Raymond James & Associates has added a pair of financial advisors from Merrill Lynch to its employee advisor channel in West Hartford, Conn., according to an announcement form the company.
John Cleary and Renee Rossi, who managed about $108 million in client assets at Merrill, joined RJA’s West Hartford office, which is managed by Marty Carroll and is part of the Southern New England Complex led by Bill Drew. They will operate as The Cleary Group of Raymond James.
Cleary, first vice president of investments, said they were attracted to the Raymond James model that emphasizes the wealth management aspect and places people above product. “The culture seems to give us the independence that is important to us. In addition, the technology provides a user-friendly interface that really does a great job with bringing information to us instead of us having to search for it,” he said in a statement.
Cleary began his career in 1996 with Paine Webber, which later became UBS. He spent 12 years with UBS before transitioning to Merrill Lynch, where he spent another 12 years before joining Raymond James.
Financial Advisor Rossi began her career in the financial services industry almost 40 years ago as a wholesaler in 1981. In 2015, she transitioned from her career as a wholesaler to become a financial advisor. She was previously with Deutsche Bank and J.P. Morgan before joining Merrill Lynch in 2017.
Raymond James & Associates Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Raymond James Financial Inc., which has approximately 8,200 financial advisors throughout the U.S., Canada and overseas, and a total of $908 billion in client assets.