Edward Jones has reorganized its leadership team as part of an ongoing effort to position the firm to prepare for what it sees as the coming multi-trillion-dollar generational wealth transfer.
“It’s a new year for Edward Jones—our first as a financial planning firm,” Managing Partner and firm head Penny Pennington said in a statement. “We’ve been readying ourselves for this chapter in our 103-year-old growth story by evolving to attract and serve new and different types of clients through experiences, products and services, and technology that meet their unique needs.”
As part of this shift, David Chubak, head of the U.S. business unit and branch development, will now head wealth management and field management. Chubak has been with Edward Jones for more than three years after a nine-year stint with Citi. He will replace Lena Haas, who has been head of wealth management advice solutions, and will retire at the end of 2025. David Gunn, who leads the firm’s Canadian business unit, will take over responsibility for its U.S. business unit from Chubak.
In other moves, CFO Andy Miedler will take over the firm’s data and digital teams to replace current head Frank LaQuinta, who will be retiring at the end of 2025. Kristin Johnson, formerly chief transformation officer, will become chief operating officer.
Pennington has been overseeing a multi-year effort to create more value for clients and Edward Jones’ roughly 20,000 financial advisors in North America.
Earlier this year, the St. Louis-based firm launched its first private client services division, Edward Jones Generations, designed for high-net-worth clients in the United States. In a subsequent interview with WealthManagement.com, Pennington stressed that the added services would complement, not erode, the firm’s work advising Main Street clients.
Around that time, Edward Jones also told advisors nationwide that the home office would be restructuring to better serve their needs. That restructuring, it said, would mean administrative layoffs, though it did not give specifics or a timeline.
Shawn Smith, founder and CEO of Financial Advisor Placement Services in Ipswich, Mass., said Edward Jones’ direction over the past decade, including these more recent moves, is positioning it more in the fee-based advisory space than the commission-based brokerage model.
“The advisory business has been taking the brokerage business by storm,” Smith said. “You’ve got the big wirehouses and the independents (broker/dealers) moving in that direction, and I think that is what Edward Jones is trying to do right now, which is a good strategic direction.”
Smith said the firm is likely to seek to keep or attract advisors who may otherwise consider a move to a hybrid model, typically a step before joining or starting an RIA.
“Overall, Edward Jones is doing things to move in the right direction to be more competitive, at least on a hybrid basis,” Smith said.
Edward Jones also announced this year that it had applied to regulators to establish Edward Jones Bank, a Utah-chartered industrial bank. If approved, the bank would complement the co-branded retail banking products Edward Jones intends to launch later in 2025.
Smith said that move also aligns with the direction other larger brokerage houses have taken to work with higher-net-worth clients and their businesses. He noted that Chubak’s background with Citi will likely help Edward Jones with that business should they secure it.
In the announcement, Edward Jones also pointed to a continued effort to train its advisors as Certified Financial Planners, with more than 5,000 advisors already holding the designation.
It also highlighted the use of Envestnet/MoneyGuide financial planning software, which it rolled out to its advisor workforce in 2024.
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