This was a year of change for branch managers. During last year's financial crisis, many of them saw the ground shift under their feet. Some were transformed into producing branch managers. Others saw their jobs change due to the "complex" business model. But these Top Ten Branch Managers, nominated by their advisors and selected by a panel of judges, have special lessons to impart-both personal and professional. They manage by walking around their offices and talking to their advisors. They encourage and cajole. They lend their staff a sympathetic ear but realize the needs of investor/clients as well. They see the value of iPhones and social media; but, as one manager, who has battled back from cancer, told the judges: "Technology won't replace the human dynamic."

Renee Arst, 47
Morgan Stanley Smith Barney San Francisco
Number of advisors: 145
Branch AuM: $14 billion
Branch revenue: $80 million

Renee Arst no longer has her own book of business, but she knows how critical it is to stay on top of what advisors need for their practices to succeed. For her, that means frequent visits to the Berkeley and Oakland branches she oversees (in addition to the one in San Francisco) so she can hear about advisors' concerns. "I need to understand that a specific button on a system may not work or that resources are hard to get. It's important that I have that line of communication," says the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney executive director and complex manager.

The 2009 joint venture between Morgan Stanley and Smith Barney required a manager who was able to read the new terrain, decipher what was needed and motivate a team to head in that direction. It also required someone who could shelter advisors from minute details that could derail their enthusiasm. "My role was creating as stable a working environment as possible, helping [advisors] adjust to the change, and then keep the noise to a minimum so they could focus on doing their business."

Arst has her own personal sounding board when it comes to work issues: she's married to a financial advisor. "I hear about it at home and bring it to work. Or I hear about it at work and bring it home, and those things help me.

— Lauren Barack

Warren Bischoff, 46
RBC Wealth Chevy Chase, Md.
Number of advisors: 65
Branch AuM: $6.2 billion
Branch revenue: $39 million

Warren Bischoff is a master of making lemonade from lemons. "I'm ADD [attention deficit disorder], and it's a virtue," he says. The condition helps him multitask and get a lot done. Bischoff made a big pitcher of lemonade in late 2008, when he continued to motivate staff even while undergoing treatment for bone-marrow cancer. If an FA complained about the challenging market, Bischoff responded in a way that was hard to counter. "It's money," he answered in an email. "I've got cancer. I'm going to recover, and the market is going to recover. Buck up; let's go." Apparently, his style resonates with underlings because his complex's staff retention has been rock-solid for the last five years. Bischoff says he works diligently to keep his staff happy. For starters, he says, "I include them." He sees every employee (that's 130) in team meetings at least quarterly, sends out monthly emails and puts together staff tournaments-softball, golf, bowling. Because he is a strong supporter of children's charities, and a dad, he encourages employees to find a children's group to which they can donate their time. As for his management style, he says: "I view my employees as my clients. I want to be their advocate, their coach. But if they screw up, I become their boss."

— Michelle Lodge

Frank Consalo, 49
Fulton Financial Advisors/Raymond James Financial Lancaster, Pa.
Number of advisors: 50
Branch AuM: $1.55 billion
Branch revenue: $15 million

Hired to helm Fulton Financial Advisors Brokerage, Frank Consalo had to convince 30-plus advisors and staff that he was friend-not foe. "They didn't choose me, they inherited me," says Consalo, who joined in late 2008 in the depths of the meltdown. The industry was falling apart and FAs were "wondering which brokerages would be in business in the next six months, and all of a sudden a new manager comes in...which could impact how they would earn a living." He couldn't interact with all the staff immediately, so first he took the top 15 advisors to dinner and held small client meetings to help calm their fears about the market and the firm. Later, he hosted a boat cruise in Baltimore's Inner Harbor for everyone-from advisors to sales assistants. And he had a holiday party at his country club for the entire staff and their families followed by entertainment-a hypnotist-for some employee bonding, partly by seeing the boss "making a fool of myself." Meanwhile, he added to his team-about 25 new people in the last 15 months-and focused on improving services by working with Raymond James, its broker-dealer, to offer more training and improve the asset mix they could offer clients.