Michael Armstrong, an executive with Jefferies & Co., will succeed the retiring John Taft as CEO of Minneapolis-based RBC Wealth Management-U. S. later this summer.
Taft, 61, earlier this year announced his retirement after a decade running the Minneapolis-based unit of Canada's RBC Financial.
It has grown to be the seventh-largest brokerage in America: 1,900 financial advisers, 4,700 employees and about $275 billion in client assets.
Armstrong, 55, will join RBC in June from New York-based Jefferies & Co., where he was the global head of wealth management.
He will report to Russell Goldsmith, chief executive of City National Bank of Los Angeles, who was given the additional responsibility of RBC Wealth Management-U.S. after RBC acquired City National in November 2015.
"Michael is an experienced leader with a highly diversified background in financial services, and he has an extensive track record of successfully leading investment and wealth management organizations," Goldsmith said in a prepared statement. "He has repeatedly demonstrated the ability to promote collaboration, grow revenue and earnings, and deliver improved performance."
Armstrong joined Jefferies & Co. in 2014, as its global head of wealth management. The firm, smaller than RBC Wealth Management-U.S., grew its assets under a management and client base, expanded product and service offerings, and "attracted numerous teams" of financial advisers from competitors, according to RBC.
Before moving to Jefferies & Co., Armstrong held senior leadership positions at Morgan Stanley from 1987 to 2012.
Earlier this year, RBC appointed Tom Sagissor, a 22-year veteran financial adviser and branch manager, as president of RBC Wealth Management-U.S., the No. 2 position. Sagissor came up through the brokerage ranks.
Neal St. Anthony • 612-673-7144
