Our Partners

Expertise made accessible.

Our partners represent the top echelon in wealth management and investment banking. They have lived through multiple market cycles. They have experienced industry changes and witnessed the proliferation of investment possibilities. And they not only know money; they know how important it is to your family, institution or business.

• A. Marshall Acuff, Jr., CFA

  Managing Director, Chief Investment Officer and Partner

  As the former Chief Market Strategist at Smith Barney, Marshall Acuff brings over 40 years of experience and global leadership in investment strategy, research and investment management to Cary Street Partners. As Chair of Cary Street Partners’ Investment Committee, Marshall establishes the firm’s investment strategy and leads the Investment Strategy Team.

• Happy Anderson

  Vice President and Partner

  Happy Anderson joined Cary Street in 2007 as an Associate in the Investment Banking Division. Prior to joining Cary Street Partners, Happy worked for two years in the Financial Planning and Analysis group for Circuit City Stores, a specialty retailer of consumer electronics and related services. Before working for Circuit City, Happy was an analyst for Ewing Bemiss & Co., a middle market investment bank specializing in mergers and acquisitions and private placements of debt and equity.

• Jason M. Ardito, CTFA, CRC

  Financial Advisor and Partner

  Jason Ardito brings over 14 years of experience in trust and investment services to Cary Street Partners. He holds the Certified Trust and Financial Advisor (CTFA) and Certified Retirement Counselor (CRC) designations. Jason joined Cary Street Partners in July, 2011 and his expertise includes investment management strategies for individuals, foundations, trusts and retirement plans.

• Walter A. Bayne, AAMS

  Director and Partner

  Walter Bayne brings over a decade of experience in the capital markets to Cary Street Partners. He is also a registered options and municipal securities principal. He is a Vice President and Partner and serves as a Financial Advisor in the Fredericksburg, Virginia office. He is also a member of the firm’s Legal and Compliance Committee.

• Joseph M. Brower

  Managing Director and Partner

  When Joe Brower joined Cary Street Partners in 2007, he brought with him over 20 years of investment banking experience. Having held several senior banker positions within both regional and international institutions, Joe has amassed extensive expertise in the specialty areas of bankruptcy reorganization, distressed merger advisory, special committee advisory, and structuring of debt and equity investments.

• Rutherford C. Bryson, III, CPA/PFS, CFP®

  Managing Director and Partner

  Rusty Bryson brings to Cary Street Partners 17 years of experience in the areas of family consulting and tax planning. Rusty is a Managing Director with the new Charlotte, North Carolina office. Prior to joining the firm, Rusty was a Family Wealth Advisor with GenSpring Family Offices where he was responsible for working closely with clients on issues such as tax and estate planning, family financial planning and philanthropic consulting. Previously he was a Vice President at US Trust Company and spent six years with PricewaterhouseCoopers providing estate and succession planning to closely held businesses and their owners. He is a Certified Public Accountant with the Personal Financial Specialist designation and Certified Financial Planner®.

• Kip R. Caffey

  Managing Partner

  Kip Caffey is the Managing Partner of Cary Street Partners where he is responsible for developing and executing the firm’s overall business strategy. He has worked in wealth management and investment banking firms in the Southeast for nearly 30 years. Kip began his career in 1981 in the Corporate Finance Department of J. C. Bradford & Co. and became a partner there in 1990. In 1996, he opened the firm’s first satellite investment banking office in Atlanta. From 1999 to early 2004, Kip was a Senior Managing Director with The Robinson Humphrey Company and its successor, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, where he served as co-head of Investment Banking.

• Susan E. Dorsey

  Director and Partner

  A Director and Partner, Susan Dorsey brings over 25 years of operational and sales management expertise to Cary Street Partners. Prior to joining the firm, she was a Senior Vice President with the Stewart Wealth Management Group of Wachovia Securities in the Fredericksburg, Virginia (Stewart Wealth Management merged with Cary Street Partners in June of 2007).

• F. Marcus Fariss

  Managing Director and Partner

  Marcus Fariss has almost 25 years of experience in investment banking and senior management roles in the financial services sector. He joined Cary Street Partners in 2005 and is currently a Managing Director in the Greensboro, North Carolina office. Marcus’s expertise includes mergers and acquisitions work, capital raising and strategic and financial advisory services. He specializes in the Financial Institutions & Services, Business Services and Industrial industries.

• Mark M. Gambill

  Chairman and Founding Partner

  Mark Gambill brings to Cary Street Partners almost 30 years of experience in the leadership of one of America’s largest financial organizations, Wheat First Butcher Singer. At Wheat he founded and headed the capital markets group where he was responsible for investment banking, public finance, taxable fixed income, municipal sales and trading, equity sales, trading and research. In 1996, Mark became president and under his leadership, Wheat became one of the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast’s preeminent investment banking and brokerage firms, growing to firm assets of $1.2 billion, revenues of $600 million and 128 offices located in 20 states. After a merger with First Union Corporation in January 1998, Mark served as President of Wheat First Union and later Head of Equity Capital Markets.

