People & Company News, Week of October 2, 2026
- Nishit Sahay has been tapped as CIO at Altera, a solutions provider. Sahay will lead Altera’s global technology strategy, with a focus on strengthening cybersecurity, expanding the use of data, and advancing enterprise AI. He will also oversee the company’s IT organization. Before joining Altera, Sahay most recently served as SVP and CIO at Marvell Technology.
- Mike Whitaker has been appointed as Group CIO of Newmark Group, a commercial real estate service provider. Whitaker will provide strategic oversight of technology, data and information initiatives across Newmark’s businesses. He will also serve on Newmark’s Executive Committee and will report to COO Luis Alvarado. Newmark’s CIO Sridhar Potineni will report to Whitaker. Prior to joining Newmark, Whitaker served as Group CIO at Cantor Fitzgerald.
- Masumi Waida has been tapped as CFO of Ara Partners, a private equity and infrastructure firm. Waida will lead the firm’s corporate and fund finance, accounting, tax, financial reporting, treasury, and the development of the firm’s finance function. Before joining Ara, Waida most recently served as CFO of ACON Investments, a middle-market private equity firm.
- Robert Ludricks III has been named managing director of the Northeast Region, and Olof Akesson as investment director of Northern Trust Wealth Management’s Family Office Solutions team in New York. Before joining Northern Trust, Ludricks most recently served as managing director and senior relationship manager at Brown Brothers Harriman and Akesson most recently served as managing director at KABR Group.
- Jennie Park has been named head of Capital Formation and Matt Coad as head of Investor Solutions at Proterra Investment Partners, an alternative asset manager. Coad will lead investor relations, client service, marketing, and communications, while playing an active role in fundraising. Prior to joining Proterra, Park most recently served as a principal at H.I.G. Capital. Coad previously served as the firm’s head of Capital Formation.
- Daniel Gawley has been promoted to SVP of private capital for the Southern California market at Inland Securities Corporation. Gawley, will be responsible for educating financial professionals, their clients, and certified public accountants on tax-advantaged real estate investment solutions. Additionally, Gawley will work alongside managing director of the Western division Charles Jensen, internal wholesaler and regional assoiciate Frank Felix, and VP Skylar Gautier.
- Marco De Freitas has been named president of Hightower Advisors. De Freitas will oversee Hightower’s operations, technology, enterprise AI strategy and investment platform. De Freitas will report to CEO Larry Restieri and will join the firm in mid-Q4 this year. Before joining Hightower, De Freitas held senior leadership roles at Vanguard. Jennifer Frazier has been tapped as president of Hightower Signature Wealth. Mike Hirsbrunner has been appointed COO, while Penny Phillips, head of Advisor Growth for Hightower Signature Wealth, will focus on accelerating organic growth and enhancing the advisor and client experience.
- Andrew Genova and Justin Barker have joined Mohr Partners, as managing director and director, respectively, for the Washington metropolitan area. The pair will work closely with Mohr Partners’ DMV market leader Peter Berg, who will share leadership responsibilities with Genova. Prior to joining Mohr Partners, Genova and Barker came from Foundry Commercial, which Genova served as managing director and Barker served as VP.
- Financial advisor Colin Gates has joined The Atlantic Group at Ameriprise Financial in Boca Raton, Florida, which manages over $2B in assets under management. Before transitioning to Ameriprise, Gates was affiliated with Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, where he oversaw more than $120M in total client assets. The Atlantic Group is led by founding partners and next-generation advisors Andrew Lerner and Logan Shalmi. The team is supported locally by Ameriprise’s branch manager Drew Granauro, Ameriprise’s complex director Daniel Landrau, and Ameriprise’s regional VP Michael Rearden.
- Boaz Lahovitsky has been tapped as president of Wealth Management at Broadridge Financial Solutions, a financial technology firm. Lahovitsky succeeds Mike Alexander, who will remain with the company and will be working on strategic programs and initiatives. Prior to joining Broadridge, Lahovitsky most recently served as managing director of Personal Advisors at JP Morgan. He also held senior roles at Vanguard, Citi, Genpact, UBS, and Booz Allen Hamilton.
- Suzanne Flannery has joined Grafine Partners, an investment firm, as managing director and head of Strategic Initiatives. In the newly created role, Flannery will work across the investment, capital formation and operations teams to further Grafine’s strategies. Before joining Grafine, Flannery most recently served as managing director and head of Product Marketing Platform at Neuberger Berman, where she led a global team supporting the firm’s investment offerings.
