MEMPHIS, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Gary K. Wunderlich, Jr., CEO of Wunderlich Securities announced the hiring of six Equity Capital Markets professionals from Morgan Keegan with more to come. Joining the firm in Wunderlich’s Memphis headquarters are Senior Vice President and research analyst Brent Rakers, CFA and research associate Anjali Voria covering the Industrial/Distribution sector as well as Senior Vice President and research analyst Chaz Jones, and research associate Nick Bender covering Transportation. Jean Potvin and Sam Levine will be part of the Institutional Sales Department in New York. “We are committed to our Equity Capital Markets business and are capitalizing on the opportunity created by the Raymond James-Morgan Keegan transaction to add depth to this group,” said Gary Wunderlich. Wunderlich Securities has experienced extraordinary growth over the past two years, particularly in Equity Capital Markets. With these hires, the ECM division founded in late 2008, today has 17 senior analysts covering approximately 210 companies in five industry verticals. The ECM sales force has grown to 19 senior salespersons, 9 traders/sales traders and 18 senior investment bankers. “Further expansion of ECM and to our Private Client Group is likely, in part because of all the excellent talent that has become available,” added Gary Wunderlich.
Chaz Jones has over 12 years of experience as an equity research analyst covering various sectors of the transportation industry. Previously, he was a Senior Analyst at Morgan Keegan for over 7 years where he focused on the truckload, maritime shipping and transportation equipment industries. Prior to Morgan Keegan, Jones worked at Stephens Inc. in equity research covering trucking, maritime shipping, and railroads. He has been recognized by the Financial Times/StarMine Global Analyst Awards on four occasions as one of the top earnings estimators in the Road and Rail category. Jones received his BA and MBA in finance from Oklahoma State University.
Brent D. Rakers, CFA, has 19 years of combined investment experience as a sell-side and buy-side analyst. Most recently, Brent was at Morgan Keegan where he was a senior analyst covering the industrial distribution space for the past eight years; during this time, he was ranked #1 or #2 for earnings accuracy five times in the Trading Companies and Distributors industry by Financial Times/Starmine. He began at Morgan Keegan in 1995 as an associate analyst covering the oilfield service industry and later assumed coverage of the oilfield construction and field development niche for six years prior to covering industrial distributors. From 1993-1995, Brent worked at Cozad Asset Management as an associate portfolio manager. He has a BBA from Millsaps College and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.
After a successful 11 year National Hockey League career culminating with two Stanley Cup Championships in the early 1980s with the New York Islanders, Jean Potvin pursued a second career on Wall Street. Over the next 22 years, Jean’s resume includes Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, First Albany Capital, and Oppenheimer & Co. After the Oppenheimer/CIBC merger, Jean joined Think Equity LLC in November of 2008 as a principal and one year later he joined Morgan Keegan as a Senior Vice President covering Canadian institutional accounts.
Sam Levine began his career as an institutional salesperson at First Albany in January 2000. In March of 2006, Sam moved to Oppenheimer & Co. to cover Canadian accounts and a handful of New York accounts. After the Oppenheimer/CIBC merger, Sam joined Think Equity LLC in November 2008 as a principal. In November 2009, he joined Morgan Keegan as a Senior Vice President primarily covering Canadian institutional accounts. Sam has his Bachelor of Science in Economics from the University of Albany and his MBA from Adelphi University in Garden City, NY.
About Wunderlich Securities. Inc. -- Established in 1996, Wunderlich Securities is a full-service brokerage firm based in Memphis, Tenn. Wunderlich Securities caters to individual and institutional clients with financial advisory, brokerage, equity research and investment banking services. Wunderlich Fixed Income Capital Markets and Fundamental Brokers Inter-Dealer serve institutional clients with fixed income brokerage services. The Firm operates in 24 offices across 14 states and has over 450 associated professionals. For more information about the organization, please visit our website at www.wunderlichsecurities.com.