• resilience and stability of the packaging sector
• increased demand for packaging solutions driven by the rise of e-commerce
• continued expansion of global trade, and the growth of emerging markets

In this interview, Scott Daspin, director of investment banking at Triad Securities, and Paul Marino, head of the Private Equity Group at Sadis & Goldberg, share their expertise and insights on the past developments in, current state of, and prospects for the packaging sector. Both offer extensive industry knowledge and experience – Daspin has a productive history of developing new relationships and identifying and closing successful transactions, and Marino focuses his practice in matters concerning financial services, corporate law, and corporate finance – and provide valuable perspectives on the trends in the packaging sector and their implications for future M&A activity.

Q. Private equity led the way in 2022 – accounting for nearly 54% of deals in the packaging space. Why do you think this was the case?

Marino: In an era of space exploration and artificial intelligence, it is somewhat surreal to think that there is a growing industry that would have been familiar to the first Sumerian priest-king of Babylon in 3000 B.C.: containerization. Given the continued importance of packaging, it’s no surprise that smart money is and always will be attracted to this sector. Many of the middle-market operators are family-owned, which lends itself to improved efficiencies. Investors recognize the value and potential for growth in an industry that serves a wide range of industries, from food and beverage to consumer goods and pharmaceuticals.

Q. Are there any strategies that private equity firms are using to create value and achieve growth?

Daspin: Private equity firms have left their mark on the packaging sector by using the “buy-and-build” strategy. This involves acquiring a portfolio of companies, within the same or related industries, and then integrating and consolidating them to create a larger, more efficient, and competitive business.

Due to the fragmented nature of the packaging industry, where there are many small- to mid-sized players but few large players with scale, investors can acquire multiple companies and integrate them to achieve greater economies of scale, reduce costs, and produce higher profit margins.

Q. It has been said that 2023 will test the notion that the packaging industry is recession-proof. Do you agree with this assessment? What are some trends to watch?

Marino: Newton’s Third Law of Motion states that “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” This concept is analogous to business cycles. Over the past two years, post-pandemic over-exuberance has been balanced by a deeply pessimistic outlook for 2023.

However, macroeconomic uncertainty has the potential to significantly impact the packaging sector in the coming year. In light of ongoing political tensions, shifts in global trade policies, and an uncertain economic landscape, many companies may choose to delay investments and reduce spending on packaging. This could lead to a slowdown in the demand for packaging materials, affecting the growth of the industry. Additionally, if businesses begin acting cautiously toward their budgets, there may be a shift toward cost-saving packaging solutions, which could challenge the innovation and development of new packaging technologies.

Nevertheless, history shows that the packaging sector should remain resilient. The rapid growth of e-commerce and the resulting increase in home deliveries will drive demand for innovative packaging solutions that can protect and preserve products during transportation. Moreover, as consumers become increasingly conscious of the environmental impact of packaging, demand for sustainable packaging materials and solutions will grow. And the continued expansion of global trade and the growth of emerging markets will create new opportunities for the packaging industry to serve a wider range of customers and industries.

Q. Can you walk us through some of the deals that you worked on over the past year? Were there any common threads?

Daspin: Most of my packaging deals involve family-owned businesses that are both profitable and financially self-reliant. The typical owner is either looking for a way to transition to retirement or simply to find an opportunity to liquidate – sellers often have 85% or more of their net worth tied up in their business.

It is interesting to note that the highest bidder is not always the best solution: sellers often prioritize working with buyers who will continue to maintain operation of their company beyond the sale. For example, sellers will often turn down a higher initial bid from a financial buyer in favor of working with a private equity-backed strategic buyer offering a less competitive valuation but with an opportunity to invest some of their equity back in and remain actively involved in the company, with a path to succession planning. As a result, much of my time on a transaction is spent trying to match the desired outcome of the seller with those of the buyer that meets those criteria.

Q. The trend of more states enacting extended producer responsibility laws continued in 2022. Can you tell us about these laws and what they mean for packaging companies?

Marino: Following the actions of their counterparts in Oregon and Maine in 2021, legislators in California and Colorado enacted EPR laws designed to help reduce waste from packaging and containers. These bills, though not entirely identical, require large producers of packaging and containers to take responsibility for the costs associated with collecting and disposing of their products. Also, they set targets to encourage producers to use more sustainable packaging and materials. Most of the new laws also require companies to provide information about the recyclability of, as well as provide collection systems for the recycling of, their packaging.

