Tampa RIA Fidelis Capital hires BofA Private Bank equity strategist

Veteran equity strategist Herb Achey has joined Tampa-based RIA and multi-family office Fidelis Capital as a partner, following his most recent 30-year tenure at Bank of America. 

Fidelis Capital manages nearly $3 billion in assets across roughly 120 ultra-high-net-worth individual and multi-generation families. Achey previously led customer equity research and stock allocation for families and institutions at Bank of America Private Bank. 

“The clients that we serve, they're all pretty much ultra-high net worth families. They got their wealth in many cases by being concentrated in a particular security,” Fidelis CEO Rick Simonetti told InvestmentNews. “What [Achey] brings to the table is the ability to either already have knowledge about the company that they own to help build a long-term strategy to manage through that concentration, or the ability to gain that knowledge about the company and guide us and that family on working through that concentration.” 

Achey oversaw more than $2 billion in client assets while at U.S. Trust/Bank of America Private Bank. Simonetti, a veteran of Wells Fargo for two decades, co-founded Fidelis Capital in 2022 with several hires from private bank institutions.

From private banking to independent RIAs

Achey becomes the 13th partner at Fidelis, joining former U.S. Trust/Bank of America colleagues Neale Ellis, who is co-chief investment officer at Fidelis, and head of fixed income Chris Gunster. Bank of America bought U.S. Trust from Charles Schwab in 2007 and subsequently renamed the unit Bank of America Private Bank. Paul Trippe, who Fidelis hired as a partner last year, also previously worked for US Trust and Bank of America Private Bank. 

“The trend of the industry is that decisions are being made based on what's good for the shareholder, and not always necessarily what's great for the client who needs a unique and bespoke service model, because they're looking to serve a significant number of clients in a scalable way that manages and controls risk,” Simonetti said. “We're helping families with things that many of the institutions don't venture into because of that focus on risk management or shareholder value because it's hard to deliver at scale.” 

Families served by Fidelis tend to have over $20 million in assets under management. Fidelis operates as an outsourced family office, serving personalized thematic portfolios for families as well as banking, retirement, and tax-planning needs.  

Former Citi wealth executive Edward Karan is another advisor who recently exited private banking to launch an RIA on a family office model. His New York-based registered investment advisor, Aspire Wealth Advisory Group, surpassed $100 million AUM earlier this month. 

Fidelis has offices in Tampa (FL), Dallas (TX), Washington, D.C., Greenwich (CT), St. Louis (MO), Charlotte (NC), and Cashiers (NC).