CHICAGO — St. Louis-based Stern Brothers & Co. this week announced four new additions to its analytic staff, institutional sales team, and health care banking groups, with an eye toward adding more than a dozen additional professionals to its various groups as the year progresses.
The new hires — who started over the last two weeks — include analysts Anthony Schutzenhofer and Lauren Waldrop. They will work under Brian Tournier, director of credit analysis, in the St. Louis office. Aaron Gadouas joined the firm’s Chicago office as a senior vice president in health care banking and David Colbert was hired as a vice president working on institutional sales in the firm’s Kansas City office.
Gadouas has 15 years of experience in fixed-income investment banking, new product development, and business management. He was formerly a senior vice president at ABN AMRO Global Capital Markets. Schutzenhofer previously worked for a small shop in Illinois as an assistant stock trader. Waldrop previously was a stockbroker for Scottrade Inc.
The firm is actively looking to add seven to nine senior bankers and another three to five junior bankers, an additional five to seven institutional sales professionals, and two to three credit analysts, said company spokeswoman Kim Goldstone. The firm hopes to bolster its banking staff in the higher education, renewable fuels, health care, water-sewer, and municipalities sectors.
“We are very much focused on making thoughtful, intentional choices in recruiting excellent talent as part of our overall growth plan,” Goldstone said. “We are looking to a strong 2010 and will continue to seek out professionals who fit with our goals as a company.”
The firm ranked 81st last year as a senior manager and 95th as a co-manager nationally, according to Thomson Reuters. The firm ranked 17th last year as both a senior manager and as a co-manager in its home state.
Goldstone said the firm’s revenue grew last year by more than 10% over its $8.4 million of revenue in 2008. In addition to its St. Louis headquarters, the firm has offices in Kansas City, Chicago, Denver, Dallas, Boston, Los Angeles, and Tampa.
Stern’s plans to continue hiring come on top of already significant growth that has doubled the size of the company since 2007. It has bulked up by picking up veteran market participants, many displaced by the market and economic turmoil, and more junior public finance professionals.
The firm early last year shifted to women-owned status after Pepe Prince Finn purchased a majority stake from her husband, the firm’s president, Terrance Finn. Pepe Prince Finn also became board chairman. Terrence Finn, known as Terry, purchased the 92-year-old firm in January 2007. He previously had been part owner of the company.
