Advisors with $1.1B in AUM join Stifel

Stifel's ongoing and aggressive recruiting push has brought in a group of advisors managing $1.1 billion in client assets.

The St. Louis-based firm has picked up three dozen advisors managing $4.5 billion so far this year, according to company announcements. Like other regional BDs, Stifel is benefiting from a wave of departures from wirehouse competitors. Exiting advisors have cited what they see as burdensome bureaucracy and a desire to have more control over their practices as reasons for their departure.

• J.P. Morgan Securities
• Raymond James Financial
• Focus Financial Partners
• UBS Wealth Management
• Career moves
• Dynasty Financial Partners
• Merrill Lynch
• Recruiting
• Wells Fargo Advisors

Biggest recruiting moves of 2018

The following 17 teams oversaw about $75 billion in assets. The firms ending the year with prize recruits include a diverse cast: regional BDs, wirehouses, boutiques and RIAs.

By Andrew Welsch

1 Min Read

The largest among the regional BD's latest hires is a team from Merrill Lynch that oversaw $596 million in client assets, according to Stifel. The Murrieta, California-based team is comprised of advisors Gary Allen, Peggy Allen, Tony Ondracek, Robert Babcock, and Greg Munro.

Munro is the team’s most senior advisor with 34 years of industry experience, all of them spent at Merrill Lynch or Morgan Stanley, according to FINRA BrokerCheck records. Gary and Peggy Allen, who are married, started their careers at Morgan in 1994 and 2000, respectively, and moved to Merrill in 2007.

Ondracek, an advisor of 29 years, had been with Merrill since 2009. Babcock moved to the wirehouse from Cuso Financial Services in 2008, according to BrokerCheck.

Stifel also hired two advisors from Raymond James to staff a new branch in Clive, Iowa. It is the broker-dealer's seventh in the state. Miles Luchtenburg and Kyle Owens oversaw $220 million and $120 million while at Raymond James, according to Stifel.

Luchtenburg and Owens worked at Raymond James for 21 years, according to BrokerCheck.

And in Newport Beach, California, Stifel hired Ray Martin and Craig Bentley from Wells Fargo Advisors.

Martin and Bentley oversaw $107 million and $71 million at the wirehouse, according to Stifel. The advisors had spent a decade at Wells Fargo, having previously worked at Morgan Stanley, according to BrokerCheck.

Spokeswomen for Merrill Lynch and Raymond James declined to comment. A Wells Fargo spokeswoman was unavailable for immediate comment.