Mike Poppo's cell phone rang at 8:45 p.m. while he was coaching his daughter's basketball game.

When he answered, on court, the caller said: "Hey Mike, it's Bob."

"Bob who?" asked Poppo, a 25-year veteran financial advisor at UBS.

"Mike, it's Bob McCann..."

The call came last November, a couple weeks after McCann joined UBS Wealth Management Americas as chief executive officer. Poppo had emailed McCann with some concerns about the new Growth Plus compensation award for advisors. But he certainly wasn't expecting a personal phone call from his new CEO-and, so soon.

That's exactly the kind of quick action that Bob McCann prides himself on. "I surprise people with how quickly I respond to emails," McCann acknowledges as he settles into a chair at the Waldorf Astoria in midtown Manhattan, following one of the company's investor conferences.

From day one in his new position, McCann has been making himself available to advisors, branch managers, clients and investors across the country in live forums, as well as through internal webcasts, emails and phone calls.

When he started on October 27 last year, he was given the challenge of a lifetime: turn around UBS' ailing U.S. wealth management arm. After being battered by scandals and advisor defections by the hundreds, one industry consultant describes the unit as "lucky to be alive." At the very least, it is playing the role of David in an industry dominated by three Goliaths-Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and Wells Fargo Advisors.

McCann, 52, has stepped into a situation that he acknowledges is a challenge. The immediate problems stem from a major loss of advisors and client assets, although those declines are already slowing. Then there is the matter of enacting a new strategy, creating a new identity and, in fact, a whole new organizational culture.

In a nutshell, this means, among other things, embracing the role of David as it stakes out a mid-tier ground; re-energizing its focus on the high-end client; and empowering the ranks.

But McCann and crew have to confront several problems first. Net new money outflows were CHF 7.2 billion ($6.4 billion) in the first quarter, an improvement over the loss of CHF 12 billion ($10.6 billion) in the fourth quarter 2009. Most of the first-quarter loss came as a result of advisors leaving the firm, the company said in its official earnings announcement. But it found comfort in one piece of news: net new money from financial advisors who had been employed at UBS for more than a year were positive for the first time since the first quarter of 2008.

Then there is the fact that the number of advisors had fallen to just under 6,900. That's 1,800 fewer advisors than the firm had just 12 months ago, according to numbers in the company's past filings.

All of this comes against a broader backdrop of bad press for Wealth Management Americas (WMA), as well as the Swiss parent. Advisors found themselves on the receiving end of questions from frustrated clients. First, there was the sale of controversial auction-rate securities and subsequent $19 billion buyback of those investments, not to mention the $150 million fine.

And then there was the tax scandal in which UBS was accused of helping U.S. citizens hide assets in offshore accounts. Last August, the Swiss and U.S. governments agreed to let UBS disclose the identities of 4,450 U.S.-based taxpayers who had accounts with the bank. That followed an earlier agreement by UBS to disclose the identities of about 255 accounts and pay $780 million to the U.S. Justice Department to avoid prosecution. The deal is still up in air with the Swiss Parliament, who is now considering a bill that would allow the agreement to stand.

Moving From Analysis to Action

Beyond the numbers, McCann's challenge is developing a new strategy for the division. He wants to transform UBS into a more action-oriented environment where people can make decisions and be held accountable for them. "I inherited a company that was heavy on analysis, but light on execution," he says. "When I got here, I read some papers we had generated that had some wonderful analysis, but it hadn't been implemented. We want to be an organization of action. Thoughtful action, but action," he says. "This isn't an easy business, but it's not an overly complicated business. Our job is to give our advisors what they need when they need it to do their jobs, but then get out of their way."

For many, though, the question remains: Is McCann and his nine-person "renewal team" able to bring the type of change, and bring it fast enough, to really restore this unit to glory? Some outsiders are on the fence. While everyone expresses admiration for McCann's management style, many believe that the challenge posed by UBS Wealth Management Americas may just be too big, even for him.