Wachovia Securities Appoints Industry Veteran Douglas Aldridge To Lead Private Client Group in the Atlanta Market

June 5, 2008

Wachovia Securities, LLC. has named Douglas R. Aldridge Market Manager for the firm's Private Client Group in the Atlanta area.   Aldridge, a 30-year veteran of the securities industry will oversee the growth and expansion of Wachovia Securities' Private Client Group in the Atlanta market, as well as the recruitment of Financial Advisors and Trainees.  He served most recently as National Sales Manager for H&R Block Financial Advisors.

Wachovia Securities' Atlanta Major Market comprises 12 stand-alone brokerage offices including branches in Buckhead, Alpharetta, Athens, Braselton, Canton, Gainesville, Johns Creek, Marietta, Roswell and Sandy Springs. Wachovia Securities' Major Market Initiative enables the brokerage firm to tailor its approach and operations to more closely address the needs of clients in individual markets around the country.  

"Our market structure allows us to better support our Financial Advisors by giving them the tools, resources and support they need to serve clients," said James Hays, president of Wachovia Securities Private Client Group.  "It is a particular advantage in the Atlanta marketplace where Wachovia Securities benefits from a solid team of experienced Financial Advisors and where Doug now provides an experienced perspective and strong leadership."

Doug Aldridge entered the securities industry in 1977 as a retail broker with Drexel Burnham Lambert.  In 1982 he joined Kidder Peabody & Company as a retail broker in their Atlanta office. 

In 1988, he made the transition to management, joining Interstate Johnson Lane to manage the Atlanta office. He served subsequently as Regional Manager and then was named Managing Director of IJL's Private Client Group before being named President of IJL Wachovia, following the brokerage firm's acquisition by Wachovia Bank, prior to its acquisition by First Union Corporation in 2001.  First Union assumed the Wachovia name. Following that merger, Aldridge resumed his brokerage practice, forming the Aldridge, Johnson & Krapf Wealth Management Group of Wachovia Securities.

Aldridge has served on numerous Securities Industry Association (SIA) committees and roundtables including the Sales & Marketing Committee, the SIA Bulls Roundtable and the SIA Wealth Management Roundtable. (SIA is now the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association-SIFMA.) Aldridge has also served on the Board of Director's of The Georgia Securities Association and was President of the GSA in 1992. 

He also serves on the Board of Trustees of the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, the Board of Trustees of the Ida Cason Callaway Foundation and the Steering Committee for the Terry College of Business, The University of Georgia.

Aldridge received his Bachelors in Business Administration from the University of Georgia.

One of the nation's largest full service retail brokerage firms with $1.1trillion in client assets, Wachovia Securities provides financial advisory, brokerage, asset management and other financial services through more than 18,000 registered representatives in over 4,000 locations nationwide.* Wachovia Securities is the trade name used by two separate, registered broker-dealers and non-bank affiliates of Wachovia Corporation providing certain retail securities brokerage services: Wachovia Securities, LLC, member NYSE/SIPC, and Wachovia Securities Financial Network, LLC, member FINRA/SIPC.  *As of 3/31/2008. Assets, registered representatives and locations include Wachovia Securities and A.G. Edwards brokerage offices as well as selected Wachovia Bank financial centers.  A.G. Edwards is a division of Wachovia Securities.