Chad David is a Senior Vice President and Senior Financial Advisor with Merrill Lynch Wealth Management in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He began his career at Merrill in 1990. After leaving the Firm for a few years in 2008, he returned in 2015, and today he takes great satisfaction in giving meaning to the financial lives of clients across the country.

An integral part of Chad’s approach is to offer strategic guidance to a select group of high-net-worth retirees, business executives, individuals in the oil and gas industry, entrepreneurs and their families. His goal is to help clients recognize the complexities of their situations, take care of the financial tasks they may not have the time to pursue, and keep them well informed so they can concentrate on their business and personal interests.

Throughout his career, Chad has been asked to consult on major financial decisions as his clients go through various transitions in life. This may include such matters as growing, preserving, and transferring assets to the next generation, preparing for the emotional and financial aspects of retirement, developing executive compensation strategies, or starting or exiting a business.

A hallmark of his approach is to help clients filter out near term volatility and noise related to uncontrollable market events, while keeping an eye on long term secular trends and investment goals. As a Senior Portfolio Manager, Chad can help clients pursue their objectives by managing on a discretionary basis his own Personalized or Defined Strategies, which may incorporate individual stocks and bonds, Merrill Lynch Wealth Management model portfolios, and third-party investment strategies. A Senior Portfolio Manager may make their strategies available to clients working with other Merrill Lynch Wealth Management Advisors. Chad holds the Series 7, Series 9, Series 10, Series 31, Series 63, and Series 65 FINRA registrations as well as Life and Health Insurance Licenses.

Chad earned his Bachelor’s degree in Finance from Louisiana State University. He and his wife, Amy, currently reside in Baton Rouge. Together, they have six children, Alec, Grace, Grant, Lucy, Lauren, and Miles. Away from the office, Chad enjoys playing golf, football, wine tasting, and cooking. With a passion for community service, he has served on the board of directors for many organizations and is currently an usher at Sacred Heart Church in Baton Rouge.

Samuel (Jimbo) Robertson Jr. is a Senior Vice President and Senior Financial Advisor with Merrill Lynch Wealth Management in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Jimbo began his career in financial services in 2001 at Merrill after a successful 20-year career with Exxon Mobil. After leaving the Firm for a few years in 2008, he rejoined Merrill in 2015.   

Today, he continues to provide leadership and vision and serves as a relationship manager for many of the team’s clients in the petroleum and chemical industries. He believes that working alongside his daughter, Chelsea, helps the team maintain continuity and effectively build enduring multigenerational relationships with clients and their families.

Jimbo begins every relationship by exploring what is most important in clients’ lives to gain a thorough understanding of their resources, lifestyle, and goals for their wealth, family, and businesses. The resulting knowledge and insight guide him as he develops customized, disciplined strategies to help with every aspect of their financial lives.

With a focus on strategic asset allocation, Jimbo’s goal is to provide his clients with the highest level of service, with a special focus on investing and managing assets during the distribution phase of retirement. As a Senior Portfolio Manager, he can help clients pursue their objectives by managing on a discretionary basis his own Personalized or Defined Strategies, which may incorporate individual stocks and bonds, Merrill Lynch Wealth Management model portfolios, and third-party investment strategies. A Senior Portfolio Manager may make their strategies available to clients working with other Merrill Lynch Wealth Management Advisors. Jimbo holds the Series 7,31,and 66 FINRA registrations as well as Life and Health Insurance Licenses.

Jimbo and his wife of more than 42 years, Michelle, live in Greenwell Springs, Louisiana. The couple has two adult children, Chad and Chelsea, and four granddaughters. Away from the office, you can find Jimbo hunting, fishing, and watching LSU sports. He volunteers his time with Dream Day Foundation—an organization supporting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital though fundraising, advocacy, and special events.

*Asset allocation, diversification and rebalancing do not ensure a profit or protect against loss in declining markets.

Chelsea Smith is a Senior Vice President and Wealth Management Advisor with The David Robertson Smith Group at Merrill Lynch Wealth Management in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Prior to joining the Firm in 2015, she spent seven years as an investment associate at UBS Financial Services and four years as an intern at Merrill. Today, she is proud to be working alongside her father, Jimbo Robertson, as a financial advisor and relationship manager on a multigenerational family team.

Serving the diverse needs of business executives, entrepreneurs, engineers and their families, Chelsea’s mission is to help clients define what they are trying to accomplish with their wealth and how their reactions to markets may affect their path towards those goals. Empathetic and detail oriented, the wealth plans she helps clients create takes into account their personal and deeply held aspirations, such as a comfortable income stream in retirement, college funding for children or grandchildren, providing a legacy for successive generations, or supporting an organization of their choice.

Chelsea graduated Summa Cum Laude from Louisiana State University with her Bachelor’s degree in finance. While there, she was the proud recipient of the University Medal. She is also an honorary member of the LSU Finance Academy and is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER, CFP® professional. As a Portfolio Advisor, in addition to providing traditional advice and guidance, Chelsea can help clients pursue their investment objectives by recommending individual, or any combination of, Merrill or approved third-party investment managers’ strategies, funds or portfolios. Additionally, she was named to the Forbes “Best-in-State Next-Generation Wealth Advisors” list in 2022 (Published on August 3, 2022. Rankings based on data as of March 31, 2022). Chelsea holds the Series 7 and 66 FINRA registrations.

Chelsea and her husband, Justin, reside in the Baton Rouge area, where they are raising their two daughters. She is a member of Echo Alliance of Mary Bird Perkins, a coach for Girls on the Run at the Episcopal School of Baton Rouge, and a member of First Presbyterian Church of Baton Rouge. In her free time, Chelsea enjoys traveling, reading, and spending time with her family. 


*Source: The Forbes “Best-in-State Next-Generation Wealth Advisors” list, published on August 3, 2022. Rankings based on data as of March 31, 2022.

Data provided by SHOOK® Research, LLC. Forbes “Best-in-State Next Generation Wealth Advisors” ranking. SHOOK considered advisors
born in 1983 or later with a minimum 4 years as an advisor. Advisors have: built their own practices and lead their teams; joined teams and are viewed as future leadership; or a combination of both. Ranking algorithm is based on qualitative measures: telephone and in-person interviews to measure best practices, client retention, industry experience, credentials, review of compliance records, firm nominations; and quantitative criteria, such as: assets under management and revenue generated for their firms. Investment performance is not a criterion because client objectives and risk tolerances vary, and advisors rarely have audited performance reports. Rankings are based on the opinions of Forbes and not representative nor indicative of any one client’s experience, future performance, or investment outcome and should not be construed as an endorsement of the advisor. SHOOK’s research and rankings provide opinions intended to help investors choose the right financial advisor and are not indicative of future performance or representative of any one client’s experience. Past performance is not an indication of future results. Neither Forbes nor SHOOK Research receive compensation in exchange for placement on the ranking. For more information, please see www.SHOOKresearch.com. SHOOK is a registered trademark of SHOOK Research, LLC.