San Francisco Business Time Stanford Financial Unit Plans to Expand, Relocate in S.F.
Archived January 27, 2006
Stanford Group Company is expanding its institutional business in San Francisco and relocating to 580 California St. this summer.
The Stanford Group, the financial planning and wealth management affiliate of Stanford Financial Group, will triple its space, to about 3,600 square feet in the new location. The firm currently leases about 1,000 square feet in Citigroup Center at 1 Sansome St.
The firm has been on a hiring spree since opening its doors in San Francisco last April, boosting local employment from one professional to six senior sales traders and research sales professionals. The company has plans for additional hiring.
Stanford also is likely to establish an investment banking team in a year or so to focus on the middle market.
“We’re opportunistic. We’re looking for the right people,” said Rocky Stein, managing director of the Stanford Group’s institutional division.
Among the recently hired are senior vice presidents Nicholas Padula and Daniel Petek, and institutional research sales professionals Gerald McGrath, Karl Spurzem and Dewey Thom. Padula was previously with JMP Securities as managing director and sales trader. He also worked at Schwab Capital Markets, where he was manager of the West Coast sales trading desk. Petek has more than a decade of experience, most recently as a sales trader with Bear Stearns and, before that, Lehman Brothers.
McGrath, with more than 30 years of experience in institutional research sales, was previously with Leerink, Swann & Co., Charles Schwab Capital Markets and Stanford Washington Research Group. Spurzem hails from Morgan Stanley, UBS Asset Management, Charles Schwab Capital Markets and Stanford Washington Research Group. Thom, who opened Stanford’s San Francisco office last year, has been in the brokerage business since 1992.
The San Francisco expansion is part of a national growth strategy for Stanford Group, which is also expanding operations in Boston, New York and Boca Raton, Fla.
The Stanford Financial Group is an international network of financial services companies that employs about 4,000 professionals. The firm has boosted television advertising and sports sponsorships to raise its profile.
“We’re doing a lot more branding of the firm as we’ve built a greater presence,” Stein said.