Raymond James onboards $700 million firm Longwater Haffey Group. By Amit Chowdhry Today at 12:04 AM Raymond James has added financial advisors Lance Longwater and Christopher "Ryan" Haffey to Raymond James & Associates, the firm's employee advisor channel, bringing a team that previously managed approximately $700 million in client assets at Truist Investment Services. Longwater and Haffey are joined by Senior Registered Client Service Associate Traci Havens and will operate as the Longwater Haffey Group of Raymond James in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. The team provides comprehensive financial planning and customized investment strategies to individuals, families, and institutions. Longwater brings more than 26 years of financial services industry experience and joins Raymond James as a managing director. He spent 14 years with his previous firm and holds a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Georgia. Haffey also joins as a managing director and began his financial services career in 2000. He holds the Certified Financial Planner designation and earned a bachelor's degree in finance from Florida State University. The team was included in the 2026 Forbes Best-in-State Wealth Management Teams ranking. Raymond James said the addition reflects continued recruiting momentum in South Florida as the firm attracts experienced advisors seeking access to a larger platform, technology resources, and greater flexibility in serving clients. For Longwater and Haffey, the move provides access to Raymond James' broader capabilities while allowing the team to maintain its planning-focused and relationship-oriented approach. Longwater also highlighted Raymond James' AI-focused technology platform as one factor that can help the team spend more time on client service and relationship management. Raymond James & Associates provides financial planning and wealth management services to individuals, high-net-worth families, corporations, and municipalities. The business is a wholly owned subsidiary of Raymond James Financial. Raymond James reported approximately $1.94 trillion in total client assets as of September 30, 2026. The addition of the Longwater Haffey Group further expands Raymond James' advisor presence in Florida and adds an experienced team serving clients with significant wealth management and investment needs. KEY QUOTES: "We joined Raymond James to build on the personal, planning-centered approach our clients value while gaining access to the firm's broad resources and capabilities. The AI-forward technology platform at the firm supports our ability to focus on attentive, relationship-focused service." Lance Longwater, Managing Director At Raymond James "We are pleased to welcome Lance and Ryan, who bring a notable combination of longevity, expertise and dedication, to Raymond James. Their transition underscores our growth momentum across South Florida where experienced advisors seek greater flexibility, impactful resources and a culture built around long-term client relationships." Gregg Stupinski, South Atlantic Regional Director For Raymond James & Associates Tighten Repetitive Company BackgroundAdd A Stronger Client-Asset LeadMake The Headline More Direct

People & Company News, week of october 30, 2026. * Amy Weisenbach has been appointed as chief marketing officer at Coursera, an online learning platform. Before joining Coursera, Weisenbach most recently served as CMO at The New York Times, where she led marketing across its content portfolio, including News, Games, Cooking, Audio, Wirecutter, and The Athletic. She will join Coursera's team on November 30. * Brandon Schwertner has been appointed to the Board of Directors at Capstone Energy+, a gas turbine energy solutions provider. Schwertner is an independent director designated by Monarch Alternative Capital. Schwertner most recently served as CEO of Priority Power Management. * Alex Kaminsky has been appointed as chief marketing officer at Dynasty Financial Partners. Kaminsky will focus on magnifying the Dynasty brand for the benefit of the firm and its clients, and on building a leading platform brand that lifts every firm in the network. He will partner with head of Dynasty Consulting Group Ken Hoffman, and the Network Marketing team led by Catherine Mitchell and Peter Ward. Kaminsky will be reporting to CEO and founder Shirl Penney. He will be based Dynasty's headquarters in St. Petersburg, Florida. Prior to joining Dynasty, he most recently served as global chief brand officer at Corpay. * Rick Bisignano has been tapped as U.S. Head of Institutional Distribution at Pictet Asset Management. Bisignano will lead the firm's institutional business development and client relationships in the U.S., with a focus on public and corporate pension plans, endowments, foundations, insurers and the investment consultants and OCIOs. He will be reporting to Pictet's CEO Elizabeth Dillon and will be based in Pictet's office in New York. Prior to joining Pictet, Bisignano most recently served as head of East Region for the Institutional Client Group at Allspring Global Investments. * Financial advisor Matt Griggs has joined LPL Financial's broker-dealer and RIA platforms. Eufaula, AL-based Griggs Investment Group, which is led by Griggs, provides wealth management services to high-net-worth clients, including employees in the agricultural and government sectors. Griggs was previously affiliated with Edward Jones, where he managed about $160M in advisory, brokerage and retirement plan assets. He is supported by Client Service Associate Cheryl Pitts. * Shawn Bernhard has joined RBC Wealth Management as its complex director for the Texas South region. Prior to joining RBC, Bernhard most recently served as a managing director and branch manager at Raymond James, where she was responsible for leading the Tucson office. * Matthew Lesesky has been named global head of private equity at Miras Investments. Lesesky will lead Miras's global private equity program and will be reporting to CIO Elizabeth Hewitt. Before joining Miras, Lesesky most recently served as managing director at UNC Management Company. * Becky Nichols has been appointed as head of Global & Alternative Consultant Partnerships at Aberdeen Investments. In the newly created role, Nichols will lead engagement with Aberdeen Investments and will work across regions to strengthen executive-level connections, coordinate activity and identify opportunities to develop partnerships. Nichols will be reporting to Chief COO of Aberdeen's Client Group Andrew Paul. * Justin Mills and Rachel Hallock have been appointed as Principal Product Manager and head of Design, respectively, at Opto Investments. Mills will lead efforts to streamline and advance Opto's technology products. Hallock will lead design across Opto's platform. Prior to joining Opto Investments, Mills most recenty served as principal product manager at Starbucks and Hallock