Q: What advice do you offer to a potential seller post-closing?

Daspin: Mainly, I make sure they understand their role in the company going forward and what their responsibilities are to the buyer. Some business owners may never have worked for anyone before, so they might need to take some time to understand the new corporate structure or reporting requirements. Also, because the employees of the company are not typically aware of the transaction until closing, I recommend they take some time to understand how the outcome of the sale will affect their people. They should also know how to communicate to vendors and customers post-transaction. One successful trend I’ve seen is extending announcements by 20 to 30 days, so the seller can communicate their messaging before their stakeholders hear it from other sources. I think it’s important to know what your messaging will be and what you’re allowed to say to employees, clients, and vendors.

Q. Are there any legal concerns that must be negotiated in order to arrange a smooth and successful acquisition or sale of a packaging company?

Marino: The purchase and sale of a business are the most important transactions a business owner can undertake, rivaled only by initial organization or liquidation. The combination of drastic change for all the players involved with financial and legal due diligence gives these transactions their characteristic drama and complexity. While not unique to a packaging transaction, several items, such as customer, vendor, and employee contracts, deserve increased scrutiny in the process of purchasing a packaging company.

Note from the author and interviewees:

These materials have been prepared and circulated for general information only and are not intended to provide recommendations with respect to any security. The information and opinions contained in these materials speak only as of the date of receipt of these materials and are subject to change without notice. Investors are cautioned that statements regarding future prospects may not be realized and that past performance is not indicative of future results. These materials do not constitute an offer, or a solicitation of an offer, to buy or sell any securities or other financial instruments. Nothing in these materials constitutes or should be construed to be accounting, tax, investment or legal advice. Additional information regarding the contents of these materials is available upon request.

Triad Securities Corp. is a registered U.S. Broker Dealer, member of SIPC, FINRA and licensed with various state securities regulatory authorities.

Q. The last two months have been historic and challenging, especially for businesses in New York, the hardest hit area of the U.S. What have your main concerns been during this time?

A. We have been focused on the Triad Securities family, and customer service, which is no different than any other time. Although we moved out of our financial district offices in March, our clients’ businesses have not stopped or even slowed. If anything, we have been busier than ever with all of the secondary pricings and public company fund raising of all kinds.

What’s amazing is that our service has been so seamless that many of our customers didn’t even realize that the entire Triad team was working remotely. We have had a number of customers ask us about this, since they didn’t notice any downtime, even during the transition period.

Our clients, including professional traders, hedge funds and family offices have very high standards and for them to comment on seamless operations is a credit to the team.

Q. Give us an overview on what you are thinking about reopening your Wall Street area office

A. In these unusual times my team and I have to figure out how our people can get back to the Canyon of Heroes withoutjeopardizing their health. (Triad offices are on lower Broadway in New York City.)

The question is do we open over the summer, or wait until fall when there could be a vaccine?

I, for one, believe that the interaction that goes on every day and the relationships we build within our firm are irreplaceable.  We are not an organization where everyone sits at their desks without speaking. We actively share ideas and test concepts frequently in impromptu discussions, often related to market activity. This ongoing live discussion and vetting has tremendous benefits for our clients who are seeking insight into particular securities as well as trends.

We want to get back to that live interaction as soon as we can.

Q. What factors are driving your thoughts as you move forward?

A. Well first it is important to understand that we are a family here: team members have been with the company for an average of 18 years and we are not taking anyone’s concerns lightly. I brought everyone into the process with a survey of six yes or no questions. We asked questions such as “are the trains & buses your biggest concern?” or “is driving a possibility for you?” Answers were shared only with the executive team to give us an idea who was, and was not, comfortable coming in and under what conditions.

With this information, we set the date as June 1st originally, then moved it forward to June 15th when the governor changed the opening dates.

My goal is to get everyone, except the people with pre-existing medical conditions or the ones not ready to come into the office for any reason, 2-3 times a week to spend time with each other throughout the summer.  That should keep the office no more than half full and also bring back the new normal.  That said, the message from me continues to be: if you are not comfortable, do not come in!

Q. How do you see your office reopening rolling out?

A. As a first step I am sending in 2 or 3 IT personnel in early June to check on all computers and move desks farther apart so,even with a full house, people will be 6-10 feet away from each other.  This will be a good test run for allowing more people to come into the office.

