RBC Wealth Management has recruited a six-person advisory team overseeing $1.6 billion in client assets from rival Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, marking the latest high-stakes talent move among North American wirehouses. The KPM Wealth Advisory Group will join RBC's Dallas branch after spending a decade at Stifel.
The team comprises managing directors and financial advisors Donald Kinsey, Travis Moss and Matthew Pickett, alongside senior financial associates Shawn Ezzo and Stephanie Mareth and client associate Jacob Gross. All six advisors had built a practice centred on ultra-high-net-worth clients, with particular emphasis on business owners requiring complex financial management.
Kinsey and Moss both began their careers in credit and middle-market investment banking before transitioning to wealth management. Pickett brings 43 years of industry experience, including tenures at Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, according to BrokerCheck records.
In announcing the hire, the team pointed to RBC's institutional resources as a deciding factor. They specifically cited the firm's credit and lending solutions and its Echelon wealth management platform as capabilities that would enable them to better serve their existing client base.
Courtney Duphorne, Texas North complex director at RBC Wealth Management, framed the recruitment as a strategic match. "The KPM Wealth Advisory Group has built their practice on serving UHNW clients at the highest level, and RBC has the balance sheet and expertise to support that growth," Duphorne said in a statement.
The move comes as RBC Wealth operates under new leadership. At the end of last year, the firm installed co-presidents when Tom Sagissor stepped down into a vice chair role. He was replaced by East Divisional Director Pat Vaughan and Central Divisional Director Wally Chapman, who now jointly lead the private client group.
RBC Wealth currently operates 196 offices across 43 states and has been actively defending its advisor roster against recruitment efforts by competing brokerages and wirehouses. The firm's efforts have met with mixed results: earlier this month, it lost a $1.7 billion team to Wells Fargo Advisors, illustrating the bidirectional nature of talent flows in the current market.
The Dallas recruitment reflects broader competitive dynamics in wealth management, where firms with strong balance sheets and proprietary lending platforms are positioning themselves to win teams that serve business owners and ultra-high-net-worth families. For advisory practices in this segment, access to credit facilities and specialized platforms has become a key differentiator when evaluating potential moves between wirehouses.