HighTower Advisors Management

Elliot S. Weissbluth
Chief Executive Officer, Director

Mr. Weissbluth is the Chief Executive Officer of HighTower, a national, advisor-owned financial services company serving high net worth and institutional clients. Prior to co-founding HighTower, he was the President of US Fiduciary, a boutique broker-dealer, and Director of Marketing & Research at RogersCasey, one of the nation’s leading investment research and institutional Registered Investment Advisory firms. Mr. Weissbluth serves on a number of for profit and non-profit Boards, notably as a Trustee of Interlochen, Center for Performing Arts in Michigan.

Larry Koehler
Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Koehler was a founder of EVEREN Securities, the 10th largest securities broker dealer and 20th largest majority employee owned company with over 4,000 employees, 2000 financial advisors and 70 Billion of AUM. He spent nearly a decade at EVEREN where he was a member of the Board of Directors and the Executive Operating Committee. While at EVEREN, he served most recently as Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer. After the sale of EVEREN, Mr. Koehler served as Chief Financial Officer of two venture-backed companies. Earlier in his career, Mr. Koehler worked as a Senior Tax Manager at KPMG Peat Marwick in Chicago.
Mr. Koehler holds a BA from Loyola University of Chicago and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Andrew Kornreich
President, Director

Mr. Kornreich was the former Senior Vice President and General Counsel for FreedomRoads, where he executed the successful consolidation of the Recreational Vehicle dealership industry, consummating 27 transactions in 30 months representing nearly $1.3 billion in revenue. In a previous role, he assisted start-up companies with the challenges of growth. Mr. Kornreich began his career as an M&A specialist at the law firm Reed Smith LLP. He earned a J.D. from Loyola Law School in Chicago and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Michael LaMena
Chief Operating Officer

Mr. LaMena has more than 14 years of experience in the financial industry. Prior to joining HighTower, he was the Executive Director of Private Wealth Management Operations at Morgan Stanley. Mr. LaMena has held numerous Operations positions at Morgan Stanley including Executive Director of Private Wealth Management in Asia. He earned a BA in English from University of Notre Dame in 1995. Mr. LaMena holds FINRA Series 7, 9, 10 and 63 licenses, along with his AIF designation.

Matthew Camden
Executive Vice President, Strategic Planning

Mr. Camden brings more than 24 years of technology and technology management experience to HighTower. He was the first Chief Information Officer at UHY Advisors in Chicago, a top-ten CPA firm resulting from CPA consolidation in 2004. As the Chief Information Officer, he architected a high-performance Enterprise IT infrastructure for the integrated firms. Previously, he spent eight years as partner and CTO at Clifton Gunderson, LLP in Peoria, Illinois, a top-twenty CPA firm, where he designed a data center approach to application access and data consolidation that remains an industry standard. As KPMG’s Midwest MIS Director in Chicago, he streamlined and managed the region’s technology needs as KPMG reorganized along regional districts. Mr. Camden attended Benedictine University, and holds a BA in Literature and Communications.

Mike Papedis
Executive Vice President, HighTower Experience Group

Mr. Papedis brings 16 years of financial industry experience to HighTower. Most recently he was Vice President, Senior Sales at Fidelity Wealth Services where he was responsible for new business development in the Central Region. Mr. Papedis has also held positions at TD Ameritrade and Sit Investment Associates, Inc. He holds FINRA Series 7 and 63 licenses.

Michael Parker
Managing Director, Business Development

Mr. Parker brings 17 years of leadership and business development experience to HighTower. Prior to joining HighTower, Mr. Parker was Vice President, Business Development at LPL Financial where he was responsible for new business development in the Northeast Region focused exclusively on top performing teams. Previously, he spent nearly 10 years with Smith Barney in various positions in the Northeast including Financial Advisor, Branch Manager and Complex Branch Manager. Mr. Parker earned an MBA from the Sawyer School of Business at Suffolk University. He holds FINRA Series 7, 9, 10, 63, & 65 licenses.

Kevin Geary
Managing Director, Business Development

Mr. Geary brings 17 years of financial industry experience to HighTower. He joins HighTower from Charles Schwab & co., Inc. At Schwab he served in a number of roles. Most recently, he was responsible for business development in Schwab’s Northern California region focusing on recruiting advisor teams.