Then we can move forward with 8-10 people out of 35 coming into the office for the first two weeks beginning June 15th, to correspond with the lifting of the New York Pause on that date.

We are asking that none of our team use public transportation, as this can increase exposure, and we will pay for parking. I don’t see traffic being bad until at least September, since schools are out all summer, and I expect many people to still be working from home.  Our group is an innovative bunch and keen to get back to the office, and I wouldn’t be much surprised to see some of our traders piloting a river boat to get here.

During the first two weeks, we will be learning what is working and what doesn’t. Based on that analysis, along with team feedback, we will continue amending our rollout plan.

Q. How has the pandemic experience compared with other crisis situations?

A. In the last 25 years we have been through two life threatening disasters, 9/11 and Superstorm Sandy. So, while a rapidly spreading virus, like Covid-19, has different impacts, we have honed our emergency response capabilities.

We were alert to the news tracking the first cases and official response in the area. New York State announced a state of emergency on March 10 followed shortly by the containment zone in suburban New Rochelle.

We reviewed all operations to ensure that we would be able to operate in any of the potential likely scenarios. By the time the full shut-down came 10 days later, our Operations and IT staff had ensured that team members could continue to serve clients in our high-touch style, even if they are out of the office.

Because our traders and teams are always available by phone, especially since many of our clients use our trading desk, this shift was simpler than it could have been. Brokerages that depend more on technology platforms to communicate with customers, may have struggled with a sudden influx of calls.

In reality, we have had to be agile during this time. During Sandy we successfully spent 3-4 days in our redundancy office in New Jersey and we moved to One State St Plaza for 3 weeks immediately following 9/11. But that kind of solution is not possible in this case and we have monitored rolling health metrics and ongoing guidance from public officials throughout the tri-state area to aid in our decisions.

Q. What other precautions are you taking?

A. In addition to the above, team members will be asked to monitor themselves for fever and get tested for antibodies ASAP. We will be diligently cleaning all knobs and surfaces and reinforcing the “six feet apart” rule.  As we have since the beginning, we will monitor suggestions from the medical community and public health officials.

Q. What is your advice for other executives in New York and other hard-hit places?

A. I think everyone wants to live and work together in a safe way until medicine catches up and allows us to go back to how it was before. To do this, firms must be dedicated to staying agile, and responding appropriately to new information, especially from the medical community and local government. Additionally, I think it is especially important to listen to your people, hear their ideas and concerns. People are in varied situations, so pre-existing trust is very important here. You want your team to be as transparent as possible for everyone’s safety. I believe that steps towards reopening onsite should be ongoing, even if you can only take partial measures and that you continually monitor the success of your plans. By building up to a full onsite reopen, you will be ready when the time comes, and your firm will be the stronger for it.

About Triad Securities Corp.

Triad Securities, member FINRA and SIPC, is a full-service, agency-only brokerage firm. We provide superior and personalized Prime Brokerage Services to Hedge Funds, Family Offices, Managed Account Platforms, RIAs, Proprietary Trading Desks and Professional Traders. For more information, visit us at www.triadsecurities.com or contact us directly at sales@triadsecurities.com

]]> https://triadsecurities.com/news/what-kind-of-trading-desk-do-you-need-5-reasons-for-choosing-a-boutique-brokerage/ Sun, 24 May 2020 12:56:40 +0000 https://triadsecurities.com/?p=227

At Triad Securities Corp., we’ve worked hard for over 40 years to become true partners to our professional trading clients, providing them with a technology platform and level of service that is unparalleled. If this sounds like what you’re looking for, we’d welcome the opportunity to demonstrate to you what we prove to hundreds of the industry’s most discerning traders each day.

About Triad Securities Corp.
Triad Securities, member FINRA and SIPC, is a full-service, agency-only brokerage firm. We provide superior and personalized Prime Brokerage Services to Hedge Funds, Family Offices, Managed Account Platforms, RIAs, Proprietary Trading Desks and Professional Traders.

On Monday April 20th, Triad is going to host Triad Cares Day during which we will donate ALL COMMISSIONS to various local causes and charities, including:

• NYC Health & Hospitals – provides supplies to city hospital front-line workers

• Healthcare Heroes – supports the physical and emotional wellbeing of healthcare workers who are on the front lines

• Meals on Wheels – delivers meals to the home-bound elderly in NYC

• City Harvest – committed to rescuing and delivering food for 2.5 million New Yorkers

Additionally, some Triad employees have family members who are healthcare professionals working in hospitals, and may help suggest places in need.

