Securities America Loses Another Recruiter

Gary Bender, senior vice president of broker-dealer recruiting for Securities America, an Advisor Group b/d, has left the firm after seven years. He was previously a senior vice president of acquisitions and retention at Woodbury Financial, another Advisor Group subsidiary. 

The departure follows other recruiters who have left, including Gregg Johnson, executive vice president of recruiting and revenue acquisition at Advisor Group, who left the firm last year. Johnson joined Carson Group last October as national sales director, and has since brought over a few colleagues from Securities America, including Scott M. Briganti, who was at the IBD for 22 years, most recently as vice president of branch office development. At Carson, he’s serving as vice president of partnership development.

After Johnson left, Advisor Group hired Kristen Kimmell, former head of advisor recruiting and field marketing at RBC, to take over his responsibilities as well as an expanded role. Kimmell was named one of WealthManagement.com’s Ten to Watch in 2022. 

Bender did not return a request seeking comment by press time.

Gary Bender

“Gary’s departure comes as the company has made several key hires over the last year, including Kristen Kimmell, EVP Business Development; Tim Hodge, EVP Service and Operations; and Clayton Chandler, Chief Security, Data and Privacy Officer, among others,” said Jen Roche, senior vice president of corporate content, communication and PR with Advisor Group. “As Advisor Group looks to the future, we thank Gary for his years of service and wish him the best in his new role.”

Roche is also a recent addition, joining from AssetMark, where she led marketing and communications.

Advisor Group has seen some high-level departures recently. In January, Lori Love, who had led Advisor Group’s customer experience team since 2019, departed to focus on her family.

Last October, Securities America lost its CFO, David Vaughan, who joined Axos Clearing in a similar role.

In September, Advisor Group lost Chief Marketing Officer Susan Theder, who joined FMG Suite, the advisor marketing platform that powers Advisor Group’s MyCMO offering, as CMO and chief experience officer.