Spear Financial Services Inc. said James Mitchell,...

Spear Financial Services Inc. said James Mitchell, 53, president of its primary operating unit, has been elected chief executive, chairman and president.

Charles Spear, chairman and chief executive of the Glendale-based financial services company, said in early December that he would resign effective Jan. 1 from the company he founded. Spear cited a desire to pursue new opportunities in the wake of the company’s planned divestiture of its securities brokerage operations.