Equity Analysis

Kirk Adams  - Founder, Principal and Director of Research

Mr. Adams is the Founder and Director of Research for Wedge Partners. Mr. Adams is a seasoned executive with over 20 years of successful business development experience in the technology and financial markets. For nearly 15 years, Mr. Adams held high-level positions in channel sales and marketing with Apple Computer, Claris Corporation and Radius Inc. During his high tech career Mr. Adams created several channel sales programs that helped increase revenues and drive products through the channel. Following his career in high-tech, Mr. Adams helped develop a successful broker-dealer, Midwest Research, which became a part of First Tennessee Securities. Mr. Adams earned an AB from Columbia University and a MBA from the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.

FINRA Registrations:  Series 7, 24, 63, 79, 86, 87

Brian Rauscher, CFA - Chief Portfolio Strategist

Mr. Rauscher joined Wedge Partners in 2011 after 15 years on Wall Street. Most recently, Rauscher was the Chief Portfolio Strategist and a Managing Director at Dahlman Rose & Co.  Prior to DRCO, Rauscher was the U.S. Equity Strategist for the Global Macro Fund at Fortress Investment Group.  Before his time on the buy side, Mr. Rauscher was the Director of Portfolio Strategy and Director of Research at Brown Brothers Harriman from 2004 – 2009.  Mr. Rauscher also worked as an investment strategist on Byron Wien’s team at Morgan Stanley for over five years, where he was responsible for S&P earnings and analyst estimate revisions, fund flows & liquidity environment, as well as the macro backdrop. Mr. Rauscher is a CFA charterholder and received both his BBA and MBA with honors from Temple University.

FINRA Registrations:  Series 7, 16, 63, 87

Brian Blair - Principal and Senior Research Analyst

Prior to joining Wedge Partners in 2005, Mr. Blair was a Managing Partner with Dorado Capital Management with principal responsibilities for managing the firm's technology investments. Previously, Mr. Blair was Vice President of Equity Research at Bluewater Capital in New York, a long/short equity hedge fund focused on the technology sector. Mr. Blair’s coverage at Bluewater Capital included the software, communications semiconductor, enterprise hardware and wireless sectors. Mr. Blair was also an equity analyst at Banc of America Securities where he covered the wireless Internet sector and handled due diligence for a number of secondary offerings and IPOs. Prior to Banc of America, Mr. Blair was a Senior Associate in Equity Research for the Credit Suisse First Boston Technology Group where he worked on the #1 ranked Institutional Investor PC Hardware/Software Team as well as the #2 ranked Wireless/Telecom team. During his tenure at Credit Suisse, Mr. Blair’s research teams handled due diligence for more than 20 IPOs. Mr. Blair holds a B.A. from Brigham Young University.

FINRA Registrations:  Series 7, 63, 79, 86, 87

Chris Crespi - Senior Research Analyst

Mr. Crespi received his BSEE from the University of California at Davis, and then pursued a career as a design engineer at Avantek, Inc. and Hewlett Packard in the area of Microwave Electronics.  After six years of designing components and subassemblies for various radar and communications systems, Mr. Crespi attended The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Upon graduation, Mr. Crespi joined Montgomery Securities (later Bank of America Securities) as an analyst in the wireless and wire line telecommunications equipment sectors. He later served at Deutsche Bank/AlexBrown.  Institutional Investor Magazine named Crespi as a “Big Hitter”, and he was voted the most “Trustworthy Analyst” in his sector by Greenwich Associates.  Recently, Mr. Crespi has served as a member of the board of directors of Finisar (Nasdaq: FNSR), Optium (Nasdaq: OPTM), and Sirenza Microdevices.  He currently serves on the board Ubiquiti Networks as a member of the audit and compensation committees.

FINRA Registrations:  Series 7, 63, 86, 87

Martin Pyykkonen - Senior Research Analyst

Mr. Pyykkonen has fifteen years experience as an equity analyst, and has covered the Internet, Media and Entertainment sector for the past seven years.  Formerly, Mr. Pyykkonen covered the Networking and Telecommunications industry while working at CIBC World Markets and Furman Selz, where he played key roles in analyzing the early development of the Internet infrastructure and identifying key equities for investment opportunities. He has been a frequent guest in the public media (CNBC, Bloomberg, etc.) regarding his analysis and outlook for leading technology companies. Martin’s career has also included management consulting and product management across several high tech industries while working at Price Waterhouse, Arthur D. Little and AT&T. Martin holds an MBA degree from Boston University and a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Northeastern University.

