Cetera welcomes Northwestern Mutual alum to CCO role

Cetera Financial Group has made another key addition to its C-suite as it taps a Northwestern Mutual to its investment services arm.

The organization announced Monday that it’s welcomed Gwen Weithaus as the new CCO for Cetera Investment Services. In her new role, Weithaus will oversee the implementation and maintenance of compliance programs, ensuring that policies and procedures are strictly adhered to and maintained.

Weithaus brings over three decades of experience in the financial services industry, with extensive expertise in mitigating risk for clients, financial professionals, advisors, broker-dealers, insurance companies, and investment advisors.

Prior to Cetera, she was vice president of wealth risk and controls at Northwestern Mutual, where she managed risk and controls programs, regulatory implementations, business continuity, and vendor risk management. She reports to Joseph Neary, Cetera’s chief risk officer.

LeAnn Rummel, president and CEO of Cetera Investment Services, expressed confidence that Weithaus “will play a critical leadership role.”

"Hiring Gwen is the latest example of our commitment to building a strong and dedicated home office team in support of our financial institutions, financial professionals, and their clients," Rummel said in a statement Monday.

Expressing her excitement, Weithaus highlighted the “promising growth potential and opportunity” at the Cetera organization.

“I look forward to using my experience to help Cetera Investment Services ensure regulatory compliance through policies and procedures to support our business, our financial institutions, and financial professionals," she said.

Weithaus's appointment is the latest in a series of key personnel additions at Cetera, including the late May appointment of Daniel P. Burkott as the chief compliance officer for Cetera's tax channel, which includes Cetera Financial Specialists and Avantax, acquired by Cetera Holdings last year.

Burkott reports to Joseph Neary and oversees compliance for both CFS and Avantax.

With over two decades of experience in compliance roles at firms such as Voya, Advisor Group, and Mass Mutual, Burkott was most recently the chief compliance officer at Cadaret Grant, where he led compliance shared services functions for Atria Wealth Solutions.

In a statement at the time, Todd Mackay, president of Avantax, commended Burkott’s expertise.

"Dan is a very experienced compliance professional who prides himself on building strong working relationships and protecting client interests through best practices, accountability, and transparency,” he said, highlighting his firm’s “commitment to recruiting exceptional home office staff in support of our tax-focused advisors."

Burkott also expressed eagerness about his new role, stating, "I'm eager to get under way with the tax-channel compliance teams serving the unique needs of our more than 4,000 tax-focused financial professionals and our home office team." Cetera also announced several other crucial leadership hires in recent months, including Jerry Patterson as its head of advanced wealth solutions and Michael Molnar as head of corporate development.