Milwaukee-based Robert W. Baird & Co. on Monday named Steve Booth as chief executive, effective immediately.
Booth, 55, who has served as president since 2014, takes over for longtime CEO Paul Purcell, 69, who will continue as chairman of the firm.
Booth previously served as chief operating officer, led Baird’s investment banking team and served as co-head of the firm’s equity markets business.
As chairman, Purcell, 69, will remain active in recruiting new talent and working with the firm’s private equity business and its charitable activities, the company said.
Booth’s promotion has been in the works since 2013, when he became COO as part of a plan to take over for Purcell, who has had that role since 2000.
Purcell and Booth both joined Baird in 1994. Both are also veterans of the old Kidder Peabody firm’s investment banking business.
Baird, with around $150 billion in client assets, has more than 800 financial advisors working out of 82 offices nationwide.
In 2004, Purcell bought the company back from Northwestern Mutual. Now employee-owned, more than 60 percent of Baird employees own stock.
“Being privately held and associate-owned is our single most important competitive advantage because it enables us to make long-term decisions and investments to serve our clients and to create a great workplace,” Booth said in a statement.
Originally a Midwest regional firm, Baird took advantage of the financial crisis to expand both its retail and institutional businesses.