New Hire Roundup: Sosa Leaves PIMCO to Lead New DoubleLine Group

Pitcairn has announced that Brett Scola has joined the firm’s relationship management team as director of family wealth strategy. He reports directly to Karen Wawrzaszek, managing director and head of the Washington, D.C., office, where he is based.

Scola joins from GenSpring Family Offices, where he was a family wealth advisor to ultrahigh-net-worth families. He has more than 20 years of experience in the professional and financial services field, previously serving as a senior wealth planner at PNC Wealth Management, a relationship manager at Wachovia Wealth Management, and a senior tax manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.

Private Client Reserve of U.S. Bank Welcomes Fischer

U.S. Bank Wealth Management has announced that Danielle Fischer has been named trust relationship manager for the Private Client Reserve of U.S. Bank in Portland. There she will provide trust and estate administration for individuals, families, corporations and nonprofit organizations.

Fischer has more than 17 years of financial services experience working in trust administration and wealth management for high-net-worth individuals. Prior to joining, she served as vice president and trust administrator with Neuberger Berman Trust Co. NA in New York and as an associate attorney with Kevin Matz & Associates PLLC in White Plains, N.Y.

Mariner Wealth Advisors Acquires Majority Interest in Housen Financial Group

Mariner Wealth Advisors has announced that it has acquired a majority interest in Manasquan, N.J.-based Housen Financial Group.

Housen has a professional staff of 13 and provides financial advice in areas that include investments, retirement, education, taxes, estate planning, insurance and risk management and business strategy/succession planning.

MarginXL Capital Partners Launches

Operational private equity firm MarginXL Capital Partners has announced its launch. The firm, founded by George Stelling and Robert Charles, seeks to address a gap in middle-market operational private equity investing by harnessing and exploiting data and generating insights from that data to improve profits and investment returns. Stelling and Charles worked closely together at Bain & Co. in Dallas.

Stelling co-founded and was COO and managing director at Prophet Equity LP, a private equity buyout fund focused on making control equity investments in underperforming companies in the lower middle market.

Charles has operating and financial experience that includes JP Morgan Chase Capital Markets Group, Ford Motor Co. and Ford Credit.

Riefberg Joins Cozen O’Connor

Cozen O’Connor has brought in Linda Riefberg as a member. She represents clients in securities enforcement investigations, engages in broker-dealer counseling and handles other regulatory matters before the Securities and Exchange Commission, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and state securities regulators. She also handles securities-related litigation and arbitration.

Riefberg is a former chief counsel in the department of enforcement of FINRA and special counsel with Fried Frank. She was also at the New York Stock Exchange, where she coordinated the regulatory investigation that led to the Global Research Analyst Settlement, before the merger of the enforcement arms of the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) and NYSE.

Costantini Named Guardian CFO

The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America has announced that Marc Costantini has joined the firm as chief financial officer. He succeeds Robert Broatch, who is retiring after serving in that position for the past 12 years, and will report to Deanna Mulligan, president and CEO.

Costantini brings more than 25 years of experience in both financial and business management. He most recently was executive vice president of corporate development and strategy at Manulife Financial Corp. and was a member of Manulife’s management committee. He was previously CFO of John Hancock and president of John Hancock Annuities.