$350M New Hampshire Team Joins Raymond James From Morgan Stanley

Raymond James nabbed another advisory team from the wirehouses. Eric Werner and Vincent “Randy” Whatley are joining the firm’s employee advisor channel from Morgan Stanley, where they managed about $350 million in client assets.

Alyssa Kerins, a senior registered client associate, will join the New Hampshire-based duo in their move to Raymond James, where they will operate as Northeast Legacy Group of Raymond James.

The addition will boost RayJay’s presence in New England by establishing an office in Hanover, NH. The duo will offer wealth management and investment advice, emphasizing family office services, nonprofit endowment management and consulting for non-profit organizations.

At Raymond James, Werner is taking on the title of first vice president, wealth management, along with his role as Northeast Legacy’s founder.

“Our industry is changing rapidly, and it is imperative for our team to be associated with a firm committed to delivering resources and tools focused on what our clients want and need,” he said.

Werner entered the industry nearly 30 years ago, with prior stints at Merrill Lynch and Citigroup before joining Morgan Stanley in 2008. Whatley has over 20 years in the industry, with 18 of those years spent at Morgan Stanley.

RayJay has poached several advisors and teams from the wirehouses since the start of the year. Late last month, the firm enticed the $450 million Fla.-based team Anderson Mckelvey Group to join its independent advisor channel from Merrill Lynch. 

Other examples include a New Jersey advisor with about $165 million in managed assets who moved to Raymond James from UBS. RayJay also brought in a South Florida duo of advisors who’d managed about $340 million in client assets at Morgan Stanley. David Behar and David Nagel joined the firm’s employee advisor channel to form the Behar-Nagel Group of Raymond James.

Last month, the firm hired Alex David as its Northeast division director in its independent advisor channel, taking over from Shannon Reid, who runs Raymond James’ independent contractor division. 

David joined RayJay from Stifel Financial, where he was president and CEO of that firm’s independent contractor broker/dealer. Before that role, he’d worked at Wells Fargo as its head of branch development and marketing for the independent brokerage division.