FINRA Registrations:  Series 7, 24, 63, 86, 87

Zhang Jun - Senior Research Analyst

Zhang Jun has been observing and analyzing China's ICT industry for six years. Mr. Zhang was research director at the United States Information Technology Office (USITO) from 2003-2005 and prior to that was a consultant at the research group MFC Insight in Beijing. He covers internet, electronics, software, telecommunications, and media. Mr. Zhang is a doctoral candidate in Telecommunications, Media, and Information Studies at the Michigan State University James H. and Mary B. Quello Center for Telecommunications Management and Law. He earned his Master's degree in Public Policy from the Johns Hopkins University's Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Nanjing.

FINRA Registrations:  Series 7, 63, 86, 87

Wedge Asia

Lin Juan, Senior Researcher, Online Media

Prior to joining Wedge Asia, Ms. Lin worked as an associate in Grail Research - the market research division of the Monitor Group. As the first employee of Grail Research China, Ms. Lin led research teams in more than 20 industries. Prior to joining Grail Research, she worked as an industry researcher in Analysys International. Ms. Lin independently produced industrial data trackers, user survey reports and industrial annual reports covering the mobile handset and MVAS markets, to enable corporate clients to understand macro and micro trends in the industry. Ms. Lin obtained her Master’s degree in Control Systems from Imperial College of London.

Sales and Trading

Evan Morgan - CEO

Mr. Morgan is the Chief Executive Officer of Wedge Partners Corporation.  Mr. Morgan's most recent position was Executive Managing Director of FTN Midwest Securities, a division of FTN Financial and First Horizon Corp. Mr. Morgan headed that firm’s 35-person Institutional Sales team. Mr. Morgan was a founding member of Midwest Research and served as its Chairman and CEO prior to its acquisition by First Tennessee Bank. During his tenure, FTN Midwest and Midwest Research were repeatedly named Best of the Boutiques and Regionals by Institutional Investor Magazine.  Midwest Research grew from a 12-person specialty research boutique to a regional firm with close to 200 employees across the country and approaching $100 million in revenues from various lines of business. Mr. Morgan earned an AB in Economics and History from Columbia University and earned his MBA from Case Western Reserve University's Weatherhead School of Management in 1994.

FINRA Registrations:  Series 7, 24, 63, 79

Matt Mathison - President

Mr. Mathison joined Wedge Partners in 2004 to institutionalize the product offering and services. He served as managing principal and the head of sales when he  joined the firm. After acquiring Wedge Securities LLC in 2007, Mr. Mathison became Chief Executive Officer of the broker dealer, Wedge Securities LLC. Prior to joining Wedge Partners in January 2004, Mr. Mathison was an institutional sales person for Goldman Sachs in San Francisco from 2000 to 2004. He worked in the institutional group focusing on US domestic securities. Mr. Mathison received a BS in Finance from The Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University.

FINRA Registrations:  Series 7, 24, 63, 79

William A. Walters - Director of Trading

Mr. Walters joined Wedge Partners in 2007.  Mr. Walters brings over 25 years of experience to Wedge Partners. He began his career in 1982 with Branch, Cabell & Co. in Richmond, VA. as an assistant on the NASDAQ Trading desk, becoming a Market Maker shortly thereafter. In 1990 he was made a General Partner and named head of Equity Trading & Execution. He helped establish the Institutional Sales & trading operations at that time. In 1998, he continued his career in Denver as an Institutional Sales Trader with Hanifen Imhoff Inc., NDB Capital Markets & most recently the Benchmark Co. Mr. Walters also has over 16 years of experience in Technical Analysis.  He has been active in Economic Education through his involvement in the "Stock Market Game" and the Virginia Council on Economic Education. Mr. Walters has also been a member of the Board of Directors of the Securities Association of Virginia and the Denver Security Traders Association.

FINRA Registrations:  Series 4, 7, 24, 55, 63, 79

Christopher Sexton - Senior Institutional Sales Trader

Mr. Sexton joined Wedge Partners in 2006.  Mr. Sexton brings over 15 years of experience in the Securities industry to Wedge Partners. Most recently, Mr. Sexton opened a Sales/Trading office for Fulcrum Global Partners in Denver where he was a sales trader covering accounts in Denver, Dallas and Utah. Prior to that, he was Vice President of NASDAQ Trading for Tucker Anthony Capital Markets, where he was a market maker in the Internet Security, Semiconductor, Biotech and Healthy lifestyle sector stocks. Mr. Sexton is a native of Chicago and has held positions at ABN AMRO Chicago Corporation, as well as other firms on the Chicago Stock Exchange and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. He is a past Officer/Director and current member of the Denver Security Traders Association. Mr. Sexton studied Economics at the University of Iowa.