served as director of Product Design at Carta. * Rebecca Iacopelli has been tapped as Senior Wealth Advisor at Mercer Advisors' Regis division. Iacopelli will be based at the firm's office in New York. Prior to joining Mercer, Iacopelli, most recently served as a senior financial advisor at Wescott Financial Advisory Group. * Landrum, SC-based Freehold Wealth Management has joined Osaic Wealth. The family-led firm oversees about $576M in client assets and was previously affiliated with Stifel Independent Advisors. The firm, which is led by president Cynthia "Cindy" Boyle, John Boyle and managing partner Mary Steele, provides estate- and trust-focused financial guidance for multigenerational clients. * VanEck has launched the VanEck Wealth Builder ETF, which is designed to provide investors with a diversified portfolio in a single fund. The ETF will allow investors to gain access to more markets and asset classes. * Virginia-based Healthspan Wealth has launched early access to an advisory platform built on five patents, which is aimed at addressing the challenges that separate health and financial planning. Healthspan Wealth was founded in 2025, by Thomas West and Suzanne Schmitt and serves industry professionals, advisory firms, and families. * CAIS, an alternative investment platform, has partnered with Anthropic's Claude for Financial Advisors to expand CAISey, its AI-powered intelligence agent, into specialized advisor workflows with Claude. CAIS' new connector is designed to help advisors access and review private markets information across portfolio monitoring, investment research and other related workflows. Additionally, advisors can handle administrative tasks including reviewing fund eligibility and capital call details. * FINNY AI, an AI-backed growth engine for financial advisors, has also launched its Model Context Protocol connector for Anthropic's Claude for Financial Advisors. The connector enables advisors to access campaign insights, manage prospect data, and use FINNY's resources within existing AI workflows. Through the MCP connector, advisors can access FINNY's data and tools directly within Claude. * Jump, an AI-backed solutions provider, has partnered with FMG Suite to roll out its latest integration. Built through FMG Connect, it allows advisors to review and use in post-meeting follow-up. The integration is now available to all Jump users across its platform. * Advyzon, a wealth tech platform, has launched Advyzon Financial Planning, a cash-flow planning and projection solution built into Advyzon's platform. The solution, which is led by president of Financial Planning Kevin Hughes, is designed to streamline workflows and combine calculation engines with clients, households, accounts, portfolios, and budget data that's already in Advyzon's system. * Christina Clementi has been promoted to COO at Buttonwood Group Advisors. Clementi will oversee Buttonwood's daily operations and support the firm's organizational development as it expands its investment platform and pursues opportunities across private markets. Prior to joining Buttonwood, Clementi most recently served as senior managing director of Investment Banking at Buttonwood's affiliate, New York-based Joseph Gunnar & Co. * Zocks, a financial services AI platform, has partnered with Founders Financial to integrate Zocks' offerings into the TRU Enterprise OS technology stack. Founders have partnered with every Member Partner on its adoption and workflows for its advisors to scale. The offering is now available to all Founders' Member Partners. * GEM, an investment management firm, has raised $685M in its closing round for GEM Independent Sponsors Fund II. The capital will go towards investing in independent sponsors across the lower-middle market. The Fund follows GEM's inaugural $450M fund last year. * Obra Capital, an alternative asset management firm, has closed its fifth CLO offering at $403.6M in size. Obra CLO 5 will be managed by Obra CLO Management, operating within the firm's leveraged finance platform led by head of U.S. Leveraged Finance Scott Macklin and CIO Peter Polanskyj. The transaction brings Obra's total CLO issuance to more than $2B across five issues in less than two years. Morgan Stanley served as structuring lead and placement agent. The post people & Company News, week of october 30, 2026 appeared first on Connect money.

Raymond James defends recruiting costs after banner hiring year. October 29, 2026 Raymond James Financial recruited advisors with a record combined trailing-12-month production of $538 million and client assets of $82 billion for its fiscal 2026, the company reported on Thursday. The hiring boom coupled with growth from its existing advisors helped to propel the St. Petersburg, Florida-based firm to a record $98 billion in net new assets, up 88% year-over-year. Advisors joined as independent contractors and employees or affiliated as independent RIAs, although the independent contractor division was where the firm had "seen the most interest," Chief Executive Officer Paul Shoukry said. But the recruiting brought higher costs. Recruiting and retention-related compensation rose 28% year-over-year to $125 million. The expense was tied to cash and equity awards that vest over five to 10 years. Stock analysts on the post-earnings call raised concerns about the rising costs and the sustainability of the recruiting momentum amid an increasingly competitive environment. Shoukry said that it was a "fallacy" to assume that recruiting economics were the same across firms. "The recruiting environment and the way we recruit is very economically attractive for Raymond James," Shoukry said. "The proof is always in the pudding." Shoukry did not discuss specific terms of the recruiting offers that Raymond James was extending but said that hiring remained attractive economically long-term. He also expressed confidence that Raymond James' advisor-friendly culture, full-service offerings and scale would continue to bolster hiring efforts. Raymond James spent $1.1 billion in the past year on technology, which will be difficult for many competitors to match, he said. "If we're just focused on the next quarter or even the next year, recruiting may not be attractive on an incremental basis, but we're making decisions for the next five years and beyond," Shoukry said. Raymond James' Private Client Group reported record quarterly net revenue of $3.06 billion, up 15% year-over-year, as pretax profit rose 10% to $458 million over the same period. The division's assets under administration rose 12% to nearly $1.94 trillion. Just over $1.16 billion of that total was invested in advisory accounts. The firm stopped breaking out its advisor headcount on a quarterly basis but last reported 8,900 brokers. Webber Wealth Partners is at least the second Newport Beach team to leave Comerica since Fifth Third bought the bank in February. Oct 28, 2026 Oct 27, 2026 Oct 26, 2026 Oct 21, 2026