R.J. O’Brien’s Expands Operations in Chicago
Futures brokerage and clearing firm R.J. O’Brien & Associates is expanding its Chicago institutional brokerage operation again by exercising an option for more square footage on the floor that houses its institutional group, say officials at the firm. RJO renovated the trading floor that it established in 2010, and prepared extra space to attract new teams of institutional brokers.The firm launched a campaign in 2010 to build up its roster of institutional brokers Chicago, building upon its operation in New York, says Gerald Corcoran, RJO chairman and CEO, in a statement. “That effort brought great results and as of today roughly doubled our institutional brokerage professionals in Chicago. Now we’ve put additional infrastructure in place that expands the footprint further to accommodate new talented teams of professionals and institutional clients.”
For the moment, the firm has no plans to add IT or operations personnel to support the additional brokers. “We intend to leverage our current infrastructure and staffing to support the growth in our institutional brokerage teams,” says Matthew Rees, chief customer officer for RJO. “Depending on the extent of that growth in the future, we’ll determine if we need to add to our IT or operations staff, but we have no current plans to do so.”
The institutional group in Chicago is located in RJO headquarters at 222 S. Riverside Plaza. RJO has also grown its institutional sector business via offices in New York, London, Hong Kong and Canada, officials say. The brokerage teams are specializing in grains, interest rates and metals and global markets. R.J. O’Brien also serves Fortune 1000 companies, small to mid-size corporate, industrial and agricultural firms, introducing brokers, high net worth individuals and commodity trading advisors.
Guggenheim Securities Adds to Investment Banking Staff
Guggenheim Securities, the investment banking and capital markets division of Guggenheim Partners, has named Scott P. Joyce as managing director for its newly opened investment banking office in Atlanta, Ga. The hiring will help the firm expand in the industrial sector, provide a new focus on industries within the basic materials sector and broaden existing capabilities in mergers and acquisitions and financing.
Joyce joins Guggenheim Securities from GCA Savvian Advisors where he spent four years as co-head of industrials coverage, say officials. Before GCA Savvian, Joyce spent nine years at Morgan Stanley, initially in the mergers and acquisitions department and subsequently in the basic materials His global client base includes both middle market and large cap companies.
Guggenheim Partners, which has more than $180 billion in assets under management, provides asset management, investment banking and capital markets services, insurance services, institutional finance and investment advisory solutions.
Sabrient Systems Appoints Senior Quant Analyst
William “Josh” Russell, senior quantitative analyst, Sabrient Systems
Equity research firm Sabrient Systems has appointed William “Josh” Russell as a senior quantitative analyst who will focus on leveraging scientific and statistical methodology to create investment strategies, officials say. Sabrient specializes in alpha extraction through quantitative and qualitative analysis. Russell will help develop Sabrient’s strategies to create rankings and ratings on more than 7,000 stocks, indices, sectors and exchange-traded funds. He will also work on building quantitative rankings for unit investment trusts.
Prior to joining Sabrient, Russell worked for the University of California where he designed algorithms for optimal estimation on large scale sensor networks and created simulations to verify estimation algorithms, officials say. In addition, Russell held various positions as an engineer in the aerospace and defense industry, including at Tethers Unlimited Inc., Lockheed Martin and The Army Research Laboratory.
Russell will be based in Santa Barbara, Calif., and will report directly to Rick Hoselton, director of IT.
Situs Adds Director for Forensic Accounting Group
Joseph L. Ottaiano, Director for Forensic Accounting Group, Situs
Situs, a provider of global commercial real estate advisory services, has appointed Joseph L. Ottaiano, the former managing director for Wiss & Company, to be the director of its forensic accounting group, officials say. The forensic accounting group offers services to debt and equity providers of capital and financing solutions.
In his new role, Ottaiano will help manage and grow Situs’ AUP Group, which specializes in accounting due diligence, financial testing, systems implementation and other M&A consulting services for the commercial real estate equity and debt markets. Based in New York, Ottaiano will report to Anne Jablonski, managing director and head of Situs’ New York operations.
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