FINRA Registrations:  Series 7, 55, 63, 79

Paul Cyr - Director, Institutional Sales

Mr. Cyr joined Wedge Partners in 2009 to increase the distribution of the research product offering and investment consulting services. Prior to joining Wedge Partners in January 2009, Mr. Cyr was an Executive Director and senior institutional salesman for 23 years at Oppenheimer & Co.  He led the Midwest sales effort from the Chicago office for 15 years and established the Denver office in 2000 from which he expanded coverage to the West Coast focusing on both US Domestic and International Equities. Mr. Cyr entered the investment business as an equity analyst at UBS/O’Connor in Chicago and received an MBA from Northern Illinois University.

FINRA Registrations:  Series 7, 9, 10, 63, 79

Terry Walsh - Institutional Salesman

Terry Walsh joined Wedge Partners in 2009 as an institutional salesperson focused on distribution.  Prior to joining Wedge, Mr. Walsh was a junior salesman at Source Companies, a Cleveland-based employee benefits consulting firm.  He was also an equity research intern with Cleveland Research Company in the fall of 2008.  Mr. Walsh graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in English Literature from John Carroll University and earned his MBA from John Carroll’s Boler School of Business in December 2009.

FINRA Registrations:  Series 7, 63, 79

Justin Weil - Director, Institutional Sales

Mr. Weil is a 17 year Wall Street veteran.  He started his career in New York with Smith Barney in 1993.  From 2001 through 2007, Mr. Weil was with Morgan Stanley in institutional sales where he covered middle market accounts.  He moved to the buy-side in 2007 and has been a proprietary trader at both First New York and RBC/G-2 Trading. Justin graduated in 1993 with a Bachelor of Science in Management from the Freeman School of Business at Tulane University.

FINRA Registrations:  Series 7, 55, 63, 65

Ryan Smith - Director, Institutional Sales

Mr. Smith joined Wedge Partners in 2010 as a senior institutional sales trader in the Columbus, Ohio office.   After graduating from Bucknell University in 1992, Mr. Smith worked in New York City for Lehman Brothers and Alliance Capital.  Following 5 years in New York, Mr. Smith was a trader for Friess Associates in Greenville, Delaware and was also Managing Director of Equity Trading for Banc One Investment Advisors in Columbus, Ohio.  In 2004 Mr Smith briefly left the investment business and was a volunteer assistant football coach for the Ohio State Buckeyes. Most recently, Mr. Smith was Senior Vice President of Trading for Kevin Dann Partners and is actively involved in coaching youth football in his community.

FINRA Registrations:  Series 7, 55, 63, 65, 79

John Hogan - Director, Institutional Sales

John Hogan joined Wedge Partners in 2010.  Mr. Hogan began his career with Merrill Lynch in 1997 in Denver and later moved to New York with Merrill to work as a sales trader on the international side, trading equities, derivatives, emerging market sovereign debt and foreign exchange.  Mr. Hogan left Merrill in 2003 to obtain his MBA from the University of Denver.  Upon graduation from DU Mr. Hogan joined William Smith as an Institutional Sales Associate.  From there he relocated to Boston to join Moors and Cabot as a Vice President in Institutional Sales and then went on to the health care boutique Leerink in May of 2007.  Mr. Hogan is a graduate of Lake Forest College with a Bachelor of Arts in History and Spanish.  In addition to a Masters of Business Administration, Mr. Hogan has an MA in Spanish from Middlebury College.  Mr. Hogan is fluent in Spanish and loves to travel and ski as well as play ice hockey and golf.

FINRA Registrations:  Series 7, 63

John Kirby - Director, Institutional Sales

Mr. Kirby is an industry veteran who began his career at Smith Barney, where he worked from 1983 to 1990. From 1990 to 1995 Kirby was a Senior MD at Bear Sterns.  Mr. Kirby later relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1995 where he worked with Montgomery Securities.  He returned to his native New York in 2002 and joined Susquehanna Financial Group and helped them start their sales trading operation in New York.  Most recently John was with Abel Noser as Head of Institutional Sales.  Mr. Kirby is a graduate of Towson University.

