Cetera Names Gwen Weithaus Chief Compliance Officer at Cetera Investment Services

News provided by

Jun 24, 2024, 10:31 ET

Former Northwestern Mutual executive to lead compliance programs at Cetera Investment Services

SAN DIEGO, June 24, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Cetera Financial Group, the premier financial advisor Wealth Hub, announced today that Gwen Weithaus has been named Chief Compliance Officer for Cetera Investment Services. In this role, she will oversee the implementation and maintenance of compliance programs, ensuring policies and procedures are adhered to and maintained.

With over 30 years in the financial services industry, Weithaus has vast experience in and knowledge of successfully mitigating risk for clients, financial professionals, and advisors, as well as broker-dealers, insurance companies, and investment advisors. Most recently, she served as Vice President of Wealth Risk and Controls at Northwestern Mutual, where she was responsible for risk management and controls programs, regulatory implementations and delivery, business continuity and resumption programs, and product and vendor risk management. Weithaus reports to Cetera Chief Risk Officer Joseph Neary.

"We welcome Gwen to Cetera Investment Services, where she will play a critical leadership role and we know her contributions will make a significant impact," said LeAnn Rummel, president and CEO of Cetera Investment Services. "Hiring Gwen is the latest example of our commitment to building a strong and dedicated home office team in support of our financial institutions, financial professionals and their clients."

"I am extremely excited to join the Cetera organization at a time of promising growth potential and opportunity," Weithaus said. "I look forward to using my experience to help Cetera Investment Services ensure regulatory compliance through policies and procedures to support our business, our financial institutions and financial professionals."

Prior to Northwestern Mutual, Weithaus worked as a Regulatory Consulting Manager at Deloitte and as a Compliance Officer at Strong Investments. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh with a Bachelor of Business Administration. She is a graduate of the SIFMA Securities Industry Institute at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business. She holds the Series 6, 7, 24, 26, 53, and 63 registrations. In addition, she serves on the FINRA Foundation Board of Directors and the MSRB Professional Qualifications Advisory Committee.

The appointment of Weithaus follows two additional recent hires at Cetera Investment Services: Tami Cain, who joined as Head of Institutional Business Development, and John Konikowski, RICP^®, who is Senior Manager of Managed Programs. Cain and Konikowski each have nearly 30 years of financial services industry experience and worked for CUSO Financial Services prior to joining Cetera. The appointments underscore Cetera Investment Services' commitment to growth and expanding focus on credit unions and managed employee programs.

Weithaus's appointment represents the latest key personnel addition at Cetera, which recently appointed Jerry Patterson Head of Advanced Wealth Solutions, appointed Scott Baker Head of Corporate Strategy and Dan Burkott Chief Compliance Officer for Cetera's tax channel. Cetera also recently added several new team members as part of an expanded investment in advisory solutions, appointed industry veteran Marten Hoekstra to the Cetera board of directors, and named Michael Molnar head of corporate development.

Visit www.cetera.com for more information.

About Cetera

Cetera Financial Group, which is owned by Cetera Holdings (collectively, Cetera), is the premier financial advisor Wealth Hub where financial advisors and institutions optimize their control and value creation. Breaking away from a commoditized and homogenous IBD model, Cetera offers financial professionals and institutions the latest solutions, support, and services to grow, scale, or transition with a merger, sale, investment, or succession plan. Cetera proudly serves independent financial advisors, tax professionals, licensed administrators, large enterprises, as well as institutions, such as banks and credit unions, providing an established and repeatable blueprint for scalable growth.

Home to more than 12,000 financial professionals and their teams, Cetera oversees more than $505 billion in assets under administration and $213 billion in assets under management, as of March 31, 2024. In a recent advisor satisfaction survey of nearly 35,000 reviews, Cetera's Voice of Customer (VoC) program vigorously measures advisor experience and satisfaction 24/7. Currently, it's ranked 4.8 out of 5 stars.

Visit www.cetera.com, and follow Cetera on LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.

"Cetera Financial Group" refers to the network of independent retail firms encompassing, among others, Cetera Investment Advisers LLC, a registered investment adviser, and the following FINRA/SIPC members: Cetera Advisors LLC, Cetera Advisor Networks LLC, Cetera Investment Services LLC (marketed as Cetera Financial Institutions or Cetera Investors), and Cetera Financial Specialists LLC. Located at: 655 W. Broadway, 11th Floor, San Diego, CA 92101.

SOURCE Cetera Financial Group