Cetera Financial Group is on a recruiting roll, at least in its C suite.
On Wednesday, the group of independent broker-dealers said Jeffrey Buchheister would become its CFO on Aug. 2. Previously Buchheister was LPL Financial's (LPLA) chief accounting officer.
"We are excited to have a senior corporate finance and accounting professional of Jeff's caliber and proven industry experience join us to serve on our leadership team," said Cetera CEO Larry Roth. "His many years in the retail independent financial advice space in operational and corporate executive roles, combined with his high-level financial skills, made him an ideal choice for this pivotal position.
According to Cetera, the CFO role is a newly created position.
In response to Buchheister's decision, LPL Financial said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday that CFO Matthew J. Audette will assume the departing executive's duties as its principal accounting officer.
Buchheister's hiring as CFO comes two months after Robert Moore was tapped as the nonexecutive chairman of the board of Cetera's parent firm. Moore, who served as president of LPL Financial from May 2012 to March 2015, is now CEO of Legal & General Investment Management America, an asset manager.
Several weeks after the Moore news, Cetera name three more members also joined board: Mary Cranston, Robert "Bob" Dineen and Edmond Walters. Along with Moore, the remaining board members are Cetera CEO Larry Roth; Michael Kaufman, principal of Redwood Capital Management; and David King, managing director at Fortress Investment Group.
Walters used to serve as CEO of eMoney Advisor, a web-based planning system used by some 55,000 advisors that was sold to Fidelity last year. Dineen most recently was vice chairman of Lincoln Financial Network and a member of Lincoln Financial Group's senior management committee, and he also is a board member of life insurer Aegon. Cranston is a retired senior partner and past chair of the law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman who is now on the boards of Visa, the Chemours Company and Myokardia.
