(Updated with comment from Hightower spokesperson.)
Independent broker-dealer Sanctuary Wealth on Friday lured a team who had been managing $1 billion in client assets at Stifel Financial, according to an announcement.
M&K Legacy Wealth is led by advisors John Cody “J.” Miller and Chad R. Keller. They had generated $3.7 million in annual revenue at Stifel, a Sanctuary spokesperson confirmed, and are based at Sanctuary’s corporate headquarters in Indianapolis. The group also includes advisors L. Gene Tanner, Christy Swindel and Suzanne M. Marshall as well as three support staff.
At Stifel, the team had been called the Tanner Wealth Management Group, using the name of Tanner, a 54-year industry veteran. They were introduced to Sanctuary by another local group who had earlier joined the independent broker-dealer, Miller said in the announcement.
“After a warm introduction from another of their Indianapolis-based, nationally recognized partner firms, we felt confident that Sanctuary’s approach and platform could deliver something well beyond what can be found in traditional banks and brokerage firms,” Miller said in a statement.
A spokesperson for St. Louis-based Stifel declined to comment. It ended 2023 with 2,386 brokers, up 1.8% year-over-year, and $444 billion in assets.
Sanctuary, which has mostly drawn advisors from wirehouses, serves over 80 independent practices and has around $30 billion in assets under “administration,” according to its website and the announcement. It now has three teams managing $1 billion or more in assets in Indianapolis, according to the announcement.
The M&K team had joined Stifel through its purchase of City Securities in 2017. Miller started his career at Charles Schwab Corp. in 1998, according to BrokerCheck. Keller began at an Ameriprise Financial predecessor in 2003, and Tanner started at Raffensperger, Hughes & Co. in 1969, according to BrokerCheck.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority in 2015 sanctioned Miller and Tanner for trading in accounts of 90 customers without obtaining proper authorizations, according to BrokerCheck. The trades were “consistent” with the customers’ investment strategies but were in some cases executed too long after Miller had received prior verbal approvals, Finra said.
Miller agreed to a 20-day suspension and $10,000 fine, and Tanner agreed to a 10-day suspension and $15,000 fine, according to their BrokerCheck records. Neither admitted wrongdoing.
Keller in February beat back a customer claim over allegations that the broker should not have sold 75 shares in Eli Lilly and Company between 2016 and 2018, according to BrokerCheck. The claim, which sought $47,500, was denied by Stifel. (Lilly’s stock price has risen more than 500% over the past five years.)
In another shift, three women advisors from separate firms have banded together to launch a Chicago-based registered investment advisory firm with $200 million in client assets, according to an announcement on Friday.
The RIA is led by Vanessa N. Martinez, Lauren M. Genuardi and Darlene S. Ducan, and includes five support staff, according to the announcement. They are calling their new practice Expressive Wealth. The RIA will custody assets with Charles Schwab & Co., according to its most recent ADV filing.
The three advisors met at an industry conference, according to an Expressive spokesperson.
Martinez left Chicago-based hybrid firm Hightower Advisors in 2022 to run Em-Powered Network, a business that provides consulting for women business owners and leaders. She set up Expressive and last month invited Genuardi and Ducan to join.
Martinez first registered as a broker in 2008 with JPMorgan Chase & Co. and joined Hightower Securities in 2013, according to BrokerCheck.
Genuardi had been with Telemus Capital, an advisory firm owned by roll-up Focus Financial Partners. She started her career as securities and trade clerk for Henry Crown & Co in 2000 and worked at Mesirow Financial Investment Management and Dearborn Partners, LLC before registering as a broker in 2011 with Barrington Strategic Wealth Management, according to her LinkedIn profile and BrokerCheck. She joined Telemus in 2017.
Ducan started her career in 1981 with Kentucky regional firm Hilliard Lyons. She also worked at Paine Webber and Wells Fargo Advisors before joining Wealthtrust Asset Management in 2015, according to her LinkedIn profile and BrokerCheck.
“We wish Vanessa good luck in her new venture,” a spokesperson for Hightower said in a statement. “We are very supportive of female-run practices, and on this international women’s day applaud Vanessa and all advisors working for and with women.”
Spokespeople for Telemus and Wealthtrust did not immediately respond to requests for comment.