NASHVILLE, TN (APRIL 2, 2012) – Argent Financial Group today announced the addition of three local professionals to the Nashville staff of two Argent subsidiaries.
Argent Trust Company of Tennessee, chartered as an independent Tennessee trust company in the 1980’s, provides a full range of trust, fiduciary and related services to clients. Argent Sector Capital Management, LLC, provides investment portfolio management services ranging from an array of equity-based portfolios to bond management.
Howard G. Safer, CPA, PFS, joins Argent Trust as its Chief Executive Officer and as a member of its Board of Directors. Safer has decades of financial services experience, including serving as president of J.C. Bradford Trust during the 1990’s.
Mindy S. Hirt, CFP, joins Argent Trust as Vice President and Wealth Advisor. Hirt has served in similar capacities with other local trust and financial services entities.
Frank Hosse, AIF, will serve as Senior Investment Strategist with Argent Sector Capital Management. For more than two decades, Hosse has provided portfolio strategy implementation for individual and institutional clients, serving as Chief Investment Officer for both Morgan Keegan Trust and J.C. Bradford Trust.
Both of these Argent subsidiaries are domiciled in Memphis. Argent acquired Memphis-based Investment Counsel and Trust Company (ICT) in 2009, re-naming it Argent Trust Company of Tennessee and adding experienced Memphis professionals to its staff.
Sector Capital Management joined Argent Financial Group in 2011, retaining its full team of financial professionals and continuing its 17-year track record of sound performance. The group expanded earlier this year when other Argent portfolio management professionals joined them to form Argent Sector Capital Management. Argent Sector is now responsible for managing more than $1billion in discretionary assets.
“After establishing our Memphis office, Nashville was the next strategic step,” said Kyle McDonald, CEO of Argent Financial Group and chairman of Argent Trust Company of Tennessee. “We considered a variety of local opportunities and believe that we have attracted a great team led by Howard Safer. His reputation in this market and in our industry is unsurpassed.”
Argent’s organizational approach is to have highly-experienced, local professionals lead its subsidiaries, while providing the full resources, experience and technological support of a major regional financial services organization, McDonald added.
“We’re excited to be a part of Argent’s expansion of its boutique investment and trust services,” Safer said. “It is even more interesting to open our office in the exact location where Bradford Trust used to operate. Our emotions are high as we will be ‘going back to the future’ in providing a platform of which Jimmy Bradford would have been extremely proud.”
Safer joins James R. “Jamie” Jones as local Nashville board members of Argent Trust Company of Tennessee. Jones, also a CPA, is the former local managing partner of KPMG.
About Argent Trust Company of Tennessee, Nashville Office
The Nashville office of Argent Trust Company of Tennessee is located at One American Center, 3100 West End Avenue, Suite #150, Nashville, TN 37203 and can be reached at (615) 385-2345. For more information, visit www.argentcares.com.
About Argent Financial Group
Argent Financial Group, domiciled in Ruston, Louisiana, was formed in 1990 and traces its roots back to 1930. Responsible for more than $2.5 billion in client assets, Argent Financial Group is a diversified financial services entity providing individuals and businesses in the mid-South with a broad range of financial services including trust administration and related services, investment management, retirement plan and charitable organization administration, mineral (oil and gas) management, financial, retirement and estate planning, and brokerage services (offered through LPL Financial). For more information, visit www.argentcares.com.
