Independent broker-dealer National Alliance has added three sales traders, bulking up its recently created equities trading desk.
The Dallas, Texas-based firm, which has an office in New York, has been carving out a niche equity business based on its technology, media and telecom equities research. Prior, it focused solely on fixed income trading. The equities new hires are part of its slow but steady growth plan, Robert Weinstein, managing director and head of the equities desk, told Traders Magazine.
“We’ve been getting the desk going and the plan is to bring in more people, but very carefully,” he said back in May 2012. “As we add more research products, then we can add more sales traders and more analysts.”
“Now that we’ve got the groundwork for the desk ready, I was able to bring in some people,” Weinstein said.
Weinstein, a 20 year veteran, joined the firm last May from Dahlman Rose & Co where he was managing director for institutional sales and trading. Upon arriving at National Alliance, he started the firm’s first equity trading desk with a single sales trader, Russ Greenspan. Both knew each other from Bear Stearns, where they worked together for a time.
Now after a year of getting his trading infrastructure prepared and research offering staffed, things are finally taking root for Weinstein. The time was right for expansion, he said. The firm has equity trading desks in New York and in Boston. These new trading hires are in the Manhattan office.
Weinstein grabbed sales traders Rocco Strazzella and Brian Cohan from Guggenheim in New York, where the two worked together for the last few years. Strazzella, an 11 year sales trading pro, spent the last three years at Guggenheim Securities. Prior to that, he worked at WJB Capital and Cuttone & Co. Cohan, a 13 year pro, also spent the last three years at Guggenheim and has also done stints trading at WJB Capital and Cuttone & Co and NDB.
Weinstein also hired New York-based sales trader Kevin Feehan and research analyst Robert Routh, both with roots at Phoenix Capital and Natexis Bleichroeder. Feehan, a 13 year professional, spent the last year at Phoenix Partners. Prior to that, he spent the last 12 years at Natexis.
The three all report to Weinstein.
Routh joins National Alliance as director of equity research, specializing in the cable, media and entertainment sectors. Routh, an 18 year veteran, spent the last two years at Phoenix Partners covering the same sectors. Prior, he worked at Natexis Bleichroeder, Jefferies & Co. and Bear Stearns as a researcher. He reports to managing director Mark Salter.
