Rockefeller hires $1.2 billion Truist team in Naples, Florida

The Kellam Group joined Rockefeller Global Family Office in Naples, Florida, on Friday with $1.2 billion in client assets, AdvisorHub first reported, citing a source familiar with the move. The team produced $7 million in revenue, according to the same source.

Three principals lead the group: Gordon B. Kellam, Owen M. Wilson and Matthew T. Caras. They moved with support staff Eric Solas, Sumera Yousaf, Brad Cherkin and Charles Outlaw. Kellam had been a producing complex manager at BB&T and joined the bank in 2013 from Merrill Lynch, according to BrokerCheck; Wilson and Caras, with 14 and 33 years of experience, joined in 2017 from UBS and Wells Fargo, BrokerCheck shows.

On $1.2 billion of client assets, $7 million of revenue is a yield of about 58 basis points. UBS hired Merrill's John Pham and Jimmy Yip on a 16-year package paying 550% of revenue, this publication reported, with the pair producing $7.5 million — below the $10 million bar the firm set for that deal.

AdvisorHub's source and a former Truist advisor speaking on condition of anonymity attributed the Truist departures to the expiration of retention loans granted around the 2019 merger of BB&T and SunTrust. The same accounts cite frustration over tiered fee increases that advisors were responsible for implementing across client accounts.

Rockefeller's website puts the firm at $224 billion in client assets as of June 30, across its family office, investment management and investment banking units. The Naples office opened in May with a Morgan Stanley team that also managed $1.2 billion, and it sits in a southeast region led by Kristen Sario.

Earlier this month, a 13-person team managing $3 billion left Truist for Captrust Financial Advisors, and in September Rockefeller landed another Truist team with $1 billion in North Carolina, per AdvisorHub. That gives Naples two $1.2 billion teams brought over from other firms in about five months.