Brian Pears joins RBC Capital Markets in Los Angeles as a director in electronic trading sales. Pears, a 19-year veteran who spent most of his career on the buyside, was previously with JonesTrading in Westlake Village, Calif., where he headed electronic trading initiatives at the firm. Pears reports to Brian Suth, who heads electronic trading sales in New York. Over the last decade, Pears has penned a column for Traders Magazine entitled "Pears Trading."
Andy Peer joins Instinet’s New York office as an executive director on the sales and trading desk. Peer, a 19-year veteran, spent the last 15 years at ITG. Prior to that, he was with the equity trading division at Lehman Brothers. Peer reports to Mark Turner, head of North America sales trading.
The Options Clearing Corporation appointed Craig Abruzzo and Valar Mihan to its board of directors. Abruzzo is head of Morgan Stanley’s listed derivatives business in the Americas and Mihan is head of Americas equity-linked trading at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Peter Battaglia joins The Vertical Group hires as an equities sales trader, concentrating on the Pink Sheets and Canadian orders. The 25-year professional was at Sterne Agee for three years as a sales trader and prior to that trading manager for broker-dealers at Tradition Asiel Securities. He reports to Mark Duncan.
Cheryl Gilberg joins Goldman Sachs as head of marketing for the firm’s securities division. The 20-year marketing veteran comes from Fox River Execution, where she was in charge of corporate communications and marketing for the past year. Prior to that, she was at Morgan Stanley and Citigroup.
Instinet Canada appointed Jeff Houslander and Andrew Hill as executive directors, electronic and program sales and trading, on its Canadian sales and trading desk in Toronto. Houslander and Hill were both previously in senior sales and trading positions with ITG Canada.
