Raymond James taps Schwab veteran to succeed retiring COO

Raymond James has hired Elyn Davis as senior vice president of client experience for its RIA & Custody Services unit, according to InvestmentNews. Davis spent 29 years at Charles Schwab, mostly in its Advisor Services business, where she served smaller RIAs and family offices.

The appointment sets up a planned leadership handoff. Current SVP and COO Michelle Sovcik plans to retire by the end of the year, InvestmentNews reported, citing a person familiar with the situation. Sovcik will work alongside Davis during a transition period. The two previously overlapped at Schwab, where Sovcik was registered from 2006 to 2019.

Greg Bruce, who heads Raymond James' RIA custody business and joined from Schwab in 2019, said in a LinkedIn post that the move is part of a "deliberate succession strategy." He cited Davis's "deep expertise in client experience, operations and strategic execution."

For RIAs custodying with Raymond James, the transition determines who shapes the platform's client-experience agenda. Davis's background with smaller RIAs and family offices at Schwab suggests that segment will remain a priority, likely as the firm positions the custody business to scale.

The hire also extends a pattern: Bruce came over from Schwab in 2019. Pulling senior Advisor Services talent could signal a deliberate effort to replicate Schwab's service playbook inside a rival custody platform.

Planned successions are a message to advisors. Custody relationships are sticky, but leadership changes can introduce friction. Raymond James is signaling continuity, and that matters in a market where RIAs evaluate custodians on service consistency.

Davis's operating experience with smaller RIAs and family offices is the notable detail. Those clients often need more hand-holding than mega-firms. If Raymond James is stacking its client-experience team with that mindset, expect it to court subscale RIAs more aggressively.

Davis and Sovcik are expected to work together through the transition, with Sovcik's retirement scheduled by the end of the year. Watch for further staffing moves in Raymond James' RCS division as the handoff takes shape.