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UBS lands two big brokers, loses two managers

$2 million producer in Houston joins from Merrill Lynch; Shechter jumps over from MSSB

UBS Wealth Management Americas last week hired a pair of million-dollar producers from rivals Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, but also lost two veteran branch managers to Morgan Stanley.
Thomas Jenkins, who generated $2.2 million of revenue at Merrill Lynch in the past year and oversaw client assets of about $450 million, joined UBS in Houston last Friday, along with two assistants. A 15-year veteran of the brokerage business, Mr. Jenkins had worked at Merrill since May 1998 and previously did stints at Robert W. Baird & Co. and Northwestern Mutual Investment Services Inc., both in Milwaukee.
A woman who answered the phone at Jenkins & Associates confirmed the Houston team’s move from Merrill. Mr. Jenkins didn’t return a call seeking comment.
In New York, UBS lured Jack Schecter to work at the company’s office at 1285 Sixth Ave. Mr. Schecter produced $1.9 million during the last year at MSSB and oversaw about $430 million of client assets. UBS spokeswoman Allison Chin-Leong confirmed the hiring of the two brokers and their production numbers.
Prior to joining Smith Barney in 2003, Mr. Schecter worked for 12 years at Merrill Lynch, where his branch manager for a time was Bob Mulholland, now head of UBS’ Advisor Group.
The veteran managers who left UBS for Morgan Stanley are Lisa Cregan in Dallas and VR Raman in Barrington, Ill.
Ms. Cregan, who had been with UBS and its predecessor firms almost continuously for 26 years — and ran its advocacy group for female brokers — is now in charge of three offices with about 131 brokers in Morgan Stanley’s Houston complex. She most recently ran a UBS branch in Dallas and previously served as a complex manager in that city, according to Morgan Stanley spokeswoman Christine Pollak.
Ms. Cregan replaced M.A. (Mary) Mullis, who moved this year to Charlotte, N.C., to become Morgan Stanley’s southeast regional director.
Mr. Raman moved from his role as a branch manager for UBS in Roanoke, Va., to run two MSSB branches in Barrington, Ill., with a total of about 50 brokers. He had been with UBS, which absorbed the Paine Webber network, since 1998, and previously worked for 12 years at Prudential Securities.
UBS declined to comment on replacements for the two managers.
The shifts come amid widespread turmoil at the largest U.S. brokerage firms. UBS Wealth Management Americas, which entered 2008 with more than 10,000 advisers, has about 6,700 today and is now led by former Merrill Lynch brokerage head Robert McCann.
Morgan Stanley chief executive James Gorman once reported to Mr. McCann at Merrill Lynch. But Mr. Gorman’s firm emerged from the financial crisis as the world’s largest brokerage, with about 18,000 advisers, after Morgan Stanley acquired a majority interest in Smith Barney last year.
As a result of post-merger consolidation, dozens of branch managers have left MSSB in recent months. This month, William Van Scoyoc, a veteran of Morgan Stanley who ran a Manhattan branch complex with 90 advisers producing more than $80 million of revenue, joined UBS to open a new office for the firm on Park Avenue.
Others who left in the past few weeks include Michael Price, a branch manager in Paramus, N.J. who has joined J.P. Morgan Securities in Whippany, N.J., and Charles Shapiro, who left a former Smith Barney branch in La Jolla for an LPL Financial Corp. office in Del Mar, Calif.
Morgan Stanley on Wednesday said it has promoted Rick Donovan, a nonproducing branch manger in Red Bank, N.J., to oversee its Paramus complex, which includes four branches and 162 brokers producing about $100 million of revenue. It also said it hired a $1.5 million team of producers from Wells Fargo Advisors — Howard Horowitz and Ian Dietz — at a New York City branch on Lexington Ave. The pair, who oversee about $250 million of client assets, worked for six years at Wells and its predecessor brokers, and previously worked for UBS and Salomon Smith Barney.
Merrill Lynch — which has about 15,100 advisers — has been integrated into BofA. The bank’s wealth and investment management area is led by Sallie Krawcheck, a former head of Smith Barney and senior executive at its erstwhile parent company, Citigroup Inc.