How has Sylvia Rocco, a sales trader at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, managed to cover accounts for 40 years, all at the same firm? She chalks up her longevity to her love of the business, the thrill of competition, loyalty, a willingness to keep learning and flexibility.
"I love what I do so much," Rocco said. "I’m having so much fun now, more than ever." Indeed, Rocco has witnessed the evolution of an industry-from the rise of institutional trading to the electronic trading revolution.
She recalls her first year as a sales trader in 1970 as a less complicated time to be a trader. That year the Dow Jones Industrials Average closed at 838.92 points, about the time when Watergate, the scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon, was just a building about to open.
Everything was done by hand when she started. Every order was teletyped or phoned to the floor of the exchange. There were listed-trading desks and over-the-counter trading desks. And company earnings releases were printed and mailed. An analyst’s report on a stock often took five days to arrive.
Learning Experience
For sales traders, the business was a phone call to the floor. And the job involved paper-lots of paper. "It was almost clerical, in a way, because you were dealing with so much paper," Rocco said.
In 1970, she started as an institutional sales trader in single stocks at Merrill Lynch. Today, 40 years later, she’s an institutional sales trader in single stocks at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. And during all those years on the cash desk, there are few days Rocco can recall when she has not loved her job.
"It’s been a lot of fun, and a constant learning experience," she said. "I like that I can come into the office early in the morning and when it looks like nothing’s going on and, unexpectedly, I can have a great day trading. I never know what’s going to happen; my job is never boring. It’s what I make it."
Her position as a sales trader has been a constant learning experience during her career, as the job has changed dramatically. It’s evolved to where Rocco said she must be a relationship manager, a student of the U.S. and global markets, and a fount of information on all of BofA Merrill’s products, as well as the capabilities and limits of the firm’s systems. In short, sales trading has undergone almost an industrial revolution, Rocco said.
"It’s harder today," she said. "Traders really need to think more. But it’s more intellectually stimulating."
Learning aside, nurturing relationships-with her clients, her position traders and her other colleagues-is her favorite part of the job. Her boss, Henry Mulholland, head of Americas cash equity trading, has been known to seat young sales traders next to Rocco so they can watch and learn from her skills at managing relationships.
The exercise has paid dividends, Mulholland said. "It’s a subtle, little trick that we have," he said. "Every once in a while, we move people next to Sylvia. And in 18 months, they’re better at their jobs."
Her customers appreciate her approach to relationship management. William Priest, the chief executive officer and portfolio manager at Epoch Holding Corp., said he’s been a client of Rocco’s for almost 40 years. To him, Rocco defines professionalism as a trader. "She’s the salt of the earth and thinks of her clients first, last and always," Priest said.
Another former buyside trader, Peter Cocuzza, has fond memories of working with Rocco, whom he called his mentor. She covered him while he traded for PaineWebber’s Mitchell Hutchins for more than 15 years. Cocuzza said he stayed in touch with Rocco after he moved to Oppenheimer Funds for eight years after that. She wasn’t Oppenheimer’s primary sales trading coverage, he said, but provided backup when needed. Cocuzza said Rocco adapted to electronic trading easily back in its early days and helped him to make trading decisions: electronic versus high touch.
Rocco began her days at Merrill Lynch as a trading assistant-a secretary, as she describes it. She worked in the sales department for several brokers who covered institutional clients. The position resembled a phone clerk’s, she said, relaying orders when the brokers were out at meetings.
Soon, the brokers concluded that Rocco would make a good sales trader, as she’d already built relationships with clients. After some hesitation, Rocco accepted the head trader’s offer and was promptly handed several dozen of the desk’s smaller or more difficult accounts. "Do something with them," she remembered them saying. And she did. "I loved it immediately," she said. "It’s constant action, constant competition."
Rocco remembered the learning process as one of trial and error. As she knew nothing about trading, she had to sit on the desk and learn by making mistakes. "Once you’ve shorted a stock on a downtick," she said, "you learn to never do that again."
But Rocco credits her earliest bosses, colleagues and clients as the source of her success. They were her mentors. As a result, she’s always enjoyed teaching younger sales traders. Rocco tries to mentor them, just as she was guided.
Ups and Downs
Rocco’s place in trading history is unmistakable, given the time frame of her career and the fact that she is a woman. She remembered how in 1975, she was one of only two women on the trading desk. In addition to seeing the ranks of women in trading grow over the years, Rocco also has noticed how their priorities have changed.
"I see more women who wouldn’t even think of leaving their careers," she said. "When they have children, they work around it. That’s what I did. I figured out a way to have my career and have my kids, too. And I really see that happening." Rocco has two grown sons.
Rocco married a commodities trader at Merrill, Ray Rocco, who retired 15 years ago. Being traders, each understood the other’s job. They could empathize and commiserate with each other on the ups and downs of the workday. And that’s helped them through Wall Street’s bigger trials over the years, such as the crash of 1987, the dotcom bust, Sept. 11 and the turmoil of 2008 and 2009.
And recent years have seen the contraction of the high-touch business. But Rocco insists that high-touch trading is far from dying. She still fields requests for capital and supplies color for both low-touch and high-touch trades. She has also noticed how even those wanting to trade electronically still want to talk to her on the desk.
"[The high-touch business] is definitely changing, and has definitely shrunk," Rocco said. "But I don’t think it’s dead. And I don’t see it going away."
During her four decades, Rocco has had opportunities to work at other firms, but she never felt compelled to take the jobs, even though they may have offered more money. She felt comfortable where she was and liked her colleagues.
Count her boss Mulholland as one of her fans. He praised her work ethic, focus and positive outlook during the dark days of 2008, when it appeared that the entire financial system was on the brink of collapse.
"She has a work ethic that would embarrass most people in the business," Mulholland said. "She absolutely comes with the same intensity and the same focus every day of the year. It’s really amazing. And she has a genuine love and passion for the business, for her clients and for the people she works with, and it just comes through in so many ways."
