WR Hambrecht + Co Team
William R. Hambrecht
Founder, Chairman and CEO
In 1968, Bill co-founded Hambrecht & Quist, an investment banking firm specializing in emerging high-growth technology companies. He founded WR Hambrecht + Co in 1998, introducing OpenIPO® as a means to level the playing field for both investors and issuers. Bill has served as a director for numerous private and public companies. He currently serves as a Director for Motorola Inc. and AOL Inc., is on the Board of Trustees for The American University of Beirut and serves on the Advisory Council to The J. David Gladstone Institute. In October, 2006, Bill was inducted to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Bill graduated from Princeton University.
Elizabeth Hambrecht
Co-CEO
Prior to joining WRH+Co, Elizabeth was employed by Salon Media Group first as CFO when she joined in 2003 and, in 2005, stepping up to President and CEO. Before joining Salon, Elizabeth was a co-founder and director of Asiacontent.com, a pioneer in Asia's Internet media and advertising industry. Prior to Asiacontent, she helped fund and launch Boom.com, Hong Kong's first electronic brokerage company, where she held the position of CFO from 1997 to 1998. Prior to Boom.com, Elizabeth was an equities analyst covering emerging markets at Goldman Sachs (Hong Kong) and before that at Baring Securities. Elizabeth is also a Trustee of the San Francisco Friends School and of Northern California Public Broadcast (NCPB). She graduated with a B.A. degree from Vassar College and studied Mandarin at the Taipei Language Institute.
Gary Esayian
Managing Director, Trading
Gary has over 20 years experience trading equities, options and futures on Wall Street both on the buy-side (Mitsubishi International) and sell-side (Merrill Lynch) as well as direct involvement in various venture capital portfolio companies in businesses outside financial services. Prior to joining WRH+Co, Gary was a senior vice president at Jefferies & Company for three years after that firm acquired Lawrence Helfant, Inc. where he was a senior partner and equity holder. He was primarily responsible for the firm's leading role of providing electronic access to the NYSE DOT/Super DOT platforms, now known as Direct Market Access (DMA), as well as agency execution technology via FIX platform gateways, both domestically and internationally. Gary holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Missouri and a MBA from St. Louis University.
Jim Donohue
Managing Director, Auction Products Group
Jim Donohue is a Managing Director in the Auction Products Group at WRH+Co. Prior to joining WRH+Co, Jim was a member of SoundView Technology Group.s Investment Banking Group. Prior to joining SoundView, Jim worked in a variety of operations and technology related positions at Chase Manhattan Bank for six years. Jim holds a B.A. in International Affairs from Georgetown University and an M.B.A. from the Stern School of Business, New York University.
David Marcus
Managing Director, Head of Distribution
David brings a combination of entrepreneurial expertise and financial industry background to WR Hambrecht + Co . He founded and built two companies; WorldStreet, a CRM and peer-to-peer communication platform for the financial services industry, acquired by Thomson Financial in 2002 and Grupo Arca, a direct marketing firm for the US Hispanic market. In addition, David has spent over 15 years in the institutional equity markets, most recently as a Senior Vice President at Lehman Brothers in New York and prior to that at ING Barings and Bankers Trust Company in London. David received his B.A. in Political Science from Boston University.
Matthew Regan
Managing Director, Retail Brokerage
Prior to joining WR Hambrecht + Co in 1999, Matt was at Fiserv Securities, formerly BHC Securities, where he worked on a number of interesting projects including the development of the OpenIPO auction for WR Hambrecht + Co. Matt is a graduate of St. Michael’s College, University of Toronto, and received a master’s degree from Villanova University.
Whitney J. White
Chief Technology Officer
Whitney joined WR Hambrecht + Co in April 2000 from Merrill Lynch where he worked on strategic projects in their Capital Markets Technology group. In his tenure at WRH+Co, Whitney has been central to the execution of all auction transactions. In his role as Chief Technology Officer, Whitney led the evolution and development of the firm's auction platforms. In his current role in the Auction Products Group, Whitney is responsible for auction mechanics and transaction execution. Whitney graduated with honors from Hamilton College with a BA in Computer Science and Psychology and holds dual MBA degrees from Columbia University and the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley.