What can you do?  Just trade with us!  We are donating all commissions to charity next Monday.  We will help you make a difference without writing a check or picking out a charity, just trading.  If you would like to add extra commissions please let the trader know, and if you are on REDI please call the trading desk to increase your rate.

We consider all of our clients part of the Triad Family, and we hope you join us to make a difference on Triad Cares Day.

Sincerely,

Kevin Schultz

Founded and led by industry veteran Hitesh Mittal, who previously served as head of AQR’s Global Trading Strategies Group and before that ran ITG’s algorithmic trading business, BestEx Research Group is an independent, high-performance algorithmic trading software provider. The firm’s broker-neutral trading solution combines expert consultation with sophisticated execution algorithms, a back-testing platform and multi-asset TCA capabilities, allowing investment managers to access the liquidity they need while minimizing trading costs and information leakage. 

Commenting on the Triad partnership, BestEx CEO Mittal said: “Triad has built a loyal client following over the past 45 years by focusing on service, independence and technological innovation. Those are many of the same tenets on which we’ve built our business, so we’re excited to partner with them to bring our high-performance platform to their client base.”

Kevin Schultz, Triad Securities Chairman, said: “The BestEx platform was built using robust quantitative design techniques and back tested with thousands of simulations to minimize spread costs, market impact and adverse selection. We believe this represents the next generation of algorithmic trading and are excited to add their innovative new suite of trading tools to our existing algorithmic offering.” 

He continued: “Our flexible and customizable trade execution platform allows traders to access a variety of algos using their preferred order entry method, from fully electronic all the way to spreadsheet. We specialize in servicing clients in whatever way best meets their workflow needs, and the BestEx platform will allow us to add an important new arrow to our quiver.”

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About Triad Securities Corp.

Triad Securities, member FINRA and SIPC, is a full-service, agency-only brokerage firm. We provide superior and personalized Prime Brokerage Services to Hedge Funds, Family Offices, Managed Account Platforms, RIAs, Proprietary Trading Desks and Professional Traders. For more information, visit us at www.triadsecurities.com or contact us directly at sales@triadsecurties.com. 

About BestEx Research Group

BestEx Research Group, LLC, an independent, high-performance algorithmic trading company, runs a complete end-to-end trading solution combining expert consultation with sophisticated execution algorithms, a back testing platform, and TCA for equities, futures and FX in a broker-neutral model that reduces trading costs for buy-side managers and allows the sell-side to offer a seamless trading solution to clients. Founded by a team of industry experts in advanced systemic trading, these next-generation algorithms access the liquidity managers need while minimizing trading costs and information leakage for asset classes in all markets. For more information and product demos, visit www.bestexresearch.com. 

But despite the gloom and doom forecast for IPOs by conference panelists, I think there are some steps regulators can take to help the smaller market participants, and improve the IPO process and the efficiency of capital markets along the way.

One of the first points the panels explored was the link between IPO activity and market health. The first panel, including a number of Economics professors, concluded, as we all know, that IPO activity is down sharply from peak levels, which is bad for the markets. To use an analogy, envision that the middle class is disappearing , as the path to the upper classes becomes increasingly difficult to navigate and the former strivers give up. I say this because the data is indicating that smaller companies are coming to similar conclusions and are not going public. Consequently, there are fewer options in which people can invest. The large corporations such as Facebook, Google and Microsoft survive and thrive, and only the unicorns such as Uber, Airbnb and the recent Snap can come public. From my viewpoint in the industry for decades, the panel confirmed a direct correlation between the trends in the IPO market and the downsizing of the brokerage business in general. In the late 1990s, the market featured 50-60 capable underwriters, many independent research houses and a stable of market makers and specialists. Today? There are 7-8 large banks with capital markets operations and 20-30 other banks that do underwritings poorly. There are very few independent analysts, and many more high frequency traders , who spoof the markets instead of helping investors allocate the nation’s capital .

