RBC Financial’s U.S. brokerage unit, RBC Dain Rauscher Corp., has shuffled its senior management team.

John Taft has been named president of Wealth Management Services and Paula Phillippe has been named chief administrative officer in a realignment of senior management at RBC Dain Rauscher effective immediately, announced Irving Weiser, chairman and CEO.

Taft, who’s position is a newly created role, will retain his position as president of Voyageur Asset Management and will continue to report to Peter Armenio, president and chief operating officer of RBC Dain.

Taft is a 20-year veteran of the financial services industry who joined RBC Dain in 2000 when Voyageur was acquired. He previously served as president and chief executive officer of Dougherty Summit Securities LLC from 1997 to 1999, and president and chief executive officer of Voyageur Fund Managers from 1991 to 1997.

As chief administrative officer, Phillippe will assume responsibility for marketing and all of the firm’s education and development teams, in addition to the groups she currently leads, including human resources, corporate communications and community relations. Phillippe joined RBC Dain as director of compensation and benefits in 1996 and was named executive vice president of human resources and communications in January 2000.

To allow Taft to take on the larger leadership role within Wealth Management Services, he is turning over the responsibility for managing the day-to-day operations of Voyageur to Mark Hirst, who is joining Dain from RBC Global Investment Management, Ltd. Hirst, who will be chief operating officer of Voyageur Asset Management, has nearly 20 years of industry experience including six years with RBC.

Hirst joined RBC in 1996 to set up a European investment management operation, based in London. He subsequently held the positions of chief investment officer of RBC’s Global Investment Committee in 1997, chief executive officer of RBC Global Investment Management (U.K.) Ltd. in 1998 and head of the international operations of RBC Global Asset Management since 2000.