Huntsville Branch Office

Sonja Lamar was born and raised in Regensburg, Germany, where she worked in sales management and team leadership roles in small and mid-size businesses for 10 years. She moved to the US to pursue her MBA at Colorado State University in 2014.

Sonja has been with Morgan Stanley for 6.5 years and leads our branches in North Alabama: Huntsville, Gadsden, Decatur, Florence. She is passionate about building strong relationships and trust to be financial advisors’ and service professionals’ partner, coach and most importantly advocate. She is a MBTI certified teambuilding and leadership coach- invested in continuous learning and talent development with particular focus on strategic practice management. She is committed to investing in and connecting people to accomplish personal, professional and business growth to create a culture of excellence where people take care of each other. She is especially passionate about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and leads our North Alabama Women Advisory Council. Her focus on giving back has lead to strong relationships with local charities: Village of Promise, Manna House, AUM Foundation.

Sonja holds her 7, 66, 9, 10, 3 licenses and is a Financial Planning Specialist. She completed the Harvard Business School Organizational Leadership Certification in 2022 and the Organizational Leadership in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Certification at Rice University in 2023.

"Relationships and trust mean everything to us- we focus on the long game and are passionate about our culture and long-term business growth, success and happiness of our clients, advisors and service professionals.”

Chris is Vice President, Business Service Officer for the North Alabama Market covering offices in Huntsville, Decatur, Florence, and Gadsden. Chris began his career at the age of eighteen in the retail banking space where he worked in various roles with his final role serving as a Manager of Area Operations with First Citizens Bank covering the Tennessee market. Chris began his career in the Wealth Management Industry as a Private Banker and finally as a Client Relationship Manager for 9 years before joining Morgan Stanley. Chris holds his Series 7, 66, 9 and 10 Licenses.

Chris is a native of Chattanooga, Tennessee and relocated the Huntsville, Alabama area in 2021 to join Morgan Stanley. Chris and his wife of 26 years enjoy spending time with their two sons and love to travel, spend time outdoors and play games and cards in their spare time.

Luci Woodard joined Morgan Stanley as a Service Professional in the Huntsville, Alabama Office in 1996. Since joining the firm, she has held roles as a Branch Manager’s Assistant, Service Manager, and currently as a Risk Officer. She is a Freed-Hardeman University Graduate with a BBA Degree with a concentration in Office Management. While at Morgan Stanley she has become fully licensed having earned her FINRA Series 7, Series 63, and Series 65 licenses and the FINRA Sales Supervisory Exams (Series 9 and Series 10).

She resides in Moulton Alabama and lives at the foot of Bankhead National Forest. Outside of work she enjoys travelling, mission work, oil painting, reading, and spending time with family. She has a strong knit group of friends from college that enjoys planning trips and yearly visits to a farm in the Ozark Mountains where they canoe the North Fork and White River.

Al Formentano joined Morgan Stanley last year as the Business Service Officer for our North Alabama branches. Al brings with him over 22 years of diverse industry experience. Having served as a CSA, an FA and an Operations Manager, Al finds himself in the perfect position to draw upon all his experiences to continue his goal of helping those he serves to reach their full potential. Al is most passionate about building strong relationships because that is the foundation of true success. Nothing can overcome the power of a strong team with close ties. Towards that end, Al enjoys participating in group activities with his Morgan Stanley family such as volunteering and helping with drives to benefit local charities.

Al was born and raised on the Caribbean Island of Curacao, population 152,369, a small and very culturally diverse country surrounded by water and blessed with a breeze and warmth that rival any popular Caribbean destination. This upbringing played a key role in Al’s love of diversity culture and people. You could not ask for a better beginning. In 1981, Al moved to the US to pursue an education at the Universities of Florida and South Florida and subsequently started his career in Arkansas followed by Tennessee before settling down in Alabama in 1999. Today Al is the proud father of 5 adult children and grandfather of 6 rug rats (7 is on the way). Al enjoys spending time away from the office on the lake with his amazing partner Tasia, their two dogs Marcy and Jasper, and occasionally some kids and grand kids as long as they don’t all show up at the same time.

“It’s amazing what people can accomplish if they have no concern for who gets credit.”

Jill serves as a Senior Banker for our market with additional responsibilities as a Market Manager for the Southeast Region, with responsibility for all baking activity across 3 different markets.

Jill comes to our market with incredible experience, co-managing all banking for the Mid-America Region, one of 4 regions in the firm, over the last 5 years.

She has been with the Morgan Stanley Private Bank since 2013, starting as a Private Banker in the Chicago market from 2013-2016. Following that, Jill was promoted to Loan Portfolio Manager in the Mid-America region.

In 2020 she assumed responsibility for co-managing our banking efforts across that entire region.

Her husband retired in 2023 and they bought a home in Perdido Key, FL, so Jill has been anxiously awaiting the right opportunity to make the beach her permanent home!

Jill has an amazing reputation inside the bank, and will be a great addition to our market as we continue to utilize the bank to broaden our relationships with our best clients.