TD Ameritrade exodus: Who’s out after Schwab deal closes

Tom Nally TD Ameritrade Institutional National LINC 2019, Feb 11 LILA PHOTO
LILA PHOTO/©LILA PHOTO for TD Ameritrade Institutional

Tom Nally, the eight-year president of TD Ameritrade’s RIA division, is out — mere days after Charles Schwab closed its mega-acquisition of his employer.

Schwab purchased TD Ameritrade Oct. 6, in an all-stock transaction valued at $22 billion. Since then, the company has begun reorganizing TD’s leadership under Schwab’s executive team.

Schwab spokeswoman Mayura Hooper confirmed that Nally, as well as seven other TD executives, would be leaving the firm, as originally reported by wealthmanagement.com.

Aside from Nally, the other TD Ameritrade executives who are moving on include Steve Boyle, interim CEO; Prashant Bhatia, managing director of enterprise strategy and corporate development; Peter deSilva, president of TD’s retail division; Vijay Sankaran, chief information officer; Karen Ganzlin, chief HR officer; Spyro Karetsos, chief risk officer; and Steve Quirk, executive vice president, trading and education.

“These respected professionals have played an important role in TD Ameritrade’s remarkable achievements and demonstrated a deep commitment to the success of this transaction. We are grateful for their tremendous contributions and wish them the best,” she said in a statement.

Five senior executives at TD Ameritrade “and many other TDA leaders” will lead parts of Schwab’s business and take on senior roles at the newly combined company, the spokeswoman added, declining to add further comment.

Then-TD Ameritrade CEO Tim Hockey celebrates Tom Nally's 25th anniversary working at the custodian at the LINC conference in 2019.
Jessica Mathews

Boyle, who had served as interim CEO during the Schwab acquisition, received a $600,000 cash transition bonus “in recognition of his contributions,” according to an SEC filing.

Other prominent figures within TD’s RIA division left the firm ahead of the deal’s close. Among them were Skip Schweiss, head of TD Ameritrade’s retirement plan solutions business as well as Dani Fava, the former director of institutional innovation.

Nally’s departure comes after a 26-year career at TD Ameritrade.

On the sidelines of TD Ameritrade’s LINC conference in January, his colleagues spoke highly of his leadership.

“He just doesn't forget anything,” Vanessa Oligino, TD’s director of business performance solutions, told Financial Planning in an interview. She recalled how Nally had remembered the name of an employee rejoining her team and TD after a 15-year hiatus.

Kate Healy, who was TD Ameritrade’s managing director of Generation Next, told Financial Planning Nally had come by her desk three years ago, suggesting she drop her marketing responsibilities and focus her attention on diversifying the RIA industry. “Advisors aren't paying enough attention,” she recalled him telling her. “We're all not paying enough attention.”

Speaking with Financial Planning in January, Nally said he felt the firm had been a challenger and innovator within the industry.

“That's one of the things that really makes me very proud — when you just walk around and talk to advisors about it and talk to our associates — I mean, it's evident that we've had a significant impact,” Nally said.

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