Brian Fagen has been promoted to head of global equities electronic trading distribution at Barclays Capital, the investment banking arm of U.K. bank Barclays. Fagen, who was previously co-head of Americas liquid market sales at BarCap, had his responsibilities redefined following the departure of Frank Troise, the firm’s former head of equities electronic trading products. Troise was appointed to lead J.P. Morgan’s Electronic Client Solutions division for equities at the beginning of the year. Both Troise and Fagen worked at Lehman Brothers at the time of the bank’s collapse in September 2008 and were subsequently kept on at BarCap after it bought Lehman’s North American assets.
Tony Lauto, a 30-year-plus veteran of Goldman Sachs’ equity trading department, joined Morgan Stanley as a managing director. According to Morgan Stanley, Lauto will partner with the firm’s trading and distribution professionals to expand client relationships. Lauto will also work closely with management as a member of the equity operating committee to help guide strategy and mentor the firm’s next generation of leaders. At Goldman, Lauto held various leadership positions within the equities trading group. He stepped down as co-head of U.S. equities trading in 2007 to become an adviser to the firm.
Steve Grigaliunas joins KeyBanc Capital Markets as a sales trader in New York. Grigaliunas was previously with Jefferies & Co., where he worked for 10 years. He reports to Kevin Kruszenski, director of equity trading.
Mary McDermott-Holland, an industry veteran and former chairman of the Security Traders Association, joined Nasdaq OMX Group as vice president of Transaction Services on April 6.
McDermott-Holland, a 28-year veteran, will manage the institutional investor relationships of the U.S. Transaction Services business acting as the liaison to the Institutional Traders Advisory Council as well as representing Nasdaq OMX at industry conferences and events. She reports to Eric Noll, executive vice president at Nasdaq OMX.She previously worked at Mellon Capital Management, where she served as director and trading manager. Prior to that, she was senior vice president at Franklin Portfolio Associates for 26 years before it merged with Mellon Capital Management in January 2009. During her career, she has been active on numerous committees within the industry, besides the STA.
Ticonderoga Securities added two sales traders to its staff from Pali Capital. Barak Shibles, a former market maker and eight-year Deutsche Bank veteran with international trading experience, joins as a director in Boston. Robert Flaherty, a longtime sales trading veteran at Merrill Lynch and Deutsche Bank, also joins as a director.
BTIG launched a U.S. convertible securities business and hired six sales and trading pros. Robert Langer, previously a partner at hedge fund Stanfield Capital Group, runs the desk. Langer started his career on the convertibles desk at Salomon Brothers in 1992. Three traders join him. Bill Feingold came from Hillside Advisors, a Westchester, N.Y.-based convertible advisory firm he founded in 2009. Prior to Hillside, he traded convertible bonds at Goldman Sachs. Chris Roller joins BTIG as a sales trader. He was at Goldman Sachs. Greg Sullivan also joins BTIG as a sales trader. Sullivan was previously with Argent Financial Group in Dubai, where he was a managing director and head of Middle East and North African brokerage.
Strategas Research Partners has received FINRA approval for a broker-dealer license and launched an equity trading desk. Strategas Research specializes in investment strategy, technical analysis and macroeconomic and policy research. The brokerage arm is called Strategas Securities and it began executing trades last month. It hired two senior sales traders, John Ghize from Lazard and Tim Hughes from Arnold & S. Bleichroeder, to lead the effort. Ghize heads the firm’s trading desk. Since its inception in 2006, Strategas has grown to 28 people and has offices in New York, Washington and Geneva, Switzerland.
Knight Capital Group hired a new options sales and trading team led by managing directors Adam Templeton and Ryan Sylvester. Templeton and Sylvester join Knight from Newedge USA, where they were co-heads of the Strategic Options Group. Also joining from Newedge is Brad Manuilow, who will be based in Knight’s San Francisco office. James Murphy, Robert F. Mabry and Jeffrey Fittipaldi join the team from Pali Capital.
BTIG added senior sales traders Brad Berk and Michael Stamberger as managing directors. Berk, who joins after eight years at Pali Capital, will be working out of BTIG’s Connecticut office. Stamberger, who spent two years at Pali Capital, will be working out of the firm’s New York office. Both report to Richard Blank, co-head of global equities.
Gil Shaked was named chief executive of Correlix, a software firm that measures trade execution and market data latency. Shaked, a 20-year industry veteran, was previously with Credit Suisse. During his 10 years there, he rose to the position of global head of prime brokerage services and alternative investment technology. Shaked also held management roles at Lehman Brothers, where he served as global head of credit and market risk technology. He replaces Correlix founder Shawn Melamed, who remains president and chief technology officer.
Nomura Securities International recently added two professionals to its electronic trading effort. Marie Konstance and Monica Simon join as executive directors in electronic trading sales. Konstance, a 20-year veteran, was previously at Goldman Sachs, where she focused on algorithmic trading strategy and sales. Earlier in her career, she led transaction-cost analysis product and sales efforts at JPMorgan Plexus and ITG. Simon was previously with Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley, where she also held strategy and sales positions.
Tomas Bok launched Cambridge Analytics, a consultancy focusing on electronic trading and trade-cost analysis for investment management firms. Bok, an 11-year veteran, spent most of his career on the sellside developing algorithms and trading analytics. At ITG, he ran algorithmic product development and, later, analytics before moving to Lehman Brothers, where he held a similar role. Most recently, Bok spent nearly three years with Boston-based quant shop GMO, where he helped to streamline the firm’s trading process.
