Longtime MSSB exec exiting

Paul Hatch, head of investment strategy and client solutions at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC, is leaving the firm “to pursue new entrepreneurial passions.” MSSB president Gregory Fleming announced the news to employees in a memo Monday. The departure comes just a year after Mr. Hatch was promoted to his present position. According to the memo, Mr. Hatch had expressed his desire to leave the firm “some time ago” but agreed to stay until the integration of Morgan Stanley and Smith Barney was complete. The retail-brokerage joint venture between Morgan Stanley and Citigroup Inc.'s Smith Barney was formed in 2009. The firm has been slogging through a migration of its more than 17,000 investment advisers to a new technology platform over the past year. Mr. Hatch will remain with the firm as vice chairman until the end of the year. Along with the news of Mr. Hatch's departure, Mr. Fleming announced that the investment strategy and client solutions division will be combined with MSSB Capital Markets to form a new organization called Investment Products and Services. Andy Saperstein, formerly head of U.S. wealth management, will lead that division and continue to report to Mr. Fleming. As part of the reorganization, Doug Ketterer, leader of U.S. private wealth management, will also assume the role of head of U.S. field management and join the MSSB executive committee. Three division directors, Doug Kentfield, Bill McMahon and Rick Skae, will now report to Mr. Ketterer. “To maximize the information flow between the field and senior management,” the three directors will also sit on the executive committee. “This new organizational structure will help facilitate easier access for our FAs to a complete range of investment products and services which they can tailor to the unique needs of every client,” Mr. Fleming wrote in the memo. A former naval officer, Mr. Hatch became a financial consultant for E.F. Hutton & Co. in 1984 and joined Smith Barney as a branch manager in 1992, according to his LinkedIn profile. He became director of investment strategy and solutions in early 2010, and his responsibilities were expanded further last year. No other details were provided on Mr. Hatch's reasons for leaving, and he was not made available for comment.