- Kevin Heckman has joined Easterly Asset Management as SVP of sales for the Mid-Atlantic region. Heckman will deepen and broaden relationships with RIAs, financial advisors, family offices, and high-net-worth investors across Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. Heckman, who brings more than 15 years of industry experience to Easterly, previously served as VP at Rockefeller Asset Management, where he led external distribution and relationship management for institutional and wealth advisory clients. Heckman will report to head of sales Phil Juliano Jr.
- Scott Dixon has been named SVP for the Pacific Northwest market at ExchangeRight. Dixon will manage and deepen relationships across Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and Alaska. Prior to joining ExchangeRight, Dixon served as SVP of capital markets at Emerson Equity, a brokerage firm.
- Gregory Khost has been named regional director of Glenmede, a wealth and investment management firm. Khost will be responsible for overseeing Glenmede’s operations across the New York metro area and will also focus on driving growth in business development and client experience. Khost will be reporting to director of regional markets Adam Douberly. Prior to joining the firm, he served as head of business development in the private wealth unit at Neuberger Berman Private Wealth.
- Beacon Trust has made several key appointments. Jason Apuzzio joins Beacon Trust as SVP and wealth management relationship manager. Before joining Beacon Trust, Apuzzio most recently served as SVP and wealth advisor at Truist Wealth Management. Samantha Booth joins Beacon as assistant VP and wealth management relationship manager. Prior to joining Beacon Trust, she served as assistant VP and portfolio manager at Orange Investment Advisors, formerly Hudson Valley Investment Advisors. Marc Oceanak joins Beacon Trust as wealth management relationship manager. Before joining Beacon Trust, he most recently served as a financial advisor at Scafa Financial Services. Louis Russo has joined Beacon Trust as a wealth management business development officer. Russo will be focusing on expanding Beacon Trust’s network of prospective clients and professional referral partners. Before joining Beacon Trust, Russo served as SVP and wealth advisor at Truist Wealth.
- James Gruver has been appointed as managing director and head of capital formation at ORIX Corporation USA. Gruver will be responsible for leading the firm’s capital formation strategy and driving the firm’s fundraising, product development, and investor engagement efforts. Gruver will be based in the firm’s New York office and will be reporting to managing director and group head of private credit and real estate Jeff Abrams. Prior to joining ORIX USA, Gruver held multiple roles at BNY Mellon, Black River, Heitman, and Polen Capital.
- Jason Rowley and Kimberly Hill have been appointed to president and chief revenue officer, respectively, of Amplify Technology, an AI-native RIA growth platform. Rowley previously served as Amplify’s chief of staff and general counsel and will be responsible for leading the firm’s daily operations with a focus on execution, client delivery, and organizational alignment. Hill, who previously served as the firm’s CFO, will expand her role in leading revenue strategy, including sales and new client acquisition. Hill will also be overseeing the firm’s go-to-market strategy, with a focus on boosting growth and deepening client engagement.
- Chris Ciompi has been named CMO of Russell Investments, an investment solutions provider. Ciompi will be responsible for leading Russell Investments’ global marketing function. Ciompi will be reporting to CEO Zach Buchwald and will serve on the firm’s executive committee. Before joining Russell Investments. Ciompi served as a senior partner at Lippincott, a brand and innovation consultancy firm.
- San Diego-based Blueprint Equity, a growth equity firm, has made five new hires, which will support co-founders Bobby Ocampo and Sheldon Lewis. Prior to joining Blueprint, Paul Koch served as the head of engineering at Soundful. Torian Riley joined Blueprint as a senior associate for value creation. Before joining Blueprint, Riley served as a senior associate for Everland Equity Partners. Sasha Kuzmin has joined Blueprint as a workplace experience coordinator. Prior to joining Blueprint, Kuzmin was an events coordinator for F.P.Journe – Invenit et Fecit, a luxury brand company. Kaila “Karr” Russell has been named director of talent at Blueprint. Most recently, Russell served as client director for Candidate Labs. Lastly, Jake Pimental joined Blueprint as a growth equity associate. Most recently, Pimental was a senior analyst at Boston-based Wavecrest Growth Partners.
- Rand Araskog and Eric Ghernati have joined JP Morgan Private Capital as partners. Prior to joining JP Morgan, Araskog served as a managing director at Permira, where he helped build a team to manage the firm’s $4B growth fund and led public long-only investments. Ghernati has been with JP Morgan Asset Management since 2020 and was most recently part of the U.S. Equity Group, where he was responsible for leading tech strategies across all market caps.
- Financial advisor Michael Mrotzek has been named first VP of wealth management at Janney Montgomery Scott in Red Bank, New Jersey. Mrotzek was previously affiliated with Morgan Stanley, where he managed over $200M in client assets. He is joined by senior registered private client associate Gina Kletter. Mrotzek, who brings over four decades of experience to Janney, works with families, senior executives, and small business owners.
- Tu Nguyen has been appointed as CTO at Axtella, a financial services platform. Nguyen will be responsible for expanding the firm’s data management and workflow automation capabilities. Prior to joining Axtella, Nguyen served as the VP and head of AI and emerging technologies for Osaic Wealth. He is also the founder and owner of Scissors & Scotch, a personal care company.
- Kestra Financial has made four hires to its firm. Benjamin Marks, Dave Sawan, Austin Shives, and Doug Wallace join the firm as business development consultants to expand recruitment across the Midwest, Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Southeast regions. Prior to joining Kestra Financial, Marks and Shives held business development leadership roles at LPL Financial. Meanwhile, Sawan and Wallace most recently served in recruiting leadership positions at Commonwealth Financial Network.
- Carson Group has launched a new function for its AI platform, Steve, with the rollout of Client Intelligence, a capability that provides financial advisors with visibility into their clients’ financial activities. The capability, which is built into Steve, Client Intelligence, allows advisors to prepare for meetings, review recent activity, confirm beneficiary details, and understand broader household context, including information to support tax-related client conversations. This capability is supported by Carson’s partnership with Amazon Web Services.
- InspereX Holdings is acquiring Fairfield, NJ-based Financial Northeastern Securities, founded in 1984, which underwrites and distributes fixed-income solutions. Specific terms were not disclosed. The firm has additional offices in Dublin, Ohio, and Van Alstyne, Texas. Founders Steven Zage and Jeffrey Zage will continue working at the firm and will report to InspereX’s CEO Scott Mitchell.
- InvestiFi has partnered with Heritage Valley Federal Credit Union to embed its solutions into the credit union’s online banking platform. The partnership allows customers to invest directly from their checking accounts. Additionally, Heritage Valley will integrate InvestiFi’s robo-advisory solution, Guided Investing, into its existing online platform. InvestiFi will also provide Heritage Valley members with access to self-directed stocks, ETFs, and cryptocurrency. York, PA-based Heritage Valley, established in 1935, serves 13,500 members in the South-Central Pennsylvania region, including York, Adams, Cumberland, and Dauphin counties.
- Advisor360° has partnered with CapitalROCK’s RightBRIDGE to roll out a new solution, backed by MassMutual. The integration combines Advisor360°’s digital onboarding capabilities with RightBRIDGE’s framework, aimed to enable financial advisors to document and complete account openings.
- Apogem Capital has raised $1.45B in the closing round for its seventh fund, named Apogem Secondary Fund VII, surpassing its targeted goal of $1B. ASF VII aims to use the capital to further the firm’s build its portfolios of GP-led and LP secondary transactions across the North American middle market. The fund received support from existing limited partners and its parent company, New York Life Insurance Company.
The post People & Company News, Week of April 2, 2026 appeared first on Connect Money.