- Juan Manrique has been appointed as chief innovation officer of U.K.-based Investor Pointe, a technology and services firm. Manrique will work across clients, products, and technology. Prior to joining Investor Pointe, Manrique co-founded and served as CEO of Untap, Hydra Management, and e-Task.it.
- Roger Park and Chris Harris have joined BRG’s Financial Institution Advisory practice as managing directors. Harris and Park will lead the Operations & Technology Transformation team within the FIA. Before joining BRG, Park most recently led EY’s global business enablement AI transformation program after growing the firm’s Financial Services technology consulting practice, and Harris held various roles at EY.
- Financial advisor John Fitzgerald and his team, Vineland, NJ-based Fitzgerald Financial Group, have joined Cetera Financial Group. Fitzgerald Financial Group includes Doug Kramer and Gary Bolno, along with assistant Tatyana Shevchuk. Before joining Cetera, Fitzgerald was affiliated with Commonwealth Financial Network, where they managed about $185M in assets under administration. Fitzgerald and his team joined Cetera after LPL’s acquisition of Commonwealth.
- Choreo has partnered with Chicago-based Beemo Automation, an artificial intelligence services firm. Through the partnership, Beemo will provide AI capabilities to advisor enablement, client experience and operational scale across Choreo. The partnership is focused on growth, client onboarding, and firmwide access. Additionally, clients will retain ownership of their data, infrastructure, and implementation.
- LPL Financial-backed Prudential Advisors has been rebranded as Prudential Wealth Advisors. Prudential Wealth Advisors offers wealth managers investment capabilities, technology, financial planning resources, and practice support.
- Elio Mortgage, an AI-native mortgage company, has launched after raising $5.1M in pre-seed funding, which was led by Motive Partners and Social Leverage, with Insight Partners’ co-founder and managing director Jeff Horing, participating as an angel investor. The company was founded by Oren Michaely and Arad Lev Ari. The funding will support continued product development, the expansion of Elio’s licensed mortgage operations, and the recruitment of loan officers.
- Blackstone Real Estate has rolled out the full subscription of its first Delaware Statutory Trust, which is designed for commercial real estate owners who are seeking to reinvest sale proceeds into another property via a 1031 exchange. The portfolio comprises two Class A, multifamily properties in the Sunbelt totaling more than 600 units. The assets were identified by Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust.
- T2 Capital Management, a private equity real estate investment firm, has launched Base Living, the firm’s wholly owned property management company. Base Living plans to expand operations across T2’s entire portfolio, including student housing. Base Living manages over 850 multifamily units across three properties. With the launch of Base Living, T2 has added Tyler Yates to serve as the director of Property Management. Yates will be responsible for the operational and financial performance of T2’s property portfolio. Yates will also manage Base Living’s 24 new team members across Illinois, Indiana, and Florida, and he is supported by eight members of T2’s corporate team. Yates will report to principal Aaron Tink. Before joining T2, Yates most recently served as VP of Central Operations and Asset Management at Kairos Living.
- ExchangeRight’s Net-Leased Preferred Equity Fund strategy is now available on iCapital’s marketplace. ExchangeRight’s offering provides financial advisors with access to a broader range of real estate investment strategies. The iCapital listing follows ExchangeRight’s addition of its Essential Income REIT and REIT Fast-Track DSTs to SEI’s platform, earlier this month.
- Acrisure Mortgage, a residential mortgage lender, and DRB Group have joined forces to launch DRB Mortgage, a mortgage JV, which is designed to serve buyers across the East Coast market. The joint venture pairs DRB Group’s homebuilding expertise with Acrisure Mortgage’s lending platform, enabling buyers with a financing team. DRB Mortgage is expected to begin serving buyers in January.
- Fieldguide, an AI-backed advisory and audit provider, has partnered with CPA Canada to embed the organization’s trusted Professional Engagement Guide Forms throughout its platform. The integration enables Canadian firms to access and apply CPA Canada’s PEG Forms within a single workflow. Fieldguide will provide updates directly in the platform as CPA Canada releases new or updated PEG engagement forms.
- Betterment has rolled out an AI-powered document reader within its Betterment Advisor Solutions client onboarding platform. The document reader builds on Betterment Advisor Solutions’ digital onboarding experience, which helps advisors set up client data transfers. Instead of manually re-keying data from a client’s brokerage statement, advisors can upload the statement directly and let AI populate the transfer request.
- Instinct has raised an additional $1B in its Series C funding round. The round was led by Sequoia Capital, Benchmark Capital, and Coatue. The capital will be used to bolster the development and expansion of the firm’s personal AI assistant platform. The capital boosts the firm’s valuation to $10B.