Exclusive: Rockefeller Lures Merrill Private Wealth Regional Head in Chicago
Rockefeller Capital Management has wooed longtime Merrill Lynch manager Brett Thelander in Chicago as it continues to pluck veteran wirehouse managers to bolster its field leadership and recruiting efforts.
Thelander, who started his career as a broker at Merrill in Denver in 1994, according to LinkedIn, confirmed the move but declined further comment.
A spokeswoman for Merrill said the firm is searching for a replacement.
“We have a deep bench of strong leaders in Chicago who will support our private wealth advisors in the market during a transition period,” the spokeswoman wrote in an email.
Thelander, who first moved into management in 1999 as associate director of Merrill’s Pennsylvania Complex/New York region, according to his LinkedIn, was compelled to join Rockefeller in part because of his familiarity with a number of its senior executives, including former Merrill Pacific Northwest divisional head Chris Dupuy, one of the sources said.
Over his peripatetic Merrill career, Thelander oversaw complexes in Oklahoma and Ohio before being named head of Merrill’s Southern California region for its traditional brokerage force in 2008. He moved to Chicago in 2010 as head of the Heartland region before being promoted to the private wealth unit for ultra-wealthy clients the following year.
Robert Johnson, an ex-Merrill private wealth regional director who moved to Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. in Texas in 2018, said that Thelander had developed a loyal following among his former colleagues.
“I cannot emphasize enough what a great recruiter he is,” Johnson said. “This is another massive hire for Rockefeller.”
Merrill largely stopped recruiting veteran brokers in 2017 as it looked to escape the industry practice of paying high-dollar bonuses to trade large teams and has instead focused on developing home-grown talent or hiring novice or bank channel brokers.
Rockefeller has rushed into wealth management in the past three years and has brought on 45 multi-million dollar wirehouse teams since the former family office was recapitalized in 2018 and installed former Morgan Stanley Wealth president Greg Fleming as its Chief Executive.
Fleming himself spent more than 15 years as a financial institutions investment banker at Merrill and served a brief stint during the financial crisis as president of the company before joining Morgan Stanley.
Rockefeller, whose executives have said previously that the goal is to have around 200 teams by 2025, underscored its westward expansion on Friday as it hired a four-person Merrill team generating $2.5 million in revenue in Denver. It also hired a $2.2 million team in Chicago in January and a $3.8 million Merrill team in Chicago in October.
Within 6 months, he will have pulled out at least 2 ML PBIG teams from his former ML territory, guy was solid
George, I will take the over on that
That’s way to low for over / under! 5 is a better number!
You can be a great recruiter but if the firm you’re recruiting for isn’t as solid as other options, you’d have to be a magician.
Brett is not a magician, but he is ethical, and authentic. So, he will not try to “convince” anyone to join. Check back At year end, and see the results. I know some headhunters might be disappointed, but Thelander has his own brand. I’ve worked with him a while, so I can tell you it’s the buzz in the Midwest
Intrepid…..I have seen yur negative posts on Rock over the last two years. Either you are a wirehouse manager or a recruiter that deals with pedestrian advisors….which is it because your take is so warped?
george, you are correct….he is a recruiter, he would like to work with even pedestrian advisors. But ignore him, the lion never worries what the sheep are thinking. Rockefeller is in a great position, along with a few other firms.
The only question left to ask is at what point will advisor revenue exceed salary overhead for managment. I’m not sure advisor headcount even exceeds managment headcount yet…
If you build it, they will come”
viking vs bac….hmm
These moves do not surprise be to say the least. BAC and ML are creating a totalitarian type approach from the top to bottom. Let letting advisors work, be creative with clients etc. So BAC will take away 3% just because we don’t sell out clients a credit card? Smh. Lots more issues with ML. The only folks that are left there, are stuck there. Daddy and r mommy handed them the keys.
Rockefeller is a powerhouse. I love what they’re doing and how they’re doing it. Gotta pump up revenue numbers! GTM!!!!
I left 4 years ago from ML – like most wire house situations and even large corporations – there are lots of decisions passed down from the top. As these decisions or policies trickle down to the local level, they rarely are in the best interest of the advisor and most important the client. My guess is this PGIB director had a life and career moment. Stopped and did a lot of self reflection. Good for him. Some value a paycheck and security as motivation enough to stay. It takes guts to do what is right both professionally and personally. ML is no longer an asset management shop first. It is a money center bank that “offers” wealth management with a push on the enterprise interests first. Leaving was bitter sweet. I left a pile of deferred comp, But I found a new sense of purpose and was really shocked how much fun this business could become once again.