BB&T eliminated dozens of employees at its Riverfront Plaza offices in July.
It didn’t take long for many recently laid off local BB&T workers to land on their feet.
At least two firms, including one local and one from out-of-town, have snatched up stock pickers and analysts who were abruptly cut by the banking giant’s securities arm in July.
New York-based Seaport Global Securities seized on the chance to open its first outpost in Richmond by landing seven former BB&T Capital Markets workers, it announced Tuesday.
The company, which has 300 employees at eight offices around the country, hired a group led by senior analysts Mark Levin, Matt McCall, Kevin Sterling and Rhem Wood to fill out its coverage of publicly traded companies in the air freight, logistics, trucking, maritime, coal, railroads and other industries.
Levin, McCall, Sterling and Wood join Seaport Global as managing directors. They, along with associate analysts Reuben Garner, William Horner and Nathan Martin all worked as a team at BB&T.
“Most of us have worked together for several years,” said Levin, a Richmond native who previously worked at Davenport & Co. prior to his six years at BB&T.
“The entire equity research department was let go (at BB&T). That created an opportunity for us to look at firms and for other firms to look at us.”
Levin said the group liked what Seaport had to offer.
“I think it’s a firm that emphasizes the right things, first of which is work-life balance,” he said. “Second, it’s a firm with tremendous potential for growth.”
The new Richmond office adds to Seaport Global branches in New York, New Orleans, London, Miami, Houston and elsewhere. Its nearest