Cetera Taps Frojen as CFO

October 12, 2010 at 12:14 PM
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Cetera Financial Group, based in El Segundo, Calif., said Tuesday that Jon Frojen joined the firm as its chief financial officer. He replaces Ashley Duryea, who will continue to work for the firm as a consultant in Atlanta.

"Jon brings to Cetera extensive knowledge coupled with a track record of success in accelerated-growth environments, having worked with private and publicly held companies," said CEO Valerie Brown in a press release. "Cetera has attracted some of the brightest and most well-respected executives in the industry and having Jon join as CFO only reinforces that trend."

Frojen previously worked as a managing director for Milestone Advisors LLC, an investment bank for the financial services industry. At Milestone he co-founded and served as CFO of Milestone Asset Resolutions Company, an advisory and asset management platform.

Frojen replaces Ashley Duryea, the current CFO, who chose to stay in Atlanta, Ga., at the time of Cetera's formation.  Ashley will continue as a consultant to Cetera.

"As we move ahead in developing resources that allow advisors to build stronger relationships with their clients, I am excited to begin working with our executives and building upon their already impressive track record, helping to establish Cetera as the most forward-thinking independent broker dealer," said Frojen in a statement.

In September, the former ING Advisors Network hired Alex Kaye, formerly of Wilshire Associates and UBS, as vice president of research, and Kian Rafia, previously of Ibbotson Associates and LPL Financial, as director of advisory products. Kaye reports to Barnaby Grist, Cetera's executive vice president of wealth management (and a former Charles Schwab executive), while Rafia reports to Mark Palmer, Cetera's national sales manager and another ex-Schwab manager.

In February, private-equity firm Lightyear Capital LLC completed its acquisition of the three independent broker/dealers that formerly constituted the ING Advisors Network –Financial Network, Multi-Financial, and PrimeVest. It then renamed the holding company Cetera, though the three broker/dealers' names remain unchanged.

Lightyear's chairman and CEO is Donald Marron, who headed Paine Webber for 20 years and also was chairman of UBS America after the brokerage firm's merger with PaineWebber.; he is chairman of Cetera's board.

With headquarters near Los Angeles, Cetera has some 5,000 affiliated independent advisors, including registered reps, registered investment advisors and investment advisor reps. Financial Network has about 2,500 financial professionals; Multi-Financial has roughly 1,000; and PrimeVest has some 1,500.

The advisors manage about $76 billion in client assets.

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