The article is titled Deb McWhinney Abruptly Retires from Schwab. I don’t know anybody on the editorial staff of Financial Planning Magazine but I’ll bet they’re lots of fun at parties. Most publications would relegate firings to small innocuous blurbs on the back page. Not these guys—they revel in them.

Other magazines reported this as:

Schwab’s McWhinney retires – Investment News
Schwab Institutional’s McWhinney Resigns – Investment Advisor
Advisors Losing An Ally With McWhinney’s Departure – Financial Advisor

At least you can’t accuse Financial Planning of burying the lead.

McWhinney had been head of Schwab Institutional—the division that serves financial advisors—since joining the company in 2001 and, until recently, was widely considered a potential successor to the once-retired company founder and current CEO Charles Schwab.

But in February, the company appointed Walter Bettinger II as the firm’s new president and chief operating officer, making him, and not McWhinney, the clear front-runner to eventually take the firm’s reins. McWhinney’s abrupt decision to leave Schwab comes less than two months after Bettinger’s promotion.

Her position has been filled by Charles Goldman, who has been acting chief operating officer of Schwab Institutional for the past two years.

I think Schwab has done extremely well over the last six years. Centerpiece certainly has gotten better, and Schwab is the custodian of choice for most independents. Goldman has some big shoes to fill.

It’s been a big month for departures. Art Lutschaunig is out as Morningstar’s Chief of Investment Services. I worked with Art back at Techfi on early versions of their Advisor platform.

The Financial Planning editorial staff keeps it funny:

Through a statement, the company would only say that Lutschaunig’s four years in the position come to an end because he is “leaving the company”.

This is interesting because Morningstar almost never has turnover at the executive level. Even when Morningstar owner Joe Mansueto took over as CEO back in 2002 (?) they hung on to all of their executives. That’s a tight crew.

Lastly, Andy Kalbaugh is out as CEO of American General, who was Techfi’s first large AdvisorMart client. Andy is a sharp guy who was well-loved by every American General rep I ever spoke with. It looks like he’s over at LPL now although the article doesn’t say what he’s doing.