UBS has promoted Lisa Golia to head of its US wealth management field force effective 1 March, tasking the former chief operating officer with overseeing adviser hiring, retention and pay as the Swiss bank restructures its American business following net outflows and strategic changes.

According to an internal memo seen by Reuters, Golia will report to Mike Camacho, head of US wealth management, and take charge of leadership, recruitment, retention and compensation for the firm’s financial advisers. She has spent the past two years as chief operating officer of the US wealth unit and previously worked for more than two decades at Morgan Stanley.

Ken Gunsberger, a New York-based private wealth adviser at UBS, told Reuters that “Lisa’s someone who can get things done,” adding that her background in branch roles meant “she’s one of us”. Michael Chudd, a Las Vegas private wealth adviser, told Reuters that Golia had helped prioritise spending, including investment in technology to support advisers, at a time when “every department is fighting for funding to do more”.

The appointment comes as UBS’s Americas wealth business has recorded net outflows and sought to simplify its operating model. In a separate internal memo reported by finews, Rob Karofsky, co-president of global wealth management and president of UBS Americas, wrote that Golia would assume “overall responsibility for all field-related activities” and said the aim was to achieve faster results and sustainable improvements.

The reshuffle shifts Camacho’s focus towards broader strategic initiatives, including building out UBS’s US bank, which has received conditional regulatory approval, and developing new sources of client assets. John Vander Zee will succeed Golia as chief operating officer of the US wealth unit.

Under the new structure, five regional directors – Chris DiMuria, Julie Fox, Rick Gonzalez, Lauren Gorsche and Jon Ramey – will report to Golia, alongside John Mathews, head of private wealth management, and Bill Carroll, head of high net worth strategy. Ben Firestein, who recently joined from Morgan Stanley, will lead national sales and adviser development and recruiting, reporting to Golia, while Len Golub will continue to run the Wealth Advice Center serving mass-affluent clients.

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