FINRA Registrations:  Series 7, 55, 63

Jeff Andringa- Director, Institutional Sales

Mr. Andringa joined Wedge Partners in 2011 after three years with Stifel Nicolaus.  Mr. Andringa brings to Wedge 18 years of experience on both the sell-side and buy-side.  In addition to his time at Stifel Nicolaus, Mr. Andringa has been with Robert W. Baird, Dain Rauscher, Soundview and Jeffries prior to working on the buy-side at Thompson Investment Management.  Mr. Andringa graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a BBA in Finance.  While at the University of Wisconsin Mr. Andringa played hockey for the Badgers for four years where they won 2 NCAA National Championships, in 1981 and 1983. Mr. Andringa earned his MBA from Northwestern University's  Kellogg School of Management.

FINRA Registrations:  Series 7, 55, 63

Investment Banking

Evan Morgan - CEO

Mr. Morgan is the Chief Executive Officer of Wedge Partners Corporation.  Mr. Morgan's most recent position was Executive Managing Director of FTN Midwest Securities, a division of FTN Financial and First Horizon Corp. Mr. Morgan headed that firm’s 35-person Institutional Sales team. Mr. Morgan was a founding member of Midwest Research and served as its Chairman and CEO prior to its acquisition by First Tennessee Bank. During his tenure, FTN Midwest and Midwest Research were repeatedly named Best of the Boutiques and Regionals by Institutional Investor Magazine.  Midwest Research grew from a 12-person specialty research boutique to a regional firm with close to 200 employees across the country and approaching $100 million in revenues from various lines of business. Mr. Morgan earned an AB in Economics and History from Columbia University and earned his MBA from Case Western Reserve University's Weatherhead School of Management in 1994.

FINRA Registrations:  Series 7, 24, 63, 79

Operations

Terry Nickels - Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Nickels joined Wedge Partners in 2007 as Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Nickels has over 15 years of financial services experience in the brokerage and investment banking industry. He is responsible for the financial matters of the firm, and oversees the operational and accounting areas. Previously, Mr. Nickels was the Chief Financial Officer for Geronimo Financial Inc, and the Vice President/Controller of Capmark Capital Markets. Additionally, Mr. Nickels has numerous years of experience in the financial and operations areas of other broker dealers and was a Management/Inter-Territory Accountant with PriceWaterhouseCoopers in Moscow, Russia. Mr. Nickels received his B.A. in Business Administration from Western State College of Colorado, with an emphasis in Small Business.

FINRA Registrations:  Series 27

Katie Cyester - Chief Compliance Officer

Katie Cyester is the Chief Compliance Officer and came to Wedge Partners with over 15 years of financial services experience in investment management, brokerage and research.
Ms. Cyester joined Wedge Partners in 2003, initially serving in Compliance & Operations and supporting numerous institutional equity accounts. Ms. Cyester previously worked for more than eight years at Charles Schwab & Co. in various roles as an Senior Investment Specialist in San Francisco and Denver. She was responsible for the successful implementation of the Women's Investing Network in the Denver area as well as presenting Investor Education classes for Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.
She attended the University of Nevada Las Vegas with a major in Hotel/Restaurant Management.

FINRA Registrations:  Series 7, 9, 10, 23, 55, 63, 65, 79, 87

Michelle Beinlich - Senior Compiance and Operations Specialist

Michelle Beinlich joined Wedge Partners in 2007 as a member of the Operations Department. She began her career eight years prior, working as a mutual fund accountant for PFPC, a division of PNC Bank. Ms. Beinlich spent several years with Deutsche Asset Management, where she worked as an Institutional Accountant, and aided in the restructuring of operational processes and systems conversions resulting from consolidations between their New York, Chicago and Boston offices. Ms. Beinlich has her BS in Finance from the University of Arizona.

FINRA Registrations:  Series 7, 9, 10, 63, 79

David Bullen - Operations Manager

Mr. Bullen brings nearly 15 years of operational and financial services experience in the brokerage and investment banking industry to Wedge. He began his career in London, England working in the back office operations of numerous broker dealers. He also held equity international middle office positions at Bear Stearns, ANZ bank and Baring Investment Management.  Since moving to the U.S, Mr. Bullen has worked in the middle office at ABN AMRO in NYC and more recently in Denver as a Financial Representative at Fidelity Investments.  Mr. Bullen received his B.S. in Business Management from University of Phoenix.

FINRA Registrations:  Series 7, 9, 10, 55, 63, 65, 79