Dan Lidawer
Executive Director, Client Service
& Practice Management

Mr. Lidawer is a former Partner with William Blair & Company, where he supervised a 150-person department that included 85 of the top investment advisors in the Chicago area. With 26 years of industry experience, Mr. Lidawer began his career on Wall Street, first at Salomon Brothers Inc, and then Lazard Frères & Co. He is the past Chairperson and a current board member of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, Central States District, and a FINRA arbitrator. He holds FINRA series 7, 9, 10, 24, 28, and 66 licenses.
Mr. Lidawer graduated from The Wharton School and holds an MBA from the University of Chicago.

Robert Pagliuco
Executive Vice President, Accounting & Finance

Mr. Pagliuco has over 25 years of financial, accounting and regulatory compliance experience in the financial services industry. He has served in multi-disciplined capacities as Principal and CFO of registered broker-dealers and Futures Commissions Merchants providing clearing and trading services to professional, institutional and retail customers. Most recently, he was the Americas CFO and CCO of a European based market maker and derivatives liquidity provider and an instrumental manager in the organization’s geometric expansion on major security options and futures exchanges in the United States. Earlier in his career, Mr. Pagliuco served as an Audit Manager of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and was a member of the Joint Exchange Audit and Regulatory Compliance Committees. He holds FINRA series 4, 7, 24, 27 & 63 licenses. Mr. Pagliuco holds a BS in Accounting and Finance from Northern Illinois University and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Kristin Love
Managing Director, Capital Markets

Mrs. Love has over ten years of experience in the financial industry. Prior to joining HighTower, she was the fixed income trader for the ABN AMRO-Lasalle Wealth Management Division in Chicago. Additionally, Mrs. Love began her career in the industry working in a middle markets position for municipal bond dealers and then expanded into the taxable product sector. She holds Series 7, 53 and 63 licenses.

Liza Tainton
Managing Director, Operations Service Group

Ms. Tainton brings over 20 years of experience to HighTower as a financial services professional and solutions provider. Prior to joining HighTower, she was the Senior Vice President and Regional Risk Officer for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney’s Illinois Region. She has held numerous leadership positions at Morgan Stanley including Executive Director and Divisional Risk Manager for the Northern Division, and Midwest Regional Administrative Manager, Chicago Private Wealth Management. She holds FINRA/NFA 3, 7, 9, 10, 31, 63, 65 and 79 licenses.

Regina Lahsin
Chief Marketing Officer

Ms. Lahsin brings over 20 years of experience in strategic market planning and implementation to HighTower and holds an MBA from Loyola University Chicago. Prior to joining HighTower, Ms. Lahsin served as the Director of Markets and Accounts for KPMG where she developed and successfully executed integrated strategic marketing plans for KPMG's national investment management, private equity, Insurance and real estate sectors. Ms. Lahsin held numerous positions at KPMG including the Director of Midwest Tax Marketing and Director of the Midwest Marketing Project Management Office (PMO).

Tim Woods
Chief Compliance Officer

Mr. Woods has over 15 years of industry compliance and legal experience. Prior to joining HighTower in May, 2011, Tim was CCO for Navigant Capital Advisors, and corporate counsel for Navigant Consulting. Mr. Woods was senior compliance officer and associate counsel for ABN AMRO Asset Management, as well as in senior compliance and risk functions for Key Bank/McDonald Investments. He began his career in the industry as a Compliance Examiner for the former NASD District Office in Cleveland. A member of the Ohio Bar (inactive) Tim earned a BA from the Michigan State University, as well as MBA and JD from Cleveland State University. He holds the Series 7, 24, 27, 53, 66, 79 and 99 FINRA registrations.

Doug Besso
Chief Information Officer

Doug has over 20 years of financial services experience and has been a leader in delivering value and innovation to the business. Doug was most recently the Head of Information Technology for Calamos Investments. Prior to Calamos, he was a Managing Director and Division Information Officer at Wachovia Securities. During his 10-year career at Wachovia, Doug held several senior management positions in IT where he had responsibility for the development of the firm's broker workstation system and Brokerage Data Warehouse. He also managed IT systems supporting the Private Client Group, Finance, Advisor Compensation, and Compliance.

Earlier in his career he was Head of Applications Development for EVEREN Securities and an IT Director at Kemper Financial. Doug has a bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Iowa State University, an MBA in Finance from DePaul University and is a graduate of the Wharton School's Security Industry Institute. He holds the FINRA Series 7 License.