Financial advisors Jeanne Eisele, Mary Gilbert and Leanne Gray, operating as Anchor Financial in Linwood, N.J., have joined Raymond James Financial Services (RJFS), the St. Petersburg, Fla.-based firm’s independent advisor channel, according to Shannon Reid, Northeast division director for RJFS.
The Anchor team, which also includes client service associate Sarahjane Hehre and branch operations coordinator Bonnie Hehre, was formerly with UBS Financial Services, where they managed nearly $435 million in client assets.
Eisele said in a news release announcing the affiliation that once she and her partners decided they wanted to take the practice in a new direction, they needed a new partner as well.
“We were ready to establish a family-style, private office while simultaneously leveraging the resources that Raymond James provides to create the perfect blend of the flexibility of independence with the power, backing and oversight of the home company,” Eisele said.
A 45-year industry veteran, Eisele spent the past decade at UBS Financial Services as first vice president of investments, the same title she held at Merrill Lynch prior to joining UBS. In addition to her professional work, the New Jersey native also co-hosts “It’s Your Money,” a long-running South Jersey radio show on personal finance that airs Saturday mornings on WOND.
Gilbert, a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in economics, is a certified divorce financial analyst (CDFA) with 35 years of industry experience. She most recently served as senior vice president of investments at UBS upon transitioning from Merrill Lynch in 2012. After working in wirehouses for so many years, she said the three partners decided to become entrepreneurs, instead of employees.
“It was important for us to take true ownership of our business,” Gilbert said in the news release. “We found a partner in Raymond James that allows us to focus on what matters most – taking care of our clients and managing their wealth. The firm shares our values, and its scale ensures our clients have access to excellent resources and technology.”
Gray was a financial advisor at UBS for a decade, and at Merrill Lynch for four years. Similarly to Gilbert, Gray also is a CDFA, as well as a graduate of Villanova University College of Commerce and Finance, where she earned a bachelor's degree in business.
Gray said in the news release that as a certified financial planner (CFP) professional, it was deeply important to her and her team to affiliate with a firm that continued to uphold the legacy of the late Raymond James founder, Robert A. “Bob” James, someone she said was ahead of his time in pioneering a planning-based approach to investing.
“The firm continues to be client-centric in the financial services they offer,” she said.
Raymond James Financial Services Inc. (RJFS) and its affiliate, Raymond James & Associates Inc., are wholly owned subsidiaries of Raymond James Financial Inc., a diversified financial services company overseeing total assets of approximately $1.17 trillion as of December 31, 2022.