Wachovia Wealth Management's California Expansion Includes Legal Specialty Group Serving Attorneys

    SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Wachovia Wealth
 Management today announced 20 new hires across Northern and Southern
 California, continuing to build a team to deliver the full range of wealth
 management services to high net worth individuals, their families and
 businesses. As part of the build-out, Wachovia is establishing Legal
 Specialty Group teams in San Francisco and Los Angeles to serve the unique
 financial needs of law firms and attorneys.
 
     With more than three times the number of millionaires than any other
 state, California is a top priority for Wachovia Wealth Management
 expansion. By 2010, households in the Northern California market -- which
 includes Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo counties
 -- with $250,000 or more in investable assets are projected to have grown
 23 percent since 2005, according to data collected by Wachovia's Insight
 and Innovation group. During that same five-year period, total population
 in that region is expected to grow only two percent. The legal community is
 also predominant, with 80 of the nation's 200 largest revenue producing law
 firms having offices in San Francisco.
 
     "As the nation's fourth largest bank, we're excited to introduce the
 Wachovia brand in California and are committed to serving affluent and high
 net worth individuals in a distinctive way that will exceed their
 expectations," said Stan Kelly, president of Wachovia Wealth Management.
 "Our focus on local delivery and our commitment to excellence have made
 Wachovia No. 1 in customer service six years in a row. Nowhere is that
 personal touch more important than in wealth management."
 
     Wachovia Wealth Management offers a full spectrum of high net worth
 services, including private banking and credit; debt solutions; investment
 management; financial and tax planning; trust and estate planning and
 administration; charitable services and insurance. Wachovia's open
 architecture investment offering includes alternative investments such as
 private equity funds, hedge funds and exchange funds. Other specialties
 include risk management, family office services, family governance and
 stewardship consulting, marine and aircraft financing.
 
     Wachovia's Legal Specialty Group offers a full range of specialized
 services through a single point of contact, including customized lending;
 cash management; banking; brokerage and asset management services;
 financial, estate and tax planning; trust services; and life, disability,
 long-term care, property and casualty insurance. The group is recognized
 across the national legal community, said LSG managing director Kevin
 Conroy, for its Comparative Analytical Tool (CAT), which provides law firm
 senior management with a confidential benchmarking analysis of the firm's
 financial results, as well as customized studies for law firms.
 
     Deborah Shore, managing executive of the Wealth Management Western
 Region, said Wachovia is winning new clients who like the firm's integrated
 approach and focus on financial planning. "We go beyond investment
 management to help clients not only grow and preserve their wealth but help
 them think about what they want their wealth to do for them and the impact
 it has on their families," she said.
 
     Wachovia is establishing Wealth Management teams in the San Francisco
 Bay area, San Diego, Orange County and metro Los Angeles.
 
     "We are aggressively recruiting top performers who are creative
 thinkers and want to be part of building something new," said Winston
 Wilkinson, Western Region Private Banking director. "We're building a team
 of people with character and expertise who know their markets and can
 deliver a unique California approach for Wachovia clients."
 
     The following new hires for Wachovia Wealth Management will be located
 at Wachovia's regional headquarters building in Oakland until the new
 Wealth Management office opens in San Francisco:
 
 

     -- Robert Allendorf - As a relationship manager, Allendorf will build and
        manage a portfolio of high-net worth client relationships. He
        previously worked as a private client manager at U.S. Trust, Bank of
        America Private Wealth Management. Allendorf has over 15 years of
        experience in the financial services industry and is NASD Series 7 and
        66 licensed.
 
     -- Jason M. Beccaris, J.D. - A senior financial planner who worked for
        Wachovia Wealth Management previously and has over 10 years of
        experience in the financial services industry. Prior to joining
        Wachovia, Beccaris was employed with Union Bank of California and Ernst
        & Young. He earned a juris doctorate from Pennsylvania State University
        and a certificate in estate planning from the Temple University School
        of Law in Philadelphia, as part of their LL.M Taxation Program.
 
