Gar Wood Securities

Gar Wood Securities, LLC is an American full service boutique institutional broker-dealer that started business in 2006. The principals are Robert Jersey, Manuel Ayala, Mike Tattas, Sherry Gouwens, and Dennis Gerecke.

Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, the same building as the Chicago Board of Exchange, Gar Wood Securities is a broker-dealer that has earned top placement in annual surveys conducted by Global Custodian, a leading quarterly magazine covering the international securities service business.

Gar Wood's main lines of business include electronic trade execution (DMA or API) of equities, options and futures, CBOE floor brokerage, clearing services for ACTIVE traders, independent contractors and small broker dealers, investment banking, third-party marketing, and institutional brokerage sales and trading.

Awards

2010 Global Custodian prime brokerage survey results showed Gar Wood Securities as a top mini prime-broker. 1st place finish in the following categories: Overall best mini prime-broker, client services, margin, operations, securities lending, financing. 2nd place finish in the following categories: Consulting, value, cap intro.

2011 Global Custodian prime brokerage survey results listed Gar Wood Securities as the 2nd place finisher out of all prime brokers including all of the major brokerage firms

Key personnel

Robert Jersey - President and CEO
Mr. Jersey has over 35 years of experience in the securities industry and he is currently the President and CEO of Gar Wood Securities, LLC, a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) broker/dealer, which he co-founded in 2003 to service hedge funds, proprietary traders, registered investment advisers and high net-worth individuals. From 1997 to 2003 Mr. Jersey was a Senior Vice President, and Head of ABN AMRO's Prime Brokerage Group. During 1995-1997 Bob was the Associate Director of Operations at Montgomery Securities, where he worked closely with the firm's newly-formed prime brokerage unit. Prior to that role Mr. Jersey held numerous management positions at The Chicago Corporation from 1975–1995, including Senior Vice President and Manager of Correspondent Clearing. From 1973 to 1975, Mr. Jersey worked for First Options of Chicago in their operations department and on the CBOE trading floor; in 1972 he began his career working in the Futures Operations Department of Bache & Co. Mr. Jersey maintains the Series 7, 8, 9, 10, 24, 53, 63 and 79 securities licenses.

Dennis Gerecke - Partner, Executive Vice President and COO
Mr. Gerecke brings over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry to his role as Executive Vice President and COO of Gar Wood Securities, LLC, a position he has held since 2003. His primary focus is on client service, correspondent clearing, and brokerage operations. Prior to joining Gar Wood, Mr. Gerecke served as Vice President and Manager of Client Services for the Professional Brokerage Services division of ABN AMRO Inc. (1995–2003), where he managed day to day operations and created strong relationships with clients and developed a reputation of addressing client's needs in a timely manner. Prior to that role, Mr. Gerecke was the operations manager at Gardner Rich & Co. a NASD institutional broker/dealer that cleared through Chicago Corporation and Merrill Lynch. Between 1989 -1994 Dennis was as an Assistant Vice President of Correspondent Clearing for The Chicago Corporation, where was supervised the client service team. Mr. Gerecke managed the securities trade processing department of Mesirow Financial from 1984 to 1989, where was responsible for daily trade processing and reconciliations. Mr. Gerecke earned a BA in Business Administration at Lewis University. He maintains the Series 4, 7, 24, and 63 securities licenses.

External links

• garwoodsecurities.net Gar Wood Securities, LLC Company website