Jefferies & Company, Inc., the principal operating subsidiary of Jefferies Group, Inc. (NYSE: JEF), today announced the hiring of seven experienced trading, sales trading and research sales professionals. These additions are part of the Firm’s ongoing expansion of its cash equities business.
In a joint statement, Jason D. Griffith and Ross L. Stevens, co-heads of the Firm’s Equities Department, commented: "Jefferies is committed to expanding our cash equities business and augmenting our resources in strategic areas. The addition of these seven experienced professionals not only reflects this commitment, it also demonstrates the energy and momentum of our platform and our firm’s ability to attract individuals of such a high caliber. We are confident that our new partners will make meaningful contributions to our overall equities efforts."
• Rhys Brooks joins as managing director and head of Consumer Trading. . Brooks has nearly fifteen years of trading experience at leading firms, including six years with Merrill Lynch and seven with Thomas Weisel Partners. At the latter firm, he was most recently co-head of cash trading and led the Consumer NASDAQ / Listed desk. He will be based in the Firm’s New York headquarters and has a BA from Lynchburg College.
• Neil Higgins joins as a managing director and Research Salesperson in the Firm’s Boston office. . Higgins was most recently a managing director and regional director of institutional sales at Piper Jaffray, also in Boston. Previously he was a v.p. in institutional equity sales at Bank of America Securities. Higgins has a BA from University of Notre Dame and a JD from University of Virginia.
• Joseph "Trey" E. Laird III joins as a senior v.p. and sales trader in the Firm’s New York headquarters. He has more than 14 years of experience, most recently as a managing director at Piper Jaffray. Previously he was a v.p. in equity sales trading at Hambrecht & Quist. Laird has a BA from Dartmouth College.
• Donald J. O’Shaughnessy, Jr. joins as a senior v.p. and sales trader in the Firm’s Chicago office. He has more than twenty years of experience in institutional equities with a focus on cash equities and options, most recently as head of Susquehanna Financial Group’s Chicago-based sales trading efforts. Previously, he was a v.p. at Goldman Sachs, where he worked for ten years.
• John C. Riedel joins as a senior v.p. and sales trader in the Firm’s San Francisco office. He has more than a decade of experience, most recently as head of the San Francisco-based sales trading efforts at Wachovia Securities. Riedel has a BS in Finance from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
• Michael A. Spataro joins as a senior v.p. and research salesperson in the Firm’s New York headquarters. Previously, he was an institutional salesperson at AG Edwards where he worked for the past seven years. Prior to his career in the securities industry, he worked as an attorney. Spataro has a BA from St. John’s University and a JD from New York Law School.
• Michael J. Wharry joins as a senior v.p. to lead the Firm’s Dallas-based research sales efforts. He has 14 years of experience, including nine on the sellside at firm’s including Chase Bank, CIBC World Markets, Credit Suisse First Boston and Lehman Brothers, where he was most recently a senior v.p. and research salesperson. Wharry also has five years of experience on the buyside at Employee Retirement Systems of Texas and Teacher Retirement System of Texas. . Wharry has a BA in Finance from University of Texas at Austin.
