Gibbons | Jones | Vogel Group

Private Wealth Advisors

Gibbons | Jones | Vogel Group

Private Wealth Advisors
Learn more about an advisor's background on
FINRA's BrokerCheck

When your assets serve the well-being of you and your loved ones and promote your values, we believe that you have realized the true value of your financial wealth. Families with significant wealth look to us as an essential resource on their journey to simplify their lives and pursue what is important to them.

Meet the Team

The private wealth advisors with Merrill Private Wealth Management are rigorously trained to help meet your specialized needs with relationships based on trust and personalized service.

Additional Resources

The following specialists do not make securities recommendations. Please contact your Merrill Private Wealth Advisor if you have questions about how a specialist might be able to assist you.

Valerie Galinskaya

Wealth Strategies Advisor

Bank of America, N.A.

Josh Warren

Structured Credit Executive

Bank of America, N.A.

Clauter Charleston

Alternative Investments Regional Specialist

Bank of America, N.A.

Recognition

Merrill is proud of our advisors who’ve received recognition from financial industry publications or directly from Bank of America Corporation. We believe they are setting the standard for exemplary client service.

Joseph D Gibbons

Forbes “Best-in-State Wealth Management Teams” 2023, 2024
Published annually in January. Rankings based on data as of March 31 of prior year.*

Forbes "Best-in-State Wealth Advisors" 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
Published annually Jan- April. Rankings based on data as of June 30 of prior year.

Westcott A Jones

Forbes “Best-in-State Wealth Management Teams” 2023, 2024
Published annually in January. Rankings based on data as of March 31 of prior year.*

Forbes "Best-in-State Wealth Advisors" 2022, 2023
Published annually Jan- April. Rankings based on data as of June 30 of prior year.

Scott M Vogel

Forbes “Best-in-State Wealth Management Teams” 2023, 2024
Published annually in January. Rankings based on data as of March 31 of prior year.*

Forbes "Best-in-State Wealth Advisors" 2022, 2023
Published annually Jan- April. Rankings based on data as of June 30 of prior year.

Forbes "Top Next-Generation Wealth Advisors" 2018
Published on July 25, 2018. Rankings based on data as of March 31, 2018.

Strategies designed to help you achieve your goals

As a client of Merrill Private Wealth Management, you have access to services and resources ordinarily reserved for the world’s largest institutions. We work with individuals, families spanning multiple generations, business owners and executives. Using a goals-based wealth management approach, we put our clients at the center of every personalized strategy.

Our Approach

Emphasis on Your Well-Being

Financial wealth is not an end in itself – it is a key influence that can impact well-being either positively or negatively.   What impacts do you want to have with your wealth, for yourself and the people you care about? What do you envision, both in the next few years and in the decades to come?  What concerns do you have? 

The impact of significant wealth is different—in its scale, opportunities, decision points, and challenges.  We understand.   That’s why it’s important that we start by listening – because ultimately it’s about the well-being that you want for yourself and your loved-ones. 

Achieving your vision also requires a team.  From the vantage points of our different areas of professional acumen, we identify multiple dimensions that are important in charting your desired path forward.   What unites our team is an authentic commitment to you.  It is a privilege for us to utilize our talents and experience in careers that meaningfully impact your life and legacy by helping you achieve security, growth and purpose.

Attuned to Unique Needs

Our team will focus squarely on your vision, direction, and needs to bring you the information and opportunities relevant to your decision-making—whether you desire the broadest summary or the most in-depth analysis.

You want to devote your energy to leading a full and meaningful life.  But the complexities of significant wealth are many: investments, taxes, legal structures, and impacts to family to name a few.  We guide you through the complexity so that you can you keep your eye on what is most important.
 
Whatever the origin of your wealth, our experienced and highly trained team has the acumen to navigate your situation.  Here are examples of some of our clients:
 
·   Business owners who look to us to support the growth of their business by optimizing their capital structure while envisioning their next chapter.   We can help with transition to the next generation or sale, and to prepare for retirement and the next stage of pursuing new dreams.
 
·   Senior executives who look to us to simplify their executive compensation and help manage their equity concentrations, while uncovering possible efficiencies in other aspects of their financial lives.  Senior executives also have a “next season” in which we support transition and continued growth. 
 
