As it celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, Triad securities invited Traders to visit the agency-only prime brokerage service provider to interview the men and women who make the firm tick. Its easy to see why once people join the old-school firm that they stick around for years.
A 22-year veteran of Triad, president Larry Goldsmith started out running the operations and now he helps run the firm and serve the Triad clientele. Clients are looking for consistency in this space. They want to be left alone and know that operations is not a problem for them. They want to know that they can pick up the phone and get some service, he said. Its about client service here at Triad.
Operations Supervisor Michael Grossberg supervises day-to-day operations of the entire firm, both prime brokerage and execution. What types of problems does he address? "A client not understanding his money line or a client having a problem with a broker. They typically go to one of my guys first and if they can't solve the problem they'll get me involved, he said. "Problems get solved quickly because we have solutions in place and a great staff here."
As general counsel, Doug Cohen helps Triad Securities navigate through the maze of regulations that are keeping compliance officers busy these days. It's never boring, he told Traders. Unlike other firms that may shrug at paying fines, Triad aims for the straight and narrow. "At Triad, 100 percent compliance is our goal, and making good decisions and understanding regulations is a must."
Director of technology Nil Bhattacharya oversees a team of two programmers and two system administrators to craft new Triad solutions. Their mission is to maintain existing functionality and implement new features. "The next big technology project would be to make better use of real-time data not merely to improve administrative functions, but also improve the client experience."
As controller, Frank Roselli oversees everything related to financial statements, payroll, invoices, and more; while making sure that the regulatory filings are done timely and accurately. The best thing about his job? "I've worked with bigger companies, but this is more of a family atmosphere. Its very tight knit and people dont leave this job. I can see why."
Chief financial officer, head of IT, and a 19-year Triad veteran, Russell Campbell prefers to keep most development in-house at Triad. We feel we have better control and are able to produce fast, cost-effective results. Our employees tend to stay with us, so we can keep and leverage that institutional knowledge.
After running institutional algo sales at ConvergEx, director, prime brokerage sales Scott Daspins mission is to bring in new clients. He is focusing on emerging managers and on being second or third prime to larger family offices and hedge funds. "The Triad platform is very nimble. We have the IPO Dashboard Consensus Service which is used by a huge percentage of our clientele," he said. "We're also expanding our investment banking division, but the core is prime brokerage and trade execution."
