A veteran-led elite team with over a billion dollars in assets has begun a new chapter in its long-running relationship with Osaic, while another advisor quartet joins Raymond James' financial institutions division and Baird announces two key promotions in its private wealth business.
Osaic has deepened its long-running relationship with Bard Financial Services, a Branford, Connecticut-based team overseeing about $1.2 billion in client assets, by bringing the practice into its Empowered Independence W-2 channel.
The firm, which has been affiliated with Osaic since 1986, is using the move to align its growth plans with a structure built around succession, scale and centralized support. Bard Financial is led by financial advisor Ken Spitzbard, a 40-year industry veteran who has appeared on multiple “best advisor” lists, alongside partners financial advisor Jeffrey Welsh, managing director Julie Cross Hoko, wealth advisor Mickey Goldberg and senior operations professional Jackie Weston.
“For nearly four decades, our priority has been delivering thoughtful, relationship-driven guidance to clients across the country,” Spitzbard said in the announcement. “As we looked ahead, we wanted a business model that allows us to devote more time to clients and provide mentoring to the next generation of advisors, while continuing with a trusted partner for operational support.”
Bard Financial will continue to use Osaic’s brokerage and advisory platform while operating under the firm’s corporate RIA, gaining centralized infrastructure, compliance, and technology support so the team can spend more time on client work and business development.
Osaic framed the transition as part of a broader trend of established practices seeking W-2 options – see its addition of Veater Financial Group in December – which bundle platform and oversight with more predictable staffing and succession pathways.
Raymond James’ Financial Institutions Division has hired a four-advisor team managing roughly $420 million in client assets to its investment program at First National Bank of Omaha.
Advisors Marsha Clark, Kevin Clifford, Nick Hennessy, and Ed Kerley have joined First Investments & Planning, the wealth management program at FNBO, and will deliver investment and planning services through Raymond James Financial Services.
The group is based around the Kansas City area and operates from several local offices, after previously affiliating with Money Concepts Capital Corp as part of Country Club Bank, which FNBO acquired in October.
In a statement, Grace Austin, senior vice president and North division director of the Financial Institutions Division, said Raymond James and FNBO are “pleased to welcome this accomplished group of advisors” as they begin “this exciting new chapter.”
For advisors, the move underscores how bank-based programs continue to compete for experienced teams that want access to larger platforms while keeping a local branch presence. For Raymond James, it adds scale and established relationships in a Midwestern market where bank consolidations have been reshaping distribution.
Baird has named two new market directors in its private wealth management business, elevating internal leaders to oversee clusters of branch offices across the upper Midwest and Ohio Valley.
In Minneapolis, the firm promoted Ally Shuman to market director, putting her in charge of private wealth offices in Edina, Minnetonka, Rochester and St. Paul in Minnesota; La Crosse and Eau Claire in Wisconsin; Sioux Falls in South Dakota; and Sioux City in Iowa.
Shuman is an industry veteran with more than 25 years’ experience who most recently managed Baird’s Edina wealth management office, after earlier leadership roles at Wells Fargo Advisors and earlier positions with John Hancock and Russell Investment Group.
The firm also elevated John Melick to a market director role overseeing wealth management offices in Birmingham, Columbus, Toledo, Findlay, and Akron across Ohio.
A veteran with more than four decades of experience, Melick joined Baird’s private wealth business in 2018, founding the Toledo office and later taking on management duties for the Birmingham and Columbus locations. He previously held leadership roles at WFA, and made his start in the industry as a financial advisor at Morgan Stanley.
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