Robert “Bob” Oros Takes Over at HighTower

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HighTower Advisors on Monday confirmed that former Fidelity Investments and Charles Schwab executive Robert Oros has succeeded Elliot Weissbluth as chief executive of the Chicago-based aggregator of advisory practices.

Oros, who most recently was chief executive of independent broker-dealer HD Vest Financial Services, will manage the recapitalized HighTower while Weissbluth assumes the role of board chairman, HighTower said in a news release. AdvisorHub reported the expected changes in November.

The moves follow the sale of a majority stake in HighTower to private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners in January 2017, almost ten years after Weissbluth founded the company. The firm has abandoned his original strategy of recruiting wirehouse veterans to manage advisory books under its umbrella in return for some equity, and now is deploying Lee’s capital to purchase existing registered investment advisory firms.

HighTower currently has 92 advisor teams managing $60 billion in client assets, the company said.

Oros, who was at H.D. Vest for just under two years, began his brokerage career in 1998 at Schwab. He subsequently ran custom clearing services at LPL Financial Services, was national sales manager at Trust Company of America and served at Fidelity from 2012 to 2017 in a variety of securities clearing and custody management roles.

In his brief time at HD Vest, he changed the firm’s clearing relationship to Fidelity’s National Financial Services and, according to HighTower, increased “quarterly productivity per advisor.”

“HighTower’s unique collaborative culture, comprehensive platform and national brand make it a destination of choice for elite RIAs seeking support and services to grow and scale,” Oros said in a prepared statement.

A HighTower spokeswoman did not immediately return a request for additional comment.

H.D. Vest in October named Todd Mackay, an M&A strategist at its parent company Blucora and general manager of H.D. Vest’s TaxAct unit, as its interim CEO.

As part of the HighTower realignment, Thomas H. Lee executive advisor Gurinder Ahluwalia relinquished his chairman’s title to Weissbluth and assumed the role of lead director, the company said.