William Morrissey, who had run advisor recruiting at LPL Financial, has been appointed managing director of the broker-dealer independent advisor services (IAS) business unit. He replaces Derek Bruton who resigned abruptly 10 days ago.

The IAS business unit focuses on client satisfaction, assists with practice management and delivers support services, including RIA, business consulting and succession planning. Morrissey will also continue to oversee IAS business development. He will continue to be based in San Diego and will report directly to LPL Financial President Robert Moore.

Bruton had been well-regarded in the brokerage business so his sudden resignation came as a surprise in late March. In a filing, LPL attributed the resignation to "concerns over his interactions with other employees."

With LPL for the previous 10 years, he most recently served as executive vice president of business development, responsible for recruiting new advisors and their practices. During his tenure, the number of LPL’s IAS advisors nearly doubled from 6,350 to 11,400, according to the broker-dealer.

That means most of the more than 5,000 advisors who have joined LPL in the last decade were recruited by Morrissey and his business development staff. "Morrissey knows LPL's recruiting strengths and weaknesses better than anyone," one rival said. In his new postion, he'll be better positioned to tailor its suite of services to make the firm more attractive to independent advisors looking to move from other broker-dealers.

Prior to joining LPL Financial, Morrissey spent 17 years at Fidelity Investments in a variety of leadership roles across product, sales and distribution. He also held positions at Merrill Lynch, where he built out a high-net-worth unit to support the firm’s New England wealth management business.