HUB Names AI Sales Innovation VP, Hightower Advisors Expands UHNW Division
Hub International Limited (HUB) has appointed Faizal Mitha as vice president of AI Sales Innovation, effective July 1, 2026.
“AI is a force multiplier for serving clients better, amplifying what our producers already do well by helping them anticipate risk, respond faster, and bring sharper insights to every client and prospect conversation,” said Marc Cohen, president and CEO of HUB. “Faizal has spent his career at the intersection of digital innovation and client service, and his new role builds on that experience.”
Mitha will help scale the success producers are having with Anthropic’s Claude platform, which was deployed to HUB’s employees beginning in the fourth quarter of 2025. He will also build the resources, tools, and training to make them available across HUB’s Commercial Lines, Personal Lines, Private Client, Retirement & Private Wealth and Employee Benefits business lines. He will also work closely with HUB’s AI and Automation Team and other leadership teams across North America to track adoption and measure impact on new business and organic growth.
Mitha brings more than two decades of innovation, employee benefits and digital leadership experience to the role. As chief sales & innovation officer of HUB Canada Employee Benefits and Retirement, he led the reimagining of HUB Canada’s employee benefits and retirement savings experience, launching new services, including HUB Canada Persona Analysis, integrating insurtech capabilities and helping build HUB’s national Canada employee benefits and retirement segment.
Mitha joined HUB through a 2018 acquisition, where he led the firm’s expertise in digital benefits and employee health.
Hightower Advisors Expands UHNW Division
Hightower Advisors has announced the expansion of the Hightower Family Office, in an effort to broaden the capabilities and support available to ultra-high-net-worth clients through Hightower advisors.
The expanded offering brings together institutional investment consulting, advanced planning, family governance, tax and estate strategy, and business advisory services to help advisors address the needs of wealthy individuals and families.
The expansion builds on Hightower’s relationship with NEPC following Hightower’s 2024 investment in the institutional investment consulting firm. NEPC advises on more than $1.5 trillion in client assets across endowments, foundations, pensions, healthcare systems, family offices, and other institutional investors.
Hightower is also expanding access to specialized planning and advisory services through its relationship with GTBA, a Los Angeles-based business management and family office firm serving ultra-high-net-worth individuals, executives, entrepreneurs, and entertainment industry clients.
Through the Hightower Family Office, advisors can access institutional investment consulting, advanced planning, family governance support, tax and estate coordination, business advisory services, and institutional-style investment oversight.
“As client needs continue to evolve, advisors increasingly need access to deeper insights and broader resources,” said Larry Restieri, chief executive officer of Hightower. “The expansion of the Hightower Family Office reflects our commitment to helping advisors serve clients across the full wealth spectrum while remaining at the center of the relationship. By bringing together institutional investment consulting, advanced planning, and family office support, we are enabling advisors to deliver a more seamless experience for clients navigating increasingly complex financial, business, and legacy planning decisions.”
The Hightower Family Office supports advisors serving entrepreneurs, executives, business owners, and multi-generational families with needs that extend beyond traditional wealth management.
“As families become more complex, they increasingly expect their advisors to help coordinate across investments, estate planning, tax strategy, philanthropy, and family dynamics,” said Richard Saperstein, managing director of Treasury Partners and an early adopter of the Hightower Family Office services. “The Hightower Family Office helps bring those capabilities together in a more coordinated way, allowing advisors to deliver a more comprehensive experience for clients and their families.”
MAI Capital Management Buys Saybrook
MAI Capital Management is acquiring Saybrook Wealth Group, an Old Saybrook, Connecticut-based registered investment advisor (RIA) with approximately $273 million in assets under management (AUM). Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Founded in 2007 by Stephen Norton, Saybrook provides comprehensive investment management and financial planning services, including retirement income, tax and estate planning to a client base of more than 300 households.
Saybrook specializes in serving high-net-worth individuals and families, including executives, retirees and commercial construction professionals. The firm has also developed a specialized focus in financial planning for families with special needs dependents.
“What stood out to us about Stephen and the Saybrook team is how intentionally they’ve grown their practice around listening first and planning second. Their approach is deeply personal, highly customized and rooted in long-term relationships, which aligns directly with how we serve clients at MAI,” said Rick Buoncore, chairman and CEO of MAI. “Saybrook has built an impressive reputation throughout Connecticut by staying deeply connected to the clients and communities they serve, and we’re looking forward to building on that momentum together.”
