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Merrill Names New Private Wealth Head

By Jeff Berman

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What You Need to Know

  • This marks the latest management reshuffle for Merrill's wealth management business..
  • Don Plaus will retire as head of Private Wealth Management, International and Institutional, at the end of March.
  • The other leadership changes take effect immediately.

Merrill Lynch is again shuffling the leadership team at its wealth management division, saying Lindsay Hans will succeed Don Plaus as head of Private Wealth Management, International and Institutional.

Plaus decided to retire after 32 years with the firm, the company said last week. Plaus has led the firm’s Northeast and Mid Atlantic Divisions over the last six years.

In her current roles, Hans built successful leadership teams across her divisions and strong relationships with advisors and clients, according to the company.

In her new role, Hans will continue to serve as a member of Merrill parent company Bank of America’s Global Diversity and Inclusion Council and as a national executive sponsor of the Merrill Women’s Exchange.

Other Changes

Merrill made other changes to the Private Wealth team. Keith Glenfield will become Merrill’s Northeast Division executive, succeeding Hans. Prior to this appointment, Glenfield was head of Investment Solutions & Personal Retirement.

Glenfield, who is chairman of the Board of Governors for the Money Management Institute. joined Merrill 27 years ago, according to the company.

In addition to the Division executive role, he will also have responsibility for business integration across Merrill.

Nancy Fahmy, meanwhile, will expand her leadership responsibilities and become the sole head of the firm’s Investment Solutions Group.

Fahmy most recently led the company’s alternative investments area to record growth, according to the firm. She is also on the board of the Institute for Portfolio Alternatives, serves on the Sponsors for Educational Opportunity’s Limited Partner Advisory Council, and is a member of the Women’s Leadership Council.

Hans, Glenfield and Fahmy will assume their new responsibilities immediately and will work together, with Plaus, to ensure a smooth transition, according to the firm. Plaus will retire at the end of March.

“We have a deep bench of industry-leading talent with diverse perspectives,” Andy Sieg, president, Merrill Wealth Management, said in a statement. “Lindsay, Keith and Nancy are top-performing leaders who will continue to advance our modern Merrill strategy in these expanded roles.”

Merrill Wealth Management previously had a major leadership shakeup in 2021, when Bill Lorenz and Paul Lambert retired after three decades with the firm. At the same time, the company named Hans and Chandler Root division executives, a shift that took effect after Lorenz and Lambert stepped down at the end of that year.

Shortly after that, the firm revamped leadership across the wealth management business by placing more responsibilities on heads Sieg and Katy Knox. Certain product teams were moved under Sieg and Knox to better align with client needs.

2022 Earnings

In 2022, Merrill Wealth Management achieved record full-year revenue of $18.1 billion, according to the company. It added 25,000 net new households last year, including a fourth-quarter record of 8,500, up 27% from a year earlier, representing its strongest quarter since Q2 2019, it said.

Bank of America concluded 2022 with 19,273 advisors across the wealth continuum; up 400 advisors in the quarter and 800 since the middle of 2022, it said.

Over the past five years, the total number of clients served by Private Wealth Management advisors grew by more than 30%, while client balances within the business increased 46%, according to the company.

During the same period, alternative investment assets at the firm doubled and the number of advisors using artificial intelligence solutions increased by 33%, according to the firm.

(Pictured: Lindsay Hans, who is succeeding Don Plaus as head of Merrill’s Private Wealth Management, International and Institutional.)

Jeff Berman

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