The second panel pointed out that, behind the scenes of the capital-raising industry, new owners of capital have emerged, with different objectives and time frames that ultimately may pose a risk to innovation. The panelists once again pointed out some of the obvious: more money is in private hands, private markets (PE companies buying and selling to one another) and private companies than 20 years ago. Chris Cooper, a very smart Global CFO of Sequoia Capital, argued that these changes are beneficial because his firm runs billions of dollars not just from rich people but also for pension funds, mutual funds (with IRA money) and public employee funds. He says the ‘average Joe’ is benefiting from this PE and VC investing, even though it has stymied the IPO markets. He is correct, but the issue is more complex. I believe there are still problems with corporations and professional money managers buying these small firms, as opposed to allowing them to grow on their own and potentially take on more risk than a professional money manager might allow. Slowing the growth of this group of companies could well lead to the loss of innovation. For example, what if Google was bought out by IBM or GE before its IPO ? Do you think we would have Waymo? My guess is no. Still Steven Bochner, a partner from Wilson Sonsini Goddrich & Rosati, seems to think that the IPO world should pick up later this year. Both Mr. Cooper and Adam Smith of KKR also believe more companies will come to public markets than we’ve seen, as the private markets are saturated and to make money in the take over world is very difficult right now. We shall see.

The third panel, led by Rick Fleming, an Investor Advocate at the SEC, addressed the future for IPOs — and continued to paint the bleak picture. The panel reiterated points already made: if you are not a big player with good money behind you and a solid longevity plan, then don’t look to the U.S. public markets for help raising money. This third group was supposed to discuss ‘How to Revive the IPO Market’, and I think every panel’s lack of ideas for revival was the biggest failure of the day. Not one person made a suggestion to the audience about anything that they thought might even help the IPO business gain momentum. The panels all decided that regulation was needed (think President Trump will listen to that?) but that the SEC should un-handcuff new issuers . And no one talked about current markets or its participants and what could be done.

So despite the promise of the day’s topic, the symposium ended up being a place where everyone was willing to complain and few were able to forecast any change. No one brought up the topic of the IPO market in 2000 and the internet bubble, with its flurry of questionable companies that went public, as a bad thing. No one said anything about the Banking Act of 1933, better known as Glass-Steagall. Now I am no politician, and whether bringing back a 37-page document (Dodd-Frank is over 1,000 pages) would be good or not is not my end goal. I do know that having the SEC help sustain the brokerage industry should be a priority if Washington really wants to help the IPO markets. And re-enacting at least elements of Glass-Steagall could help accomplish this by separating the super large banks from the investment banking world.

If we are trying to revive the IPO markets, why not discuss the penny stock problem on the Street? Or how about the currently tangled clearing situation? These are problems and issues for small- and mid-size brokers within the brokerage industry. These issues are linked very closely to the IPO market: a risky IPO that doesn’t go well and gets little industry support ends up a penny stock too quickly, with no markets or banks to help clear and trade these securities. Opportunities are lost.

Regulations are necessary in our business, and fraud is the elephant in the room that too many in our industry shrug off trying to market and sell these smaller companies. With the internet and social media as tools, perhaps vetting could be done by smaller players, without as much compliance bagg age. Is a qualified investor going to buy into a company with no website, officers who have been in jail or a corporate resolution in the Caribbean? It’s time to open the doors a little and set logical standards that companies can meet and investors can search. Indeed, this is already being done in the unregulated crowd-funding world online.

I would also like to suggest a new market designation of professional investor. The SEC has two choices right now: an investor is retail, or if the investor has more than $100 million under management, then the investor is institutional (qualified investors are for investment purposes, but not considered by the SEC for brokerage firms dealing with their customers). That’s a big gap. For example, if a customer is worth $10 million and is a professional trader and has an issue, then the SEC looks at such that person as retail. This needs to change. Europe has a program that could encourages transparency within the investment community and could be a model. In Europe, an investor can become regulated by the FCA simply by applying and paying nominal fees. With FCA accreditation, investors can open accounts quickly at major global financial institutions. The US needs to be able to designate all the professional players in its market as such. I think this type of program should relieve some of the litigation issues with the small IPOs.

In closing, I also want to ask the following: Do we want to help the IPO markets or do we want to further the advancement of the largest and strongest companies only? As a whole, it seems the government (all administrations) are trying to oversee just the huge banks — JP Morgan, Citi, Bank of America, Goldman and Morgan Stanley in particular. Smaller firms and outside players are then left to roll up into larger firms, whose basic business plan is only to tend to the segments, including the largest customers and investors. That’s despite the notion that small companies and small investors are the backbone of the US economy. If a real conversation is to take place with the SEC and all of the market participants on stage that day at NYU, then the seminar organizers should be sure to invite panel representatives from the small- or mid-sized firms who service these smaller investors and companies. I am available.

