Hightower taps Vanguard vet as president, shuffles Signature Wealth leadership

Hightower Advisors is bringing on a former Vanguard technology and client-experience executive as its next president, part of a broader leadership shake-up that also touches the firm's fast-growing direct-to-consumer arm.

The Chicago-based registered investment advisor said Tuesday that Marco De Freitas will join as president, reporting directly to chief executive Larry Restieri. De Freitas, who is set to officially start in the middle of the fourth quarter, will be responsible for pulling together Hightower's operations, technology, enterprise artificial intelligence strategy and investment platform under one roof.

De Freitas arrives from Vanguard, where he spent time in senior leadership positions covering client experience, digital transformation and technology. He is hopping over just a few weeks after Vanguard's late-August announcement that it's acquiring Altruist in a reported $4.6 billion deal.

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Before that, he logged a decade at TD Ameritrade, where he oversaw digital strategy, client experience, investment products and advice. Earlier still, he spent eight years at McKinsey & Company advising financial firms on strategy and transformation.

Restieri, who took over as Hightower's CEO in June last year after more than two decades at Goldman Sachs, framed the hire as a response to the firm's expansion.

"As we continue to scale, we have an opportunity to better connect the resources across our firm and make it easier for advisors to bring the full breadth of our capabilities to clients," Restieri said. "Marco's leadership will be critical as we build a more integrated, forward-looking organization."

De Freitas said the opportunity to modernize Hightower's technology stack was part of the draw.

"Technology and AI present significant opportunities to streamline how we operate and elevate the experience we deliver to advisors and clients," he said. "Hightower has tremendous momentum and a differentiated set of resources."

In what could be the first step in a broader roadmap of infrastructure updates, Hightower inked a partnership with Dispatch, an onboarding-focused fintech firm, earlier this month to help unify client data across Hightower Signature Wealth, the fast-growing national direct-to-consumer platform that's approaching its first anniversary.

Read more: Inside Hightower's move to rebrand acquired firms, court smaller RIAs

Hightower also announced a raft of leadership updates at Signature wealth, which has surpassed $40 billion in assets under management as of June 30.

Jennifer Frazier was named president of Hightower Signature Wealth, where she will lead strategy and expansion. A 25-year veteran of the industry, she joined Hightower after a career that included work in wealth management strategy and business development, with 13 years as managing director at Fidelity Investments.

Mike Hirsbrunner becomes chief operating officer, taking charge of operations and integration, while Penny Phillips, who joined the Signature Wealth platform as part of its first external acquisition in March, will step in as the unit's head of advisor growth, concentrating on organic growth as well as the advisor and client experience.

Restieri credited the trio's "complementary leadership across strategy, operations and growth" for getting the unit to its current size in under a year.

"Jenn, Mike and Penny bring complementary leadership across strategy, operations and growth that will be instrumental as we continue to scale the practice and deliver the deeply personalized client experience that defines Hightower," Restieri said.