The Eisen-Sessa Institutional Consulting Group, a five-member institutional consulting team led by David S. Eisen and Charles E. Sessa Jr., has joined Graystone Consulting, a business owned by Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC, according to a spokesperson for the team.

The Eisen-Sessa team was formerly with UBS, where the practice managed more than $13 billion in client assets. 

According to the team’s former UBS webpage, the practice is distinguished from its competitors by its hands-on approach and customized advice to institutional clients, combining the agility of a boutique consulting firm with the extensive resources and financial strength of a global financial leader.

“We think of ourselves as more than just institutional consultants, but as trusted advisors working closely with investment committees and trustees for all types of institutions on their unique fiduciary responsibilities and investment needs,” the Eisen-Sessa website told visitors. “Having a dependable source of institutional consulting advice can make an appreciable difference in how you look at the future, especially during these challenging times.”

BrokerCheck reports that Eisen and Sessa started their practice at Kidder, Peabody & Co. Inc. in 1990. Five years later, the team departed to join UBS, where they remained for 25 years before once again moving the practice to new partner Graystone.

Under terms of the move, institutional consulting directors Eisen and Sessa will each continue to serve as senior vice president of investments. They are joined at Graystone by their former UBS team members Michael Sessa, an institutional consulting analyst; Alexis Nicgorski-Starkey, director of business strategy; and financial advisor Brian Kelley, who will also join parent company Morgan Stanley’s financial advisor associate program. 

The team is working out of Graystone’s Philadelphia Complex and will report to complex manager Katie Flaherty.

Graystone Consulting advises on $360 billion in assets.