JR Gondeck

Mr. Walter J.
Gondeck is a Managing Director & Partner at HighTower Advisors LLC.
He is the chief Portfolio Manager responsible for implementing and refining the investment process created by the founder, Dr. Eugene Lerner.
Mr. Gondeck is also in charge of the strategic direction of the practice and synthesizes and communicates our market outlook through our monthly letter and monthly seminars.
In his tenure with the Lerner Group at HighTower, he has expanded our core equity strategies to include fixed income, which came with the addition of the team's dedicated bond trader.
Mr. Gondeck has spent the past several years expanding the Lerner Group's service offerings to include all aspects of wealth management, specifically financial and estate planning.
He believes that the first step in assessing a person's entire financial picture is to review or create an estate plan.
His history as Dr. Lerner's protege began in December 2003 when he entered the Morgan Stanley training program and graduated 1st in his class.
By this time (March 2006), Mr. Gondeck was a 3-year Member of the Pacesetter's Club.
He conducted biweekly research with Gene to make the buy and sell decisions on individual equities and asset allocation targets.
Over time, and while still with the Lerner Group at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, he expanded their equity investment strategies from 4 to 9.
He worked up to Senior Vice President at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney before making the transition with his partners, Gene and Ming to join HighTower.
He also worked at US Bank in the Float management department.
Mr. Gondeck graduated from Marquette University in 2002 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance and earned his MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.
He holds his FINRA Series 7, 31, and 66 licenses.