Carnegie Investment Counsel, which manages $7 billion in assets, elevated Ben Connard to chief investment officer.
Connard's CIO appointment, announced Monday, extends a leadership trajectory that began when the firm expanded into Stamford, Connecticut, just over a year ago.
""Last year when we added a team in Stamford, Connecticut, we identified Ben Connard as a potential successor to the chief investment officer role here at Carnegie," Richard Alt, Carnegie's chief executive, said in a statement. "Now that he has spent a year on our investment committee, my confidence is even greater that he has the discipline to lead the investment team."
The promotion is designed to strengthen coordination across Carnegie's 10 US offices and reinforce a philosophy built around bottom-up fundamental analysis and long-term portfolio construction.
"Carnegie has always been grounded in a disciplined, long-term approach to investing ... building portfolios that can perform through a full market cycle," Connard said. "As chief investment officer, my goal is to ensure that every portfolio manager and advisor across the firm is positioned to deliver consistent, long-term outcomes for our clients."
Before joining Carnegie, Connard spent nine years as a partner and portfolio manager at Eagle Ridge Investment Management and 11 years as an analyst at Laidlaw Group.
The firm said his promotion will not affect existing client relationships.
Wilde Wealth Management Group, one of the largest firms in the Cetera Advisors community with approximately $5.75 billion in assets under administration, has named Erica Bloudek as its chief operating officer.
The independent wealth management firm, based in the Southwest and operating across nine locations with 56 advisors, tapped Bloudek to build out the operational infrastructure needed to sustain its expansion ambitions.
Cetera, which took a strategic minority stake in Wilde Wealth in January 2024, flagged the appointment as part of a broader commitment to helping growth-oriented firms scale with disciplined infrastructure.
Bloudek's hire underscores a trend of independent broker-dealer networks increasingly directing resources into operational and compliance infrastructure at the firm level – think Raymond James hiring a COO for its independent contractor channel, or Independent Financial Group tapping a veteran executive as its president and COO last year.
Bloudek arrives at Wilde Wealth from Ashton Thomas Private Wealth, an Arax Investment Partners company, where she also served as chief operating officer. Prior to that, she spent 18 years with Wells Fargo and its affiliated entities.
"Wilde Wealth has built a strong foundation rooted in both growth and culture," Bloudek said. "I'm excited to help scale the operational infrastructure in a way that supports continued expansion while preserving the culture that makes this organization so distinctive."
In her new role, she will oversee advisor and client onboarding, marketing communications, workflow management and strategic planning – functions that wealth management firms are increasingly treating as competitive differentiators rather than back-office necessities.
In Houston, Willis Johnson Wealth announced an internal succession, appointing Nick Johnson as chief executive while he retains his role as chief investment officer. Willis Johnson, the firm's founder and outgoing CEO, moves into an executive chairman position.
The transition comes as the firm has grown to $1.8 billion in assets under management. The firm, which recently rebranded after 30 years operating as Willis Johnson & Associates, says it is deepening its focus on serving employees of major energy companies including Shell, Chevron, Dow and BP.
Nick Johnson helped expand the firm's service offerings to include tax preparation and private market investments, and launched a rotational program to develop younger financial planning professionals.
"Our mission is to take your complex personal financial situation and make it simple," Nick Johnson said. "That mission has guided WJW for years, and it will continue to guide us as we evolve and help clients navigate complex financial decisions with confidence."
Willis Johnson, who founded the firm in 1996, said the change reflects his confidence in the next generation of leadership.
"Over the last 10 years, we've grown exponentially, and I have the utmost confidence in where we're heading," he said. "Nick's leadership is the continuation of what we've been building so we can help more families. He's creating a new generation of the firm that has a clear focus, discipline, and a strong vision for the future."
The firm operates on a fee-only, fiduciary model with no product commissions, serving clients nationwide who hold more than $1 million in investable assets. Willis Johnson Wealth's in-house team integrates CPAs, enrolled agents, wealth managers and investment analysts – an integrated advisory model that more firms are building through strategic partnerships and acquisitions.
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