CHICAGO — A third financial advisory professional from Scott Balice Strategies LLC has opted to join Acacia Financial Group Inc. over Public Finance Management Inc., following PFM’s acquisition of Chicago-based Scott Balice last week.
The New Jersey-based Acacia said Monday that Carol Howarth will work with Debbie Schnebel in the firm’s new Anchorage office. Schnebel and Howarth together staffed the Alaska office of Scott Balice.
The sale to PFM followed Scott Balice co-founder Lois Scott’s decision to accept the position of chief financial officer under new Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
Acacia last week announced the hiring of Schnebel and Chicago-based advisory professional Phoebe Selden. All of Scott Balice’s roughly dozen professionals were offered positions at PFM as part of the acquisition, but sources said the three felt Acacia provided a better fit.
Howarth’s background is in the higher education and energy sectors, in addition to consumer products, industrial electronics, financial services, life sciences, paper and packaging, wholesale distribution, Internet, and online information.
“When we learned about the changes taking place at Scott Balice, we identified three individuals that we wanted,” said Acacia’s co-president, Kim Whelan. “Adding Carol makes us three for three. It was a tremendous opportunity, and we couldn’t be more thrilled about how everything played out in the last week. It bodes extremely well for the future of our firm, as well as our current and future clients.”
Acacia now has offices in Alaska, Chicago, Columbus, and New Jersey, with an eye towards opening ones in Philadelphia and New York later this year. The firm hopes to expand into California next year. Nationally, it ranks 20th so far this year among financial advisers after an 11th-place finish last year, according to Thomson Reuters.