·   Multi-generational families who look to us to facilitate clear communication, strong family values, wealth education, and positive wealth dynamics so that multiple generations can enjoy the benefits—and circumvent the challenges—that significant wealth can entail.  We have extensive experience with trusts, family partnerships, foundations and other wealth structures used by these families.
 
·   The LGBTQ community who looks to us as a welcoming resource for planning, investing, wealth structuring, and legacy-design needs. We understand the unique issues faced by these families and are proud to have their confidence.
 
·   Nonprofit organizations and institutions look to us for access to fiduciary asset management and complementary capabilities to advance their mission, deepen their organizational capacity, and facilitate their long-term growth.
 
·   Collectors look to us to for access to specialized services to support their personal passions, from fine art and automobiles to collectibles and exotic asset classes. Our capabilities include tailored lending, consignment, estate planning structures, and philanthropy involving collectibles.

Confidence

You want a trusted resource.  We want to be a trusted resource.  To make that relationship happen, there are things we know that we need to do.  We need to maintain the highest degree of professionalism and ethics.  We need to be transparent.  We need to advise a limited number of clients so that we can have the time to do what we say.  We need to have a great support staff to help us implement strategies and respond reliably to transactional needs.

We have designed our team and practice so that we can be your trusted resource.  Our team is not only highly credentialed, but each carries decades of experience.  We have a limited client base and deep resources within Merrill Private Wealth Management so that we can deliver what we say.  We abide by a number of professional codes related to our areas of focus – but we remember the single “code” that holds them all together: honesty and integrity.   

Importantly, we have chosen our home to be Merrill Private Wealth Management with your relationship in mind.  Merrill Private Wealth Management is part of a larger organization that has the strength and stability to merit a feeling of security, while also providing a platform with further specialization at our fingertips.

Because of its institutional strength, Merrill commands access to products and supportive services that are simply not available to the multitude of advisors who have chosen smaller flagships or who have even chosen to create their own flagship.  We are in the business to serve, and to do it well.  We believe Merrill Private Wealth Management is the best platform to do that.  

Finally, Merrill Private Wealth Management is an advisory platform – no proprietary products.  As professional advisors, we value our independence in giving the advice which is our stock in trade.  Yet another reason that Merrill Private Wealth Management aligns with your desire for confidence in a trusted resource.

Pursuing the Pathway You Envision

Your pathway forward can be full of growth and purpose.  It can also seem challenging and unfamiliar at times.  Our clients not only ask “How can we use our resources to inspire the growth we desire?” and “How can we achieve our philanthropic vision?”, but also ask questions like “How much do I leave my children?”, and “How do we prepare our families for the responsibilities of significant wealth?”

We are with you to explore a vibrant range of interests and aspirations, and also there for you when the path forward seems uncertain.  You have a unique path, and we know how to work with you on the journey.  We also leverage the deep expertise and resources of the Merrill Center for Family Wealth to navigate the opportunities and obstacles you encounter on the path to achieving your vision.

For our clients who choose to engage in meaningful and creative philanthropy, we feel privileged to work in concert with philanthropic organizations and professionals to support projects that are ambitious in scale and measurable in their impact.  Whatever your passion—arts and culture, environment, LGBTQ rights, education, health and human services, religious organizations, or anything else—we are honored to help you derive greater meaning and satisfaction from your philanthropy.

Let's have a conversation

Your dedicated Merrill Private Wealth Management team is ready to help you pursue what’s most important to you.

Our Vision

For clients of substantial means, Merrill Private Wealth Management provides an experience that is both powerful and personal. We are dedicated to helping you pursue your goals for today while developing an approach designed to support your family members for the years to come.

Your private wealth advisor and team of specialists work with a limited number of clients, enabling them to focus their time, training and passion on helping you simplify your personal and business finances and prepare your next generation.

Boutique-like service with the access to the investment resources of Merrill and banking convenience of Bank of America

We combine the personalized attention and feel of a smaller firm with the power and insights of a global financial institution, creating financial strategies tailored to your unique situation.

A relentless commitment to transparency and customized strategies

As our client, know we are working in your best interests, providing goals-based financial strategies designed to anticipate and help meet your evolving financial needs.