     -- Stephen Collins - A relationship manager who formerly worked for Lehman
        Brothers and has more than 20 years of financial services experience.
        He has Series 7, 63, 53, 24, & 65 licenses.
 
     -- Jennifer Conner - As a client management associate, Conner will support
        the work of a team of relationship managers. Previously, she worked as
        an executive administrative assistant within the Premier Banking &
        Investments division at Bank of America. Conner has more than five
        years of experience in the financial services industry.
 
     -- Ronan Gaudario - With over 15 years of financial services experience,
        Gaudario comes to Wachovia as a relationship manager, building and
        managing a portfolio of high net worth client relationships. He
        previously was employed with Bank of America as a senior client manager
        in the Premier Banking & Investments division.
 
     -- Lucas Hatch - As a private banking relationship manager, Hatch serves
        as the primary point of contact to affluent clients. A former employee
        of Wells Fargo, Hatch has more than 11 years of financial services
        experience and has a California Insurance License and Series 7 and 66
        licenses.
 
     -- Amanda McDougall - As relationship manager for Wachovia's Legal
        Specialty Group (LSG), she will serve the West Coast region for
        Wachovia LSG, focusing exclusively on serving law firms and attorneys.
        Prior to moving to the West Coast, McDougall was a relationship manager
        in LSG's Washington, D.C. office and has been affiliated with Wachovia
        for three years. Previously, she spent three years at Citigroup's Law
        Firm Group.
 
     -- Justin Miller, J.D., LL.M., CFP(R) - Miller serves as managing director
        of the Legal Specialty Group with teams in Los Angeles and San
        Francisco that are dedicated to providing financial services to law
        firms and attorneys. Before relocating to the West Coast, he managed
        Wachovia's Atlanta, Georgia office of the Legal Specialty Group for
        several years. Prior to joining Wachovia, Miller was an attorney at the
        Los Angeles office of a major law firm. He received both a juris
        doctorate and master of laws in Taxation from the New York University
        School of Law and has obtained certification as a CFP(R) professional.
 
     -- Jacob Siefkes - Legal Specialty Group client management associate,
        previously served with Wachovia as a teller manager in San Francisco.
        Siefkes has nearly four years of experience in the financial services
        industry having worked previously in retail sales and service as a
        private banker and teller manager for Wells Fargo.
 
     -- Herbert Smith - A private banking relationship specialist, he plays a
        pivotal role as the contact for high net worth clients. Smith
        previously worked for Wells Fargo as a private banker and has over 24
        years of experience in the financial services industry.
 
     -- Malia Swieconek - Continues her role as a regional supervisor within
        Wachovia, having relocated to San Francisco from the East Coast, where
        she covered the New York and southern Connecticut areas. Swieconek
        works with the regional director and coordinates support staff to
        ensure excellent client service. She has nearly five years of
        experience in the financial services industry - all with Wachovia.
 
     -- Scott Wiley - A relationship manager who will serve as the primary
        point of contact to high net worth clients. Wiley has nine years of
        experience in the financial services industry and previously was
        employed with Wells Fargo Bank as a private banker. He is a licensed
        securities professional - Series 7, 63, 65, 66 -- and insurance
        licensed.
 
     ABOUT WACHOVIA WEALTH MANAGEMENT
 
     Wachovia Corporation (NYSE:   WB) is the 8th largest wealth manager in
 the country, according to Barron's 2007 ranking of U.S. Wealth Managers.
 Wachovia Wealth Management has been recognized for its award-winning open
 architecture investment platform, Advantage, and was named 2007
 High-Net-Worth Leader of the Year by Private Asset Management, a
 publication of Institutional Investor. Wachovia Corporation is one of the
 nation's largest diversified financial services companies, with assets of
 $754.2 billion and market capitalization of $95.3 billion at September 30,
 2007. Wachovia provides a broad range of retail banking and brokerage,
 asset and wealth management, and corporate and investment banking products
 and services to 13 million household and business customers.
 
 
 

SOURCE Wachovia Corporation