Merrill Lynch Wealth Unit Taps New COO

By Janet Levaux

Career Moves January 24, 2020 at 04:21 PM

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Kirstin Hill, incoming COO, Merrill Lynch Wealth Management.

Merrill Lynch Wealth Management says Kirstin Hill will soon be chief operating officer of the unit. As part of the role, Hill will continue to be in charge of Strategic Performance for the business, which includes 17,458 advisors.

She will replace Mike Adornetto, the group's current COO, who is retiring next month after 33 years with the firm. Over the years, he has worked in Wealth Management, Consumer Banking and Global Banking.

"Kirstin has been an inspiring and highly effective leader throughout her career with the firm," according to Andy Sieg, president of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management. "Expanding her leadership role … will help us build on our momentum, accelerate growth and further enhance the client experience."

In her work as a leader of Strategic Performance, Hill has been overseeing growth strategy, practice management, market planning, advisor compensation, field communication, recognition and national advisor development programs. This role includes developing performance metrics and reporting structures.

Earlier, she led the Personal Retirement Solutions business for Bank of America Merrill Lynch and worked in other roles in Global Wealth & Investment Management on retirement products and sales, market-linked investments, new issue debt and equity for BofA Merrill over the past decade.

Hill is an executive sponsor for the Merrill Lynch Next Gen Advisory Board and member of the Women's Exchange Advisory Council, as well as an executive sponsor of the Merrill Lynch Women's Forum.

— Check out 6 Ways Merrill Aims to Boost Its Brokers' Results on ThinkAdvisor.

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