Cetera snags another high-profile exec

Cetera Financial Group, the collection of broker-dealer firms controlled by private-equity firm Lightyear Capital LLC, continues to attract marquee talent. The company today announced that it has hired Susan Theder as chief marketing officer. Ms. Theder, 43, comes from Pershing LLC, where she spent five years as managing director of global marketing. Before that, she was a vice president of segment marketing at Fidelity Investments and led marketing for the registered investment adviser group. The chief marketing officer role is a new one for Cetera. Ms. Theder is the latest high-profile hiring by Cetera. In February, the company hired Barnaby Grist as an executive vice president of wealth management. Previously, Mr. Grist worked for The Charles Schwab Corp., where he was senior managing director of strategic business development. Mr. Grist told InvestmentNews this year that one of his goals at Cetera would be to attract more hybrid advisers to the firm. Cetera comprises three independently managed broker-dealer firms acquired from ING Groep NV: Financial Network Investment Corp., Multi-Financial Securities Corp. and PrimeVest Financial Services Inc. Financial Network has regional directors who act as branch managers in providing training and support to reps who want coaching. The unit employs about 2,400 brokers and has $40 billion in assets under management. Multi-Financial is an independent B-D with $15 billion in assets and 1,000 running their own shops. PrimeVest serves banks and credit unions with 1,400 representatives who manage $25 billion in assets. The hybrid focus of Cetera clearly appealed to Ms. Theder. “The independent financial adviser, working with the full array that a firm with Cetera's scale and flexibility can provide, is the future,” she said in a release. This year, Mr. Grist also told InvestmentNews that Cetera plans to keep the brokerage firms as separate units, with each catering to different types of brokers. He did note that some branding might be changed, however.