Baird Adds Industry Veteran Bill Sewell, Announces Plans to Open Raleigh Wealth Management Office

Baird announced today that industry veteran William H. Sewell has joined the employee-owned international wealth management firm as Senior Vice President to open a new wealth management office in Raleigh, N.C. Sewell, who has 30 years of industry experience, will manage the future Baird branch.

Baird, an international, employee-owned wealth management, capital markets, private equity and asset management firm, continues to expand its footprint in North Carolina and the Southeast. The firm opened its first North Carolina wealth management office in Winston-Salem last October and announced plans to establish a wealth management office in Charlotte in December. Baird also has investment banking, public finance and fixed income institutional sales operations in the area.

For 26 years, Sewell held branch management roles at Smith Barney and predecessor firms E.F. Hutton and Shearson Lehman Bros. He was based in Jackson, Miss., before he relocated to Raleigh in 1993. Most recently, he managed three Morgan Stanley Smith Barney offices, with 46 financial advisors managing more than $3.7 billion dollars in client assets. Sewell served on Morgan Stanley Smith’s Barney Branch Managers’ Council. In 2007, he was named as one of On Wall Street magazine’s “100 Leading Branch Managers.”

“Bill is a tremendous addition to our Private Wealth Management business and to Baird,” said John Mabee, Regional Director for Baird’s Private Wealth Management group. “With his deep industry knowledge and appreciation for Baird’s unique culture, he is well suited to help us build on our presence in North Carolina and the Southeast. We couldn’t be more pleased that he has chosen to continue his career at Baird.”

“I was very impressed by the associates I met across the firm and their genuine enthusiasm for providing the best financial advice and service to their clients,” Sewell said. “The fine people at Baird have a very strong set of core beliefs, including ‘clients come first’ and ‘how we succeed is as important as if we succeed,’ that really resonated with me. Baird is committed to being the best, but what matters most is how we get there.”

Baird’s Private Wealth Management business continues to grow around the country:

• Baird added more than 100 Financial Advisors to its Private Wealth Management group in 2009, the vast majority of whom are industry veterans.
• The firm has added 24 Financial Advisors and Branch Managers since the beginning of 2010.
• Since the beginning of 2009, Baird has opened or announced plans to open wealth management offices in several new markets. New office locations include Winston-Salem, Denver, Sacramento, Calif., Lynchburg, Va., and Baltimore and Easton, Md., among others. In addition to Charlotte, the firm also has announced plans to open offices in Portland and St. Paul, Minn.

About Baird Private Wealth Management
Using a consultative approach, Baird’s more than 650 Financial Advisors deliver comprehensive wealth management solutions to clients nationwide. They have the resources to oversee the complete financial picture for high-net-worth families and individuals with complex financial needs. Baird Financial Advisors managed and oversaw more than $58 billion in client assets as of March 31, 2010.

About Baird
Baird is an employee-owned, international wealth management, capital markets, private equity and asset management firm with offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. Established in 1919, Baird has more than 2,400 associates serving the needs of individual, corporate, institutional and municipal clients. Baird oversees and manages client assets of more than $78 billion. Committed to being a great place to work, Baird ranked number 11 on FORTUNE’s “100 Best Companies to Work For”^® in 2010 – its seventh consecutive year on the list. Baird’s principal operating subsidiaries are Robert W. Baird & Co. in the United States and Robert W. Baird Group Ltd. in Europe. Baird also has an operating subsidiary in Asia supporting Baird’s private equity operations. For more information, please visit Baird’s Web site at www.rwbaird.com.