Norton will continue serving clients in his new role as senior wealth advisor at MAI. Saybrook will adopt MAI’s brand identity and will have access to its internal infrastructure across human resources, operations, technology and marketing, as well as specialized professionals in investment management, financial planning, tax, estate and family office services.
“Joining MAI allows me to focus my efforts where I can have the greatest impact—working directly with clients and helping families plan for the future,” said Norton. “As Saybrook has grown, more of my time has gone toward running the business and managing operational responsibilities. MAI should give us the scale, planning resources and infrastructure support to take those responsibilities off our plate so we can stay focused on delivering thoughtful advice to our clients. From my first conversations with their team, it was clear to me that they shared the fiduciary mindset and people-first values that have consistently defined this firm. I’m excited about what this means for our clients and our ability to support them with greater depth, perspective and long-term planning capabilities.”
Saybrook Wealth Group joined MAI effective May 29th, 2026.
Alliant Unveils Retirement & Wealth Side
Alliant Insurance Services has launched Retirement & Wealth at Alliant (RWA), a new line of business that will address the growing convergence of retirement consulting and wealth management by linking institutional retirement plan relationships with individual wealth advisory services through affiliated entities.
RWA will be led by Managing Director and Executive Vice President Amit Dogra.
“The financial services industry has long treated retirement and wealth management separately, but we’re going to change that,” said Dogra. “Clients want a more connected approach to managing their financial journey. By aligning the retirement and wealth businesses, consultants within Alliant Retirement Consulting and advisors affiliated with RWA will be better positioned to support individuals and institutions through every stage of need.”
RWA builds on Alliant Retirement Consulting by connecting retirement consulting relationships with broader wealth, asset, and cash-management capabilities, as well as AI and other technological and operational resources that support long-term growth.
“As the retirement and wealth landscape continues to evolve, we see significant opportunity to build a more connected model that benefits both advisors and clients,” said David Osterhaus, senior executive vice president of Strategic Growth at Alliant. “Amit brings deep industry experience and a strong strategic vision as we continue expanding our capabilities in this space.”
Senior Investment Consultant Joins Mason Investment Advisory Services
Pete Kokolus has joined Mason Investment Advisory Services, Inc., a Reston, VA-based registered investment advisory (RIA) firm as a senior investment consultant. Kokolus will work with Mason’s growing institutional clients, including foundations, endowments, healthcare organizations, and retirement plans.
With over 16 years of experience in investment consulting, Kokolus served as senior investment consultant at Vanguard Institutional Advisory Services and most recently as principal and senior investment consultant with Mercer. Over his 22-year career in the investment industry, Kokolus’s expertise spans strategic asset allocation, portfolio construction, investment policy development, and management and mentoring of investment analyst teams.
“We are thrilled to welcome Pete to the Mason team,” said Allie Gormier, president of Institutional Division and senior investment consultant. “His extensive experience at Vanguard and Mercer, combined with his ability to lead and develop investment teams, makes him an exceptional addition to our firm. Pete’s depth of knowledge will strengthen our ability to deliver thoughtful, research-driven outcomes for our clients.”
“I am excited to join Mason, a firm that shares my commitment to independent, research-based investment consulting,” said Kokolus. “I look forward to collaborating with the team and applying the experience I’ve built over the past 19 years to help Mason’s clients navigate complex investment challenges and achieve their long-term objectives.”
Global Retirement and Protection SVP Joins Lumos
Lumos Insurance, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hoplon Capital, a financial services holding company, announced that Tom Kenny has joined as managing director and senior vice president of Global Retirement and Protection. He brings more than 20 years of financial services experience in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia, with a focus on retirement income, long-term care solutions, and actuarial product development.
Kenny will establish Lumos’ reinsurance operations to support the growth of the company’s senior-market and retirement business in the United Kingdom, the United States and globally.
He joins Lumos from Just Group plc, a retirement-focused insurer from the UK, where he served as Group Property & Credit Risk director. In that role, he led an initiative to implement Solvency UK reforms, a new investment-limit framework, and a credit-rating validation framework. His 14-year tenure at Just Group also included roles spanning pricing, product development, medical underwriting, mortgage underwriting, and property management across medically underwritten and enhanced annuities, as well as equity release mortgages.
Earlier in his career, Kenny established the pension risk transfer pricing team at Partnership Assurance. He has also held roles at MetLife, Munich Re, Asteron Life, and Willis Towers Watson.