Wells Fargo has named former Fortigent chief investment officer Nathan Sonnenberg as director of investments for its ultra high net worth unit, Abbot Downing.

Wells Fargo has named former Fortigent chief investment officer Nathan Sonnenberg as director of investments for its ultra high net worth unit, Abbot Downing.

Sonnenberg joined Wells in the Washington, DC area, where he will be based as a portfolio manager and head of investment management in the region.

He previously chaired the investment committee at Fortigent. Prior to that, he was managing director of equity investments at Lydian Wealth Management and a senior analyst with CMS Financial Services.

Abbot Downing could not be reached for comment by the time of going to press.

"The biggest challenge is really just making sure that clients' expectations are in line with the market that we're living through," Sonnenberg was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Sonnenberg joins the Abbot Downing team in the Mid-Atlantic region, which includes Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC, in addition to North Carolina and South Carolina.

In April this year, Wells Fargo opened the Abbot Downing business when it merged two of its wealth management units under a new brand. It serves ultra high net worth individuals and families with at least $50 million in investable assets, and is an integration of Wells Fargo Family Wealth and Lowry Hill.

In May Joseph Colianni was appointed as senior managing director of banking at the UHNW unit. He was previously the managing director of Wells Fargo's financial sponsors portfolio management group,