Academy Securities, the broker-dealer and certified Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise, has completed a $2 million Series A financing and expanded its board of directors.
The firm started reach out to investors to raise money to increase its net capital level six months ago, Chase Mims, chief executive officer of Academy, said in an interview. The investors now own Series A preferred stock in the firm and become members of the board.
He said the firm focused on individuals who had been successful in the finance industry because Academy felt their support would help.
"[What's] more important than their money is their mentorship relations and support for what we are doing," Mims said.
The investors, include former GE Asset Management CEO John Myers, former Merrill Lynch investment bankers Sidney Goodfriend and Robert Lyons, and former AMCON Corp. CEO William Wright. Goodfriend was the founder of American Corporate Partners, a nationwide mentoring program dedicated to assisting veterans' transition from the armed services to private enterprise.
Mims said he added people like Myers and Lyons to his board because he believes their guidance will allow Academy to become a successful broker-dealer that focuses on hiring military veterans and particularly veterans who served following the 9/11 attacks, a group that Mims said no other military-focused firm targets.
"Bringing on this group of individuals we really respect who are Wall Street veterans opens us up to our next chapter, where we continue to grow," he said. "Right now we are 40% staffed by military veterans and we would like to get to 50% staffing by military vets, and that's a goal we feel like these individuals will help us get to."
Francis McKenna, director of municipal finance at Academy, said in an interview that he feels bringing on seasoned finance investors is important from a municipal bond perspective because it conveys to the muni bond market that Academy's mission of creating a broker-dealer that hires and trains military veterans is real.
Among the other investors are: John Mack, the former Chairman & CEO of Morgan Stanley; Stephen Friedman former Chairman & CEO of Goldman Sachs; Joseph Grano, former Chairman & CEO of UBS PaineWebber; Denis Nayden former Chairman & CEO of GE Capital and Managing Partner of Oak Hill Capital Partners; Vincent Viola, former Chairman of the NYMEX and Chairman of Virtu Financial; and Howard Milstein Chairman & CEO of Emigrant Savings Bank.
In addition to closing the Series A financing, McKenna said the firm is also looking to build its internship program by expanding it to the major higher education institutions in New York and bringing five new student interns into its New York office.
