Barness will remain based in Oppenheimer's global headquarters in New York City, reporting to John Hellier, senior managing director and head of equities.

Before joining Oppenheimer, Barness was a founding partner at WP Asset Management, responsible for trading and operations, business development and asset raising. Prior to his stint on the buy-side, he spent 14 years at Goldman Sachs, and began his career on Wall Street as an analyst in the investment banking program at Salomon Brothers.

Oppenheimer provides wealth management, securities brokerage and investment banking services to high net worth individuals, families, corporate executives, local governments, businesses and institutions.