Claymore Securities, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Guggenheim Partners, has appointed several senior professionals focused on growing the firm’s service and distribution offering in the private client business.

“As we continue to integrate Claymore with Guggenheim, we are aggressively building out our distribution and servicing capabilities,” says Steven A. Baffico (pictured), senior managing director and head of US retail distribution for Claymore Securities. “We are working diligently to implement the most advantageous organisational structure for success and will continue to add additional world-class professionals to our team.”

Chris Parisi joins as senior managing director and national sales manager, overseeing all internal and external wholesalers and product support staff. Parisi previously held senior positions at MainStay-New York Life Investments, BlackRock and Federated Investments.

Lee Personeni joins as director – strategic relations group. She is responsible for business development and relationship management with Bank of America Merrill Lynch and other partner firms. Personeni previously held various leadership positions at Merrill Lynch, including Americas distribution group’s head of strategic initiatives and campaigns, managed solutions group’s divisional marketing manager and transition team specialist during the firm’s acquisition by Bank of America.

Jennica Ross joins as director – strategic relations group. Ross manages the UBS relationship, as well as other partner relationships, and is responsible for overall business development with counterparty firms. She previously held senior roles with UBS, in both the wealth management group and UBS Equity Capital Markets.

Brian Carlisle joins as regional vice president and will be responsible for distribution of all investment products within the Ohio territory. Carlisle spent the previous five years at Van Kampen, and has covered Ohio and the surrounding areas for the past three years.

Fran Jacobs III joins as regional vice president for Northern California. Jacobs previously held an external wholesaling position with Mainstay-New York Life for California and Hawaii and has more than 15 years of experience in financial services sales and leadership roles.

Mark Vernon joins as regional vice president and will be responsible for distribution of all investment products in the Michigan territory. Vernon previously spent nearly seven years at Van Kampen Investments where he covered a similar footprint.

John Browning joins as managing director – portfolio supervision, after 18 years at Van Kampen Investments. John's responsibilities will include portfolio construction and oversight of trade execution for Claymore’s unit trust business.