The Security Traders Association of New York paid tribute to the charitable and community-building work of the late publisher of Traders Magazine Ken Heath in a ceremony at the STANY 79th Annual Conference & Dinner in Manhattan last week.
Rob Pisani, “On Air Stocks” editor for CNBC and host of the awards ceremony, recalled Ken’s presence at more than two decades of STA events and for creating the Traders Women on Wall Street awards.
“Those of you who are STANY veterans, he basically took all of the pictures. if you know Traders Magazine, you see the pictures because you’re in them. That’s why you read it. And the important thing is he tooks all of the pictures,” recalled Pisani.
“I call people like Ken the glue because they hold the organizations together. They are people who are interested in organizations for whatever reason. It ignites a certain passion in them and it holds them together,” said Pisani in this tribute. “Ken was a glue person.”
Maureen Heath, Ken’s widow, and Donna Brown, his daughter who traveled from North Carolina for the STANY ceremony, remembered a man who loved the trading community and working with assorted veteran and medical charities. STANY honored Ken for his service for Wings Over Wall Street, the charity aimed at finding a cure for ALS and his active support of several veterans’ organizations.
Ken Heath passed away from a long illness in November 2014.
Maureen recalled attending regional STA conferences with Ken and not only seeing the young traders but also their families. “And every year, we would see their children as they grew,” she told the audience.
When asked about the role her father played in creating the Women of Wall Street awards, which will celebrate its fifth anniversary this year, daughter Donna recalled an inspirational father. “Dad loved heroes, a– kickers, veterans and women,” she said.
“My dad was a champion of everyone who wanted to be successful and pursue what they wanted. In that sense he was a feminist in that he saw nothing but people’s capacity. He recognized that he had a strong platform and he had a loud voice .. and with Traders he could shine a spotlight on issues,” said Brown.
STANY also honored Wall Street Warfighters Foundation, the charitable program that helps veterans of the US military find trading jobs on Wall Street. Co-founder and treasurer of the board for Wall Street Warfighters Brooks Hulitt, an Air Force veteran, accepted the award and urged attendees to help servicemen find new careers in capital markets.
STANY also cited the work of Jim Toes with its Lifetime Achievement Award. Toes was lauded for his 28 years inside the securities industry, 17 of which he spent at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. When asked what his service and what the Security Traders Association meant to him, Toes looked to the past as well as the future. “We didn’t invent this industry. People created these firms and these markets years ago and left them for us,” said Toes. “We have to be good custodians of this business for future generations.”
Toes joined STA as its president and CEO in 2011.
