Rockefeller recruits $1B UBS team for new office

Rockefeller Capital Management landed a former UBS team that managed $1 billion to staff a new branch office, according to a person familiar with the group’s move.

Bruce Tenenbaum and Andy Lam opened a new wealth management office for Rockefeller in San Francisco where they will cater to ultrahigh-net-worth clients, according to the firm which has focused on poaching top talent from wirehouses such as Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and UBS. Rockefeller, which advises on $18.6 billion in assets, has its origins as a family office founded in 1882 by industrialist John D. Rockefeller, still considered by some to be the wealthiest American in the country’s history.

“The Tenenbaum Group is our inaugural team in San Francisco and exemplifies the type of high-quality, experienced advisors we will continue to add,” Christopher Randazzo, president of Rockefeller Private Wealth Management, said in a statement. Rockefeller Capital Management still includes the family office, as well as an asset management arm and the growing wealth management unit.

Tenenbaum had been with UBS since 2009, having previously worked at Goldman Sachs. Lam joined him at the wirehouse in 2014.

A UBS spokesman declined to comment.

Rockefeller expanded into wealth management for other rich clients approximately a year ago and has acquired seven teams, including the UBS one, since then. Greg Fleming, former president of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, joined as CEO of Rockefeller Capital Management.

The firm has added other former wirehouse executives, such as Randazzo who previously served as the former CIO of Morgan Stanley’s global wealth management unit. In March, Rockefeller hired Michael Parker and Michael Armondo as managing directors, overseeing expansion plans in New York and Dallas, respectively. Parker was previously the head of advisor recruiting at RBC Wealth Management and Armando was a market executive for Merrill Lynch.

The advisory teams that Rockefeller’s wealth management unit has picked up collectively oversaw billions in client assets at larger wirehouse competitors. In January, two Merrill teams who joined the firm managed a combined $2.5 billion in Atlanta. The firm has offices in several large cities, including New York and Boston, according to the company.