- Merrill Lynch announced it has promoted Craig Young to national business development executive
Merrill Lynch announced it has promoted Craig Young to national business development executive, which is a newly created position that promotes productivity across the company’s 14,000 financial advisors according to OnWallStreet.
“On any given week, there is a new idea or best practice that comes up somewhere in the country. One key to success is to take that and apply across all 105 markets that we operate,” says Andy Sieg, head of president of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management. “For this role, it is easy at 20,000 feet to talk about consistency across 105 markets. But if you haven’t been a successful market executive, it’s challenging to have a feel for the texture of the role and to make a quick impact.”
Young had previously worked as a market executive for Merrill Lynch’s market in Westchester-Greenwich, Connecticut. And Young is going to oversee wirehouse programs like the company’s Advisor Growth Network, a peer-to-peer group for brokers to share best practices.
Last year, a number of Merrill’s advisors saw a record year. The productivity per advisor jumped to $1.082 million for the year, up from $1.034. And more than 3,700 advisors topped $1 million in production and more than 100 generated $5 million or more in revenue.
Young is also known for serving as a member of the Bank of America Black Executive Leadership Council and chairman of the Merrill Lynch African American Leadership Council.
Young’s promotion comes on the heels of the early retirement of chief operating officer and managing director Michael Adornetto. Adornetto was succeeded by Kirstin Hill, Managing Director and Strategic Performance Executive at Merrill Lynch.
In May 2018, Merrill Lynch recruited Didi Nicolas from Morgan Stanley. But it is unknown who will be succeeding Young as the White Plains market executive.
