After more than 44 years on Wall Street, Irwin "Flash" Levenstein announced his retirement from Merrill Lynch & Co. Levenstein, whose retirement will be effective February 1, is the director of the firm's international broker-dealer trading desk in New York. Levenstein joined Merrill Lynch in 1995 with the firm's acquisition of New York's Smith NewCourt. He had begun his career in 1954 at Smith NewCourt predecessor Carl Marks & Co., working as a messenger part-time while still in high school.
Leonard Drachtman joined the New York office of A.G. Edwards & Sons as a senior sales trader. Drachtman was previously a senior sales trader at Baltimore-based BT Alex. Brown & Sons. He will report to Tom Giandereggio, vice president and manager of sales trading at A.G. Edwards.
Coastal Securities hired Gail Schaeffer as an over-the-counter trader in the firm's Dallas headquarters. Schaeffer was previously an equity trader at Capital Institutional Securities in Dallas. She will report to Al Anderson and Bonnie Chambers. Anderson is the head of Coastal Securities' trading desk, and Chambers assists Anderson in the management of the desk.
Paul Kujawa joined the Denver desk of Cleary Gull Reiland & McDevitt as a sales trader. He was previously a sales trader at the trading arm of Bridge Information Systems in Chicago. Kujawa will report to Bob Neugebauer, head of the firm's equity operations in Denver.
James Allwin retired as president of Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter & Co.'s institutional investment-management arm. Allwin, 45, oversaw the management of $156 billion of institutional assets heading New York's Morgan Stanley Asset Management, West Conshohocken, Pa.'s Miller, Anderson & Sherrerd, and the parent firm's private-equity group. He was replaced by Richard Worley. Worley was previously chairman of Miller, Anderson & Sherrerd, an institutional money manager Morgan Stanley acquired in 1996.
Dallas-based Capital Institutional Services (CIS) recently received approval from the U.K. Securities and Futures Authority to launch equity trading and fixed-income operations in the U.K. Operations will be based in London, and David Phillips was hired as managing director of the new London office. Phillips was previously a 36-year veteran of J.P. Morgan Investment Management. Most recently, he directed all trading functions in the firm's London office.
CIS also hired James McGill, who will serve as CIS's director of sales trading. McGill joined the firm from NatWest Stockbrokers in London, where he directed all trading functions.
In a close and controversial election, members of the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) voted to unseat chairman Patrick H. Arbor. David P. Brennan, a soybean trader who was popular with floor traders, defeated Arbor in the vote, 608 to 589. Arbor had been in office as chairman for six years, and was running against Brennan for an unprecedented sixth term as chairman. It was reported that CBOT members had been critical of Arbor's commitment to technology, and his proposed alliances with other exchanges.
New York's Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette promoted David S. Moore to managing director of U.S. equities. In his new position, Moore will be responsible for all aspects of DLJ's dollar-denominated business. He will report to Stuart Robbins, managing director, head of global equities at DLJ. Moore will continue in his repsonsibilities as managing director, head of global-equities trading.
DLJ also promoted James W. Ancey to managing director of U.S. institutional equity sales. Ancey, previously the associate director of U.S. institutional equity sales, will direct all of the firm's U.S. research-sales activities. He will report to Moore.
Dennis J. Roberts, the founder and former chairman of Baltimore's Hamilton Capital Partners, moved to McLean, Va. to found and chair the McLean Group. The McLean Group is a privately-owned investment bank and advisory firm providing companies with merger-and-acquisition, capital-placement and corporate-finance services. The firm currently has nine employees, including two partners and five investment bankers. Operations began in October.
Terry Clontz resigned as president and chief executive of New York's IPC Information Systems, a provider of financial trading systems. Clontz accepted an offer to head Starhub, a burgeoning information-communications company in Singapore. Gerald E. Starr succeeded Clontz as president and chief executive of IPC. Starr will continue in his responsibilities as president of IPC's trading-systems division.
First Data Investor Services Group in Westborough, Mass. promoted Lynn A. Duffy to vice president of the central control group. Duffy will be responsible for the firm's investment database, which includes corporate actions, pricing, performance measurement and security master files. She was promoted from the fund-accounting and administration division. First Data Investor Services Group is the mutual-fund, distribution and retirement-services unit of First Data Corporation, an Atlanta-based leader in commerce and information systems.
Lee Cutrone was named executive managing director of Boston-based Thomson ESG. Cutrone was named to the newly-created position to focus the company on global straight-through processing. Previously, Cutrone was managing director for the Americas for Thomson ESG. His previous position was filled by Jasmine Whitbread. Whitbread served most recently as deputy managing director for the Americas at the firm. Thomson ESG provides technology-based workflow solutions for the investment community.
The trading department of Gruntal & Co. in New York recently relocated to One Liberty Plaza. The department's new telephone number is 212-820-8400.