Chris Yuknek joins Robert W. Baird & Co. as a program trader. Yuknek, a veteran of more than 25 years, began his career at Kidder Peabody in trading technology. He later moved to the program desk at ABN AMRO before running the desk at Prudential Securities, where he spent seven years before joining Baird. He reports to Emil Skulski, director of program trading.
Russell Investments has hired two senior executives from BGI to expand its exchange-traded fund business. James Polisson joins as managing director of Russell’s global ETF business, and Andrew Arenberg joins as managing director of global ETF distribution. Both were previously with BGI’s global iShares business. They are based in San Francisco.
Richard Burke joined the U.S. sales team for Options IT, builders of high-frequency trading infrastructure. In this role, he will cover the firm’s U.S. buyside and sellside client base. Prior to joining Options IT, Burke held senior institutional sales roles at NYFIX and Tradeware. At both, his focus was electronic trading and connectivity sales to the firms’ buyside and sellside client base.
Drew Miyawaki was promoted to head of Liquidnet’s European trading desk in London. An 11-year veteran who joined Liquidnet in 2007, Miyawaki is responsible for managing the firm’s London-based traders and expanding trading coverage in the Asian and Australian markets. Prior to joining Liquidnet, Miyawaki was a portfolio trader at Jefferies Portfolio Trading. Miyawaki reports to John Barker, head of Liquidnet Europe.
Nomura Securities International recruited five people from JonesTrading to staff its recently formed U.S. convertible bond desk. A sixth person was hired from CIBC World Markets. Mark Edgar, a 10-year veteran, joins as a managing director and the head of U.S. convertibles sales from JonesTrading, where he founded the convertible trading desk. Previously, he worked at Deutsche Bank as a director in global convertible bonds from 2000 to 2009. Douglas Finnegan, Chuck Manning, Gildo Niutta and Meredith Curley also join as sales traders. Joseph Venn, a 12-year veteran, joins as an executive director after eight years at CIBC World Markets in its proprietary U.S. convertible arbitrage group. All report to Ciaran O’Kelly, head of equities in the Americas.
