A former Merrill Lynch team that handled $842 million in client assets has joined the Raymond James & Associates (RJA) employee advisor channel in a new downtown office in Salt Lake City, Utah, according to a news release.

The seven-member team includes financial advisors Steven G. Williams, Kevin Townsend, Steven R. Williams and Pamela Fisher. They are joined by business manager Kim Smith and senior client service associates Barbara Hillman and Anne Beck.

The team, which serves a variety of clients, including high-net-worth clients, physicians and retirees, operates as Williams & Townsend Wealth Management Partners of Raymond James.

Townsend, who has been in the industry since 1997, and at Merrill Lynch for the past 21 years, said working remotely during the pandemic gave the team the opportunity to revisit the business and re-evaluate its resources and the support they would need to elevate their client service and offerings. He said they evaluated 10 firms over the course of a year. “It was a very thorough due diligence process along the way, and after introducing our top contenders to our partners and assistants, we all independently and unanimously came back with the same firm at the top of our list: Raymond James,” he said in a statement.

Steven G. Williams, who along with Townsend serve as managing director, said they were drawn to the flexibility, the focus on wealth management as a core business at Raymond James, and the client-first culture. “As we envisioned how we could run and grow our business at Raymond James, we knew we couldn’t put the genie back in the bottle. We’re so glad our entire team felt the same and are excited about the future of our practice now at Raymond James,” added Williams, who spent nearly three decades at Merrill Lynch.

Steven R. Williams, senior vice president, investments, who has more than 27 years of experience in the wealth management industry, began his financial services career in 1994 with Fidelity Investments. He spent 21 years at Merrill Lynch. Prior to his financial services career, he served in the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division.

Fisher, senior vice president, investments, began working at Merrill Lynch in 1987, where she transitioned from a cashier to a commodities sales associate to a senior registered client associate. She became a financial advisor in 2015.