Kevin Schultz is the Chairman of Triad Securities Corp in New York, NY, a 40-year-old full service brokerage firm. His views are personal and statements of opinion, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Triad Securities Corp. Triad Securities Corp. is registered with the SEC and a member of FINRA.

Founded in 1976 and with corporate headquarters in the Wall Street area of New York City, Triad Securities Corp. is an introducing broker with over 20 years’ experience offering comprehensive Prime Brokerage services to accounts across all asset sizes. Triad particularly specializes in serving small to medium hedge funds, family offices, RIAs and professional traders.

In addition, Triad’s full-service execution desk and electronic execution platform offer clients direct access to algorithms, brokers, and exchanges. Triad is also a global source for clients seeking enhanced information on IPO, secondary, preferred and convertible bond offerings, with specialized personnel, software tools, and reports covering domestic and international markets.

Like most everybody else on the Street, he was hard working and aggressive. He was president of Ladenburg Thalmann Securities in the early 1970s. He was the whistleblower on the first Securities Investor Protection Corp. liquidation on the New York Stock Exchange, Weis, Voisin & Co.

But business didn’t come first for Richard, and I am a case in point. Back in 1966, he received two phone calls at once. One was from his boss at E.F. Hutton, giving him his registered rep number. Now he could make money. But the other was my mother telling him to come home because she was ready. The trades could—and would—come later.

After stops with Muriel Seibert, Bear Stearns and Wiesenberger, Richard started his own firm, Triad Securities, in 1976. Triad was based in the old Trinity Building, which is less than half a block from Zuccotti Park. Until he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in August 2011, just as the first protesters were setting up their tents, he literally occupied the Street, arriving in the office at 6:30 every morning and running his trading desk until the closing bell at 4 in the afternoon.

Yet as much as he loved the firm and the work—and in contrast to the stereotype of the Wall Street titan that Occupy Wall Street so clearly tried to perpetuate—Richard was even more dedicated to the people he managed and served. He wanted to help his employees, by giving them a job and teaching them a business. He wanted to help his customers. The customer is always right, he believed, and he always fought in the markets for the best price for the client.

Richard gave up opportunities for his own wealth to make sure his clients thrived. Never having a trading operation, he was able to let Triad do its best for the customer. Yes, he could have made more money trying risky ventures like trading. He could have navigated the rules and maneuvered around the Chinese walls. But he felt a moral obligation to not compete with the customer. That was how he lived his life.

He was molded from an old-school mentality, always talking about the next down market. In his view, unless you worked before 1975, you didn’t know what a recession was. Then 2000 came and the dot-com bubble burst. Times were tough. A few months later, the World Trade Center—two blocks away—was attacked and knocked down.

Yet Richard kept his focus amid the hysteria. He could see growth coming if he stayed true to his discipline. And the markets—including his initial focus area, initial public offerings—did recover. In the Great Recession of 2008-2009, his so-called “plodder style” allowed the firm to survive perhaps its greatest financial challenge, without losing an employee. Triad even recorded its biggest revenue year ever in 2010, his last full year of work.

Richard passed away from pancreatic cancer on Jan. 31, 2012, at age 71. He left behind his wife, Judith; daughters Cynthia and Carrie; sons Anthony and myself; and grandchildren Ryan and Rachel. He also left behind 32 employees who are dedicated to preserve his name and his legacy. That Richard Schultz legacy–to run an honest business, live by your word and look out for others–is to me the most important, especially in these uncertain political and socioeconomic times.

I don’t necessarily want to glorify him as a genius, but he was able to expand the business globally, and he did anticipate the growth of the hedge-fund industry by being an early provider of prime brokerage. More importantly, I want the 99.9% of Americans who don’t work on Wall Street to know that people like Richard Schultz exist, though they are not common and even more rarely seen in a place of greed and power.

Richard Schultz was a mentor, a friend and a larger-than-life personality who occupied Wall Street the right way for 45 years. Yes, my children will always remember him as grandpa, our employees will remember their boss and the customers will remember a fair business partner. I just wish the rest could have known that there is a right way to do business and help others while being a success.

Thank you Dad for showing me how to be a boss and good person.