January 14, 2021

Rockefeller, RBC Lure Merrill, UBS Teams in Midwest

by Mason Braswell

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(Left to right) Gregory Ernst and Todd Stark moved to RBC from UBS along with client associates Amy McGuire, Marnie O’Brien, Trudy Soper

Gregory Ernst, far left, and Todd Stark moved to RBC with client associates Amy McGuire, Marnie O’Brien and Trudy Soper from the same UBS branch as the RBC arrivals pictured below.

Rockefeller Capital Management and RBC Wealth Management reached into Merrill Lynch and UBS Wealth Management, respectively, this week to grab advisors in the Midwest who were collectively managing about $1.2 billion of client assets.

Richard Bergman, who was with Merrill in Chicago for ten years of his 21-year career, joined Rockefeller on Thursday, a spokeswoman for the expanding former family office of the Standard Oil founders said. In October, Rockefeller set up its first private wealth office in the Midwest with a team of two Merrill producers.

Bergman generated $2 million of the $2.2 million that his four-person team produced for Merrill last year on about $300 million of client assets, said a person familiar with his practice. His teammates, junior advisor Clayton Balko, client associate Billie Danicek and wealth management analyst Matthew Oye, also joined Rockefeller.

Bergman, who previously worked at Mesirow Financial and Mercer Global Securities, did not return a call for comment on the motivations for his move or his choice of the upstart firm. Rockefeller, which was recapitalized in 2017 and is run by former Merrill and Morgan Stanley executive Greg Fleming, employs more than 80 advisors on just over 40 teams, most of whom worked at wirehouses.

RBC Wealth Management-U.S. this week hired two teams from a UBS branch in Lincoln, Nebraska.

One led by 34-year brokerage veteran Gregory D. Ernst managed $500 million in client assets, according to an RBC spokeswoman. Joining Ernst from UBS is Todd J. Stark, an advisor with 17 years of experience, and client associates Marnie O’Brien, Trudy Soper and Amy McGuire.

(Left to Right) Brian Adams, Celina Engler, Stephen Burt

Brian Adams (left), Celina Engler and Stephen Burt, now with RBC, managed $400 million at UBS.

The other UBS emigres in Lincoln were managing $400 million. Led by Stephen A. Burt, a 21-year industry veteran, the team includes eight-year advisor Brian J. Adams and Celina Engler, a client associate.

The Ernst and Burt teams are autonomous, but their leaders have similar career patterns. Each joined UBS in December 2008 from Morgan Stanley, according to their BrokerCheck records.

The RBC spokeswoman declined to discuss the teams’ production numbers.

“RBC’s local leadership and strong presence in Lincoln, combined with the firm’s advisor-friendly culture, made this the right move for our team and our clients,” Ernst said in a prepared statement.

Burt cited RBC’s “entrepreneurial culture” for his choice.

Neither he nor Ernst responded to calls seeking elaboration.

—Jed Horowitz contributed to this story.