• Palmer P. Garson

  Managing Director and Partner

  Palmer Garson brings over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry to Cary Street Partners. Creative and proactive, she leads Institutional Advisory Services for the Wealth Management Division which provides management expertise to investment committees of foundations, endowments and pension plans. Palmer also provides advisory services to family offices. She has extensive wealth management experience as a relationship manager, principal, and member of numerous investment committees.

• Thomas O. Herrick

  Vice President and Partner

  Tom has over 25 years of experience advising individual and corporate clients. Tom’s investment consulting business is focused on best in class asset managers, primarily using separately managed accounts and mutual funds, and his extensive clientele includes individuals, corporations and retirement plans.

• Kimberly D. Holley, CRSP

  Financial Advisor and Partner

  Kim brings over 32 years of experience in trust, investment and retirement services to Cary Street Partners. She holds the Certified Retirement Services Professional designation (CRSP). Kim joined Cary Street Partners in July 2011 as a Financial Advisor.

• Charles D. Hurt III

  Managing Director and Partner

  Charlie Hurt leads Cary Street’s Atlanta investment banking team and its Consumer & Retail industry group. Charlie has nearly 20 years of experience in investment banking, finance and management. Prior to joining Cary Street Partners, Charlie founded and served as President of CDH Advisors, where he provided targeted strategic and financial advice to consumer product, retailer, restaurant and food and beverage companies.

• Timothy Leath

  Chief Financial Officer and Partner

  Tim Leath joined the Richmond, Virginia office of Cary Street Partners in October 2008 after 24 years in a progression of accounting and finance positions. As CFO, Tim generates and provides vital financial information to his internal clients. He is a key facilitator for the successful growth of the firm – a firm he believes is clearly different from other financial services organizations.

• Maureen A. MacIver, CRSP, CISP

  Managing Director and Partner

  Maureen MacIver brings over 30 years of experience as a professional fiduciary to Cary Street Partners. She is a designated Certified Retirement Services Professional (CRSP) and a Certified IRA Services Professional (CISP). Maureen joined Cary Street Partners in June of 2011 and is the Managing Director of the Johnson City, Tennessee office from which she serves clients in the Northeast portion of the state. She also shares her expertise in insurance and trust planning services with clients of all Cary Street Partners offices throughout the Southeast.

• Michael McCool

  Financial Advisor and Partner

  Mike McCool serves his clients from the firm’s Abingdon, Virginia office. Mike joined Cary Street Partners in 2009 after determining the larger “corporate giant” financial services model no longer embodied his personal business philosophy. At Cary Street Partners, Mike found an organization which, like him, places great value on relationships and believes all clients should receive high-level, goal-oriented advice developed through a collaborative effort of experts.

• Taylor Nelson

  Chief Compliance Officer and Partner

  As Chief Compliance Officer at Cary Street Partners, Taylor Nelson bears the corporate responsibility of safeguarding and protecting the clients’ assets and helping financial advisors meet client needs. He does this by working with his business partners in developing successful investment consulting and management products and programs.

• Mark D. Ryan, CFP®

  Managing Director and Partner

  Mark D. Ryan, CFP®, comes to Cary Street Partners with more than 12 years of experience in wealth management. He joined the firm in 2010 and as a Managing Director serves from the Charlotte, North Carolina office.

• Douglas G. Stewart

  Managing Director and Partner

  Doug Stewart is a Managing Director and Partner of Cary Street Partners and works in the Fredericksburg, Virginia office. His firm, formerly known as Stewart Wealth Management Group of Wachovia Securities, merged with Cary Street Partners on June 25, 2007. When the two firms were joined, the combined assets under management from individuals, corporations, and endowments topped $1 billion.

• James E. Thomas, Jr.

  Managing Director and Partner

  Jim Thomas runs the Branch Operations and Administration Group of Cary Street Partners. With over 35 years of experience in building successful wealth management businesses, his clients are the financial advisors of the firm itself. At Cary Street Partners, he counts amongst his most rewarding roles his ability to facilitate their service to their clients.

• Thomas H. Tullidge, Jr.

  Founding Partner

  Tom Tullidge brings to Cary Street Partners nearly 25 years of experience as a trusted adviser and senior executive having worked with a broad range of companies in structuring, negotiating, and executing mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and other complex corporate finance transactions in the United States and internationally. He is a co-founder of Cary Street Partners and serves on its Executive Committee and as a leader of its investment banking business.

• R. Chris Walters, CFP®, CIMA®

  Managing Director and Partner

  Chris Walters brings almost 20 years of investment experience to Cary Street Partners. He, along with his partner Mike McCool, established the firm’s Abingdon, Virginia wealth management office in 2009. Prior to joining the firm, Chris was employed for 16 years as a Senior Vice President-Financial Advisor for Banc of America Investments. Previous to his tenure at Banc of America, he was an employee of the Virginia Governor’s Office and an analyst with Nomura Securities in New York City.