STREET MOVES: Wells Fargo Hires 24 Veteran Advisers Since Late August

   By Corrie Driebusch 
 

Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) said 24 veteran financial advisers managing a combined $2.2 billion have joined the private client group channel of its brokerage since late August.

The new hires came from competitors including the brokerage arms of Morgan Stanley (MS), Bank of America Corp. (BAC) and UBS AG (UBS, UBSN.VX), among others.

Robert Evans, Walt Shinault and Richard Hastings joined Wells Fargo's Oxford, Miss., branch from Merrill Lynch. The team, called the ESH Group, previously managed roughly $250 million. They have more than 76 years of wealth-management experience combined, according to Financial Industry Regulatory Authority records. They report to branch manager Allen Kimbrell.

Several advisers came from Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, including the Siegel Group, comprised of Andrew Siegel, Nickolaus Roeschley and William Kulesh, who joined Wells Fargo's Scottsdale, Ariz., branch, and the duo of Nancy Johnson and Susan Ellena, who joined Wells Fargo in Irvine, Calif.

The Siegel Group managed $231 in assets, and they now report to branch manager Robert Burghart.

Ms. Johnson and Ms. Ellena previously managed $210 million in assets and now report to complex manager Mark Zielinski.

Susan Gallagher, who previously managed $146 million, joined Wells Fargo's Bethesda, Md., office and Curt Coulter, who previously managed $134 million, joined the firm's Pittsburgh branch. They both came to Wells Fargo from UBS Wealth Management Americas.

The other hires included W. Howard Humphrey in Parkersburg, W.Va., from Merrill Lynch. Mr. Humphrey had managed $101 million.

A spokeswoman for Merrill Lynch declined to comment and a spokeswoman from Morgan Stanley confirmed the departures but declined to comment further. A spokeswoman for UBS didn't immediately return a request for comment.

(Street Moves chronicles the migration of executives on Wall Street, with a particular emphasis on financial advisers with more than $1 million in annual production and who manage more than $100 million in client assets.)

Write to Corrie Driebusch at [e-mail]

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