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Raymond James Adds $1.1B Advisor Team From Wells Fargo

By Jeff Berman

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Raymond James has added a team of eight financial advisors managing a combined $1.1 billion in client assets from Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network.

The advisor team, with offices in Parkersburg, West Virginia, and Marietta and Athens, Ohio, joins Raymond James Financial Services, the firm’s independent advisor channel, according to David Sisemore, Midwest regional director for RJFS.

At Wells Fargo, the advisors at Hall Financial Advisors in Parkersburg and Marietta and Karageorge Wealth Management in Athens managed assets for a variety of clients, including business owners, corporate executives, families and individuals, family offices, health care professionals and retirees. The practices partner for investment management.

Chris Hall leads HFA as founding partner and CEO and now serves as RJFS senior financial advisor. Joining him at Raymond James are HFA partners and RJFS senior financial advisors Brett Bronski, Robert Blasczyk and Jeremiah Kuhn; and financial advisors Rob Beardmore, Kevin Knab and Zane Eschbaugh.

Hall has been in the industry for over 20 years. Prior to joining Wells Fargo in 2004, he was with Edward Jones from 1999 to 2004, according to his report on the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s BrokerCheck website.

“We felt it was extremely important to do a thorough due diligence across the financial services industry to explore our options,” according to Hall. “My team and I found ourselves attracted to the values and client-centric culture Raymond James offers.

“The systems, data security, technology and workflow efficiencies allow us to build and enhance the robust strategies that place our clients’ goals in the center of all we do,” he said. “As our practice evolves, we are grateful to have found a partner that will allow us to enhance our client experience, backed with the resources we need as we grow.”

James S. Karageorge leads the Athens, Ohio, team as founder and CEO of Karageorge Wealth Management and is now a RJFS senior wealth manager.  He has been in the industry for more than 28 years, nearly 18 of them with Wells Fargo, according to his BrokerCheck report.

“My entire career has been laser-focused on building trusted lifetime partnerships with my clients so that they are financially equipped to realize their goals, with no dreams left unexplored, and their succession and legacy goals honored,” he said in the announcement.

“Aligning with Raymond James is an exciting opportunity, as it will augment our ability to help achieve these goals for our clients,” he said. “I am especially excited about the dedicated cyber threat center and fraud protection capabilities at Raymond James, as well as the sophisticated technology platform that will increase our efficiency and effectiveness.”

The longevity planning resources at RJFS, meanwhile, “will help us elevate our wellness, longevity, generational and special needs planning for our clients,” he said. “Leveraging these resources will enable us to develop a holistic, comprehensive strategy that is tailored to each client’s specific needs.”

Welcoming the advisors and their teams to Raymond James, Jodi Perry, president of the Independent Contractors Division at RJFS, said: “We are proud that advisors, particularly ensemble teams, continue to recognize Raymond James’ unique offering in the marketplace. We’ve heard from advisors that the high degree of flexibility here to run their business, coupled with the high level of support and resources at Raymond James, allows them to focus on elevating their client experience, service and offerings, which is of utmost importance in this environment.

Raymond James Financial now has about 8,200 advisors throughout the U.S., Canada and overseas managing client assets of $1 trillion, it said.

Jeff Berman

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