Robertson Stephens Reborn as Wealth Management Firm
Robertson Stephens Partners LLC has relaunched operations as the holding company of Robertson Stephens Asset Management LLC and broker-dealer Robertson Stephens Securities LLC with Joseph Piazza as chairman and CEO, officials say. While the investment advisor and the broker-dealer units are not yet registered, they have started the registration processes.The former incarnation of Robertson Stephens was a boutique investment bank whose specialty was information technology companies. When the IT sector suffered a setback and the Dot-Com era evaporated in the early 2000’s, the bank was liquidated by its owner FleetBoston in July 2002.
The new Robertson Stephens Asset Management, which will serve as the operating company, will offer customized solutions primarily to individuals and families that have assets of $10 million to $100 million, officials say. The focus will be on entrepreneurs from high-growth industries including technology, social media and energy.
The firm’s headquarters will be at 555 California St. in San Francisco, where Piazza founded the financial services division at Robertson Stephens in 1998 and grew the business to $40 billion in assets and 220 employees by 2002.
Before founding the division, Piazza was a managing director at Furman Selz/ING, where he launched the private asset management department. He has also served as the founder and head of the private client department at Montgomery Securities. Before his move to asset management, Piazza held senior positions in global financial services firms, including Goldman Sachs.
LPL Financial, an RIA custodian, institutional service provider and subsidiary of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. is providing Robertson Stephens Partners with a broad infrastructure and technology platform as well as access to LPLA’s subsidiary Fortigent, a provider of asset allocation modeling, portfolio construction, manager due diligence and consolidated reporting.
The new Robertson Stephens is not affiliated with Sandy Robertson or Paul Stephens, two of the founders of the original firm, officials say. The new firm is also not affiliated with RS Investments, a mutual fund company in San Francisco.
Broadridge Hires Former Omgeo Director for Asia-Pacific Post
Broadridge Financial Solutions has appointed James Drumm, a former senior director from Omgeo, to the role of senior director, strategic account sales for Asia Pacific, officials say. Drumm will oversee new business sales for a range of Broadridge solutions in the Asia Pacific region, including the multi-asset, multi-currency processing solution Gloss.
A 20-plus year financial technology sales veteran, Drumm previously held senior director positions at Omgeo, including posts where he helped grow the business across Asia. His experience in the region includes sales and relationship management positions for Dion Global and Thomson Reuters. He has also worked in New York, Boston and London.
The Drumm appointment is part of Broadridge’s expansion of sales and relationship management resources in the region. Some of the vendor’s recent initiatives have included solution developments to facilitate new market connectivity in Japan, India and Singapore.
Former Citi VP to Head RJO’s Global Markets Desk in the UK
David Levy, R.J. O’Brien & Associates
Futures brokerage and clearing firm R.J. O’Brien & Associates (RJO) has hired David Levy, a 14-year veteran from Citigroup, to serve as its head of the global markets desk for its London-based subsidiary, say officials.
Levy joins RJO UK Ltd. after working at Citigroup Global Markets Ltd., most recently as vice president, futures sales, officials say. For that post, he provided sales and execution services to global institutional clients throughout Europe, the Middle East and North America, including banks, hedge funds, asset managers and commodity trading advisors, officials say. Levy has developed a specialty in fixed income products, focusing on the formulation of new trade ideas and roll-out to clients. He was a member of the futures execution desk of Citigroup from 1998 to 2002.
For RJO UK, Levy will focus on building the institutional team and servicing clients in the region throughout Europe and the Middle East. David Mudie, CEO of RJO UK, added that Levy will be adding sales professionals to the global markets desk over the coming months.
Levy has more than three decades of experience in futures, trading, institutional sales and banking. He has had a variety of roles on the trading floor of Liffe, including serving as an execution broker for Van Der Moolen Brokerage Ltd. and as senior execution broker for the futures division of Lloyds Bank. He specialized in arbitrage of sugar futures in the 1990s for Credit Agricole’s futures division and serving as assistant floor manager of a 17-person team on the trading floor. Before those positions, Levy was an order desk manager at Drexel Burnham Lambert. His career began in 1982 with a banking role at Lloyds.
Barclays Promotes to Fill Chief Operations Post
Barclays has promoted Shaygan Kheradpir to the role of chief operations and technology officer, officials say. Kheradpir will join the executive committee of Barclays and report directly to Antony Jenkins, group chief executive.
Shaygan joined Barclays from Verizon in January 2011 and served as chief operating officer for retail and business banking, officials say. Assuming his new role immediately, he will oversee the operational processes and systems that support the delivery of products and services to Barclays’ customers and clients. He will also be responsible for the bank’s technology agenda.
“Since joining Barclays in 2011, Shaygan has been instrumental in helping devise and drive technology solutions and operational improvements at Barclays, including leading the introduction of award-winning initiatives such as Barclays Pingit, and I look forward to supporting him in this new challenge,” says Jenkins in a prepared statement.
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