At a glance
- The coverage gives no effective date for either of those two roles, so the only dated handover in the group is Bell's move into the contractor division.
- For advisors weighing the independent contractor channel, the appointment names the executive who owns recruiting terms, payout questions and platform requests from April 1, 2027.
- Recruiting in the same channel is active elsewhere.
Raymond James named Kirk Bell president of its independent contractor division effective April 1, 2027, and said Shannon Reid exits that role.
Raymond James also named Scott Curtis chief operating officer and said Tarek Helal becomes chief strategy officer. The coverage gives no effective date for either of those two roles, so the only dated handover in the group is Bell's move into the contractor division.
For advisors weighing the independent contractor channel, the appointment names the executive who owns recruiting terms, payout questions and platform requests from April 1, 2027. That is the date to check against any transition timetable, service commitment or repapering schedule that runs past this year.
Recruiting in the same channel is active elsewhere. Osaic recruited James A. Costabile from LPL Financial as a managing partner, bringing a team with $2.3 billion in assets, and added Freehold Wealth Management from Stifel Independent Advisors with $576 million in assets. Both moves carry the same Oct. 26 date in the tracked activity as the Raymond James executive changes.
What the Raymond James reshuffle does not settle is how the contractor division's reporting lines change once Bell starts. Curtis as COO and Helal as chief strategy officer sit above a division whose president will change on a fixed date, and the material available does not describe the chain of command between them.
Reported by The Advisor's Note desk from internal newsroom graph query (tracked activity and facts). Published . Corrections