Richard G Averitt

Dick Averitt is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Raymond James Financial Services (RJFS), and serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of RJFS. Mr. Averitt became a Registered Representative with Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith in 1976, and joined RJFS (then Investment Management & Research, Inc.) in 1978 as a financial planner and registered representative, where he became a leading producer. In 1984 he joined IM&R management to build the Business Development Department. In 1991 he was appointed Senior Vice President and National Sales Manager for the firm, and in 1997 he became Executive Vice President and was elected to the Board of Directors. In 1999 he became Executive Vice President of the newly formed Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., and in May, 2002, he was named Chairman and CEO of RJFS and its Board. Mr. Averitt is a Certified Financial Planner (1979), a General Securities Principal, a graduate of the Securities Industry Institute at Wharton (1989-91) and the Executive Development Consortium at Emory University (1998). He is serving as Chairman of the FINRA Independent Dealers/Insurance Affiliates Committee and is a member of the FINRA Member Self-Compliance & Services Committee. He also serves on the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce Board of Governors as Vice Chairman of Advocacy & Leadership. Mr. Averitt is a 1967 graduate of Duke University. He spent 9 years as a regular officer and naval aviator in the United States Marine Corps, serving in Vietnam as a Marine helicopter pilot, and another 20 in the USMC Reserves, principally in a reserve attack helicopter squadron in Atlanta, ending his tour as Commanding Officer. He retired from the Corps in 1994 with the rank of Colonel. He and his wife, Sandra Averitt, Ph.D., have been married 40 years and have three grown children.