Erica McGinnis has stepped aside as president and chief executive of the AIG Advisor Group of broker-dealers, the company confirmed Monday.

A search is underway for a new president and chief executive, said company spokesman Kevin Dinino.
 
Executive chairman Valerie Brown will serve as interim president and CEO until a replacement is found, Dinino said in a statement.
 
Meanwhile, McGinnis has accepted a role as executive vice president, head of transitions, which Dinino described as helping Brown manage the separation of Advisor Groups’ four broker-dealers from parent AIG.
 
Brown “will work closely with Erica on various transition-related activities,” he said in the statement.
 
McGinnis’ reduced role at the company was reported earlier by InvestmentNews.
 
Whether McGinnis will have a long-term role in the company is unclear.
 
Dinino declined further comment.
 
Brown, the former head of Cetera Financial Group, has been remaking the Advisor Group since being named executive chairman in January when the firm’s acquisition by Lightyear Capital and a Canadian investment manager was announced. The plan at the time was to have McGinnis retain operational control of the broker-dealers.
 
Nevertheless, Brown proceeded to bring in a number of former Cetera executives, including Cynthia Hamel, former senior vice president of strategic operations for Cetera, and Susan Theder, former chief operating officer.
 
The sale of the Advisor Group of broker-dealers—which include FSC Securities Corp., Royal Alliance Associates, SagePoint Financial and Woodbury Financial Services—was completed in May.
 
Between them, the firms support about 5,200 independent reps.
 
McGinnis, a 12-year veteran of the Advisor Group and its former chief compliance officer, was named to the top post in late 2013, succeeding former CEO Larry Roth, who left to take an executive post at Nicholas Schorsch’s RCS Capital Corp.
 
In January 2014, RCAP announced it was acquiring Cetera from Lightyear Capital. Months later, Roth pushed out Brown to grab the top leadership role at Cetera.