Leading Chicago-based Institutional Consulting and Private Wealth Management Team Joins Graystone Consulting

Graystone Consulting, a business of Morgan Stanley, today announced that the Stephans Van Liew and Oiler Group, a leading eight-member team in institutional consulting and private wealth management, has joined its offices in Chicago.

The team’s three senior partners, Managing Directors Linda Stephans, Kristina Van Liew, and Erik Oiler, collectively have 80 years of experience working with a large variety of clients including healthcare organizations, research institutes, university endowments, corporate pension plans, family offices and high net worth individuals. They join from the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Private Banking and Investments Group, where they were senior members of the Global Institutional Consulting Group, overseeing $6.5 billion in institutional and private client assets.

Other team members include: Iftikhar Khan, Vice President – Director of Business Strategy; Patricia Zavagnin, Vice President – Group Director; Niesha Parekh, Vice President – Director of Business Strategy; Eric Hatch, Assistant Vice President – Institutional Consulting Analyst; and Alicia Garabedian, Client Service Associate.

Over the past decade, the partners have played an instrumental role in helping drive the growth of both the institutional consulting and private banking businesses at Merrill Lynch, having served in key leadership capacities. Ms. Van Liew was the current Chair of the Advisory Council to Management for Global Institutional Consulting and Ms. Stephans was the Past Chair of the Advisory Council to Management for the Private Banking and Investment Group.

Both women share a previous working history at The Northern Trust Company, where they each enjoyed a nineteen-year history in a variety of senior executive roles. They are passionate about servicing the needs of mission-based organizations and charitable families, both personally and professionally. The three partners individually serve as Directors on a variety of nonprofit Boards in their community, including the Chicago Public Library Foundation, Aurora Civic Center Authority, Music Institute of Chicago, Executive Service Corps of Chicago, Hadley School of the Blind and Chicago Training Center.

“The Stephans Van Liew and Oiler Group serves an exceptional roster of nonprofits, endowments, foundations, private and public corporations, ultra-high net worth individuals and family offices, and is highly regarded by these clients. We are pleased to welcome them to Graystone Consulting and Morgan Stanley,” said Kevin Forman, Chicago Complex Manager.

“This team is among the best in the industry at what they do, and will be an important addition as we expand Graystone in the Midwest and across the nation,” said Marc Brookman, Managing Director and Head of Graystone Consulting.

Drawing upon the extensive resources of Morgan Stanley, the Group will provide highly customized, goals-based financial consulting and sophisticated asset management solutions tailored to address the needs of institutions, as well as complex private wealth and multi-generational families. Ms. Stephans, Ms. Van Liew and Mr. Oiler have been nationally recognized by Barron’sTM as being among the nation’s top institutional consultants and private wealth advisors. Stephans and Van Liew were also recently named to the 2014 Financial Times Inaugural Top 100 Women Financial Advisors list.

Graystone Consulting, a business of Morgan Stanley, provides a complete range of investment consulting services to institutional clients, which include corporations, endowments and foundations, health care organizations, insurance entities, state and local governments, Taft-Hartley funds and family offices. Tailored investment advice is delivered by Institutional Consulting Directors, experienced investment professionals who are backed by a dedicated consulting team and the broad resources of Morgan Stanley. For further information, please visit www.morganstanley.com/graystoneconsulting.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) is a leading global financial services firm providing investment banking, securities, investment management and wealth management services. With offices in more than 43 countries, the Firm's employees serve clients worldwide including corporations, governments, institutions and individuals. For more information about Morgan Stanley, please visit www.morganstanley.com.

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