
Years in wealth management: 20
Years in current job: 10
Number of advisors you personally oversee (as of 12/31/18): 32
Number of advisors you personally oversee (as of 12/31/17): 34
Team AUM (on 12/31/18): $1.65 billion
Team AUM (on 12/31/17): $985.6 million
Team 2018 production: $9.4 million
Team 2017 production: $7.8 million
Production per advisor: $284,184
% of 2018 production from fee business: 26%

Chad Waddoups: Chad is the vice president of wealth management and business services for Mountain America Credit Union. His teams consists of more than 40 professionals who strive to provide credit union members with a positive, engaging experience as they receive retirement guidance. Chad has been focused on scaling his team to provide value to their members. They have expanded their team of associate advisors, which has in turn helped to free up capacity of their senior advisors and contributed to growth in AUM and revenue. They are continuously looking to leverage new technology as a way drive efficiency. In 2018, they have been experimenting with outsourcing some of the administrative help and are hoping this will result in a better use of their advisors’ time in the near future.