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Traders Magazine was pleased to attend the Security Traders Association’s 91st annual Market Structure Conference, which was held in Orlando, Florida on Wednesday, September 18 through Friday, September 20.
As per usual, the Chairman’s dinner on Thursday night featured the current STA Chair (Jim Hyde of Intercontinental Exchange) introducing the incoming Chair, and also recognizing the numerous other former STA Chairs in the audience.
We met with the incoming STA Chair, Julie Andress of KeyBanc Capital Markets, on the sidelines of the conference to learn more.
Tell us a bit about your career to date and your current role/responsibilities at KeyBanc Capital Markets?
I started my career in 2007 at Bloomberg in New York, where I served as an account manager, focusing on equities and technical analysis. During my time there, I covered the KeyBanc Capital Markets (KBCM) trading desk, for about four and a half years. In 2011, I had the opportunity to return to my hometown of Cleveland and join KBCM trading desk as a sales trader, a role I have been in for the last 13 years.
Specifically, I’m responsible for best execution for institutional clients. I have always strived to stay ahead of the curve and to approach each challenge with a solutions-oriented mindset.
When and why did you get involved with STA?
After a conversation with Jim Toes at my first OSTA event in 2014, I knew there was an opportunity to serve my financial markets community as well as the local community. Jim encouraged me to get involved, and I did. I ended up getting elected to the OSTA board. During this time, I took charge of the Women’s initiative for the affiliate and planned a highly successful event in Cincinnati to benefit Dress for Success. We had a great team and built relationships with other members. And as a result, I was elected to the STA Women in Finance Committee on a national level.
Subsequently, I held a Governor’s role for three years and then was elected to the Executive Board, having served as Secretary, Treasurer, and Vice Chair currently. I am honored to accept the position of Chair of the STA in 2025.
Broadly speaking, what do you see as STA’s role in the industry?
At a high level, I think it’s twofold.
The first is networking, mainly for affiliates, and as we’re seeing today in Orlando, providing information, panels and updates on market structure.
The second is serving a purpose in Washington, DC, with advocacy, education, and lobbying on behalf of our industry. It’s about just being a voice for the industry.
What was your reaction to being named STA chair, and what are your goals? What’s your vision for next year?
I’m very excited. With a decade of STA experience under my belt, as well as a terrific team and board, I think we can get a lot done.
Specifically, I hope to focus on the inclusivity of the group in general, both ensuring that we’re broadening and including different affiliates, and then also focusing on our younger members. We’ve worked over the few years to increase our junior membership. Chicago and New York have young professionals groups within their affiliates, and I would like to expand that across all affiliates. We’re going to need the next generation of STA members and leaders for the future success of our organization, so it’s important to get them involved.
And then because of COVID and how work from home has shifted people around, membership has moved around in different areas. Ohio no longer has the critical mass to have an affiliate, but I want to reach out to different areas and groups to see how we can rebrand some of the current affiliates. For example, maybe we relaunch Ohio as a Great Lakes region and include Detroit, Rochester, and Pittsburgh, which used to have an affiliate.
So, I want to evaluate the opportunities and challenges for our various affiliates, as well as where we can expand involvement for our members.
What’s your take on the buy-side participation STA? Is there enough buy side involved, or would you like to expand their presence?
Buy side is very strong in certain areas, such as the Mid-Atlantic STA. MASTA has a huge buy-side presence, and their involvement and support help make their business and networking events very successful. If we can show other buy-sides and other regions the success that MASTA has had, we can increase buy-side involvement in other regions too.
What should we know about you personally? What makes you tick?
Well, I found out that I’ll be the 92nd STA chair and the sixth female chair, which I’m immensely proud of. And we’re also going to be the first female-dominated STA executive board – the vice chair is male, but the other members are women. So that’s another nice stride forward.
Beyond that, I have a four-year-old son and a one-year-old son, and I’m trying to balance it all, but I’m doing it with the support of a lot of family. I have a wonderful supportive husband. And of course, the team at KeyBanc really works well together and helps me to be able to do all these things.
I’ve built my career on relationships. This is still a relationship business, and I have great relationships and partnerships, both internally and with clients. That aspect of the business always brought me back to STA and the appeal of STA and just continuing to expand my network and build relationships.
