The First Nassau Group at Morgan Stanley

Partner | Portfolio Manager | The First Nassau Group at Morgan Stanley

For more than 32 years Ken has built, managed, and protected substantial wealth for entrepreneurs, private business owners, and multigenerational families. As a Partner of The First Nassau Group and a designated Portfolio Manager in Morgan Stanley’s Portfolio Management Group, he personally constructs and co-directs fully discretionary portfolios — built from the ground up, never forced into institutional models or over-diversified for diversification’s sake — combining rigorous fundamental research with disciplined, opportunistic tactical overlay.

Ken’s practice is anchored in private company owners — the people who built something significant and now want a single, decisive advisor who truly understands ownership on both the personal and corporate level. Scaling, recapitalizing, preparing for a liquidity event, diversifying concentrated positions, or orchestrating succession across generations: He has spent his career solving exactly those challenges.

Ken is also actively involved in Morgan Stanley’s Strategic Client Management (SCM) platform, the firm’s formal pathway for advisors to originate and shepherd private opportunities into Morgan Stanley’s private equity, private credit, and capital-markets groups. This gives Ken’s clients and partners direct, senior-level access to institutional co-investment opportunities, growth equity, direct lending, pre-IPO placements, and structured recapitalizations.

Before joining Morgan Stanley in 2013, Ken was a Managing Director at S.C. Parker & Co. and a Financial Advisor at UBS Financial Services. His foundation, however, was forged earlier: Ken is a United States Navy veteran whose service taught him the non-negotiable value of preparation, diverse teams, and the reality that time and events wait for no one.

Ken holds an MBA and a BA in English from Niagara University. He lives in Langhorne, Pennsylvania with Kellyanne, his wife of 28 years, and serves on the Board of Directors of Literacy & Life, a nonprofit, which helps to close critical life-skills gaps in at-risk communities.

If you’ve built a company, a fortune, or a legacy and want a relationship that combines true portfolio discretion, independent judgment, institutional private-market access, and the attention normally reserved for a family’s own office, Ken would welcome a conversation.

The individuals mentioned as the Portfolio Management Team are Financial Advisors with Morgan Stanley participating in the Morgan Stanley Portfolio Management program. The Portfolio Management program is an investment advisory program in which the client’s Financial Advisor invests the client’s assets on a discretionary basis in a range of securities. The Portfolio Management program is described in the applicable Morgan Stanley ADV Part 2, available at www.morganstanley.com/ADV or from your Financial Advisor.

Debra Getz is a Partner of The First Nassau Group where she oversees family and business relationships. She focuses on providing suitable solutions and guidance for safeguarding wealth and on interfacing between wealth, family dynamics, and the next generation.

As such, Debra leads the team’s trust and estate advisory and financial planning services, which includes cash flow strategies for clients and business owners that help prioritize and predict how their money will be generated and distributed while maintaining adequate cash on hand. Debra’s areas of expertise include cash management, lending solutions, insurance analysis, investment allocation, retirement income planning, legacy planning, and charitable giving.

Debra is a Retirement Income Certified Professional (RICP), which is integral in designing financial planning solutions and implementing the Team’s portfolio management strategies. She is also a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst (CDFA), qualified to help clients understand and navigate the financial implications of the divorce process, working closely with attorneys, mediators, and other interdisciplinary professionals to provide a comprehensive approach.

Debra is a graduate of Rutgers College; she earned a B.A. in Economics with specializations in Finance and Statistics.

She enjoys gardening and spending time at the Jersey Shore.

The use of the CDFA designation does not permit the rendering of legal advice by Morgan Stanley or its Financial Advisors which may only be done by a licensed attorney. The CDFA designation is not intended to imply that either Morgan Stanley or its Financial Advisors are acting as experts in this field.

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC does not accept appointments nor will it act as a trustee but it will provide access to trust services through an appropriate third‐party corporate trustee.

Marc Wisotsky is a partner of The First Nassau Group at Morgan Stanley. Marc has been with Morgan Stanley for over 35 years. He is a Certified Financial Planner^®, which represents the standard of excellence in financial planning, with a background in retirement and multi-generational financial planning.

In addition, Marc develops investment growth and income strategies by performing due diligence on dividend paying equities and evaluating covered call writing opportunities.

Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Marc was a Certified Public Accountant (currently non-practicing) and is a member of the Ernst and Young Alumni. He graduated from Rutgers College with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration. Marc has served on several philanthropic Boards of Directors.

Marc lives in West Windsor, New Jersey with his wife, Audrey. They have two grown children who live and work in New York City. They enjoy spending time at the Jersey Shore.


The investments listed may not be appropriate for all investors. Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC recommends that investors independently evaluate particular investments, and encourages investors to seek the advice of a financial advisor. The appropriateness of a particular investment will depend upon an investor's individual circumstances and objectives.

Equity securities may fluctuate in response to news on companies, industries, market conditions and the general economic environment. Companies cannot assure or guarantee a certain rate of return or dividend yield; they can increase, decrease or totally eliminate their dividends without notice.

Gina Logsdon is the Team’s Portfolio Associate. She brings the Team 29 years of dedication to delivering a caring and an exceptional client experience. Gina supervises all administrative, operational, and transactional services. In addition, she helps clients coordinate their accounts in a way that best allows them to monitor their investment portfolios and streamline their day-to-day banking and finances.

A seasoned and true professional, Gina focuses on personal attention and anticipatory service to create an environment where the Team’s clients are well-cared for and know they are valued.

Gina lives in Hamilton, New Jersey, with her husband, Dave. They have been together for over 35 years. In their spare time, they enjoy riding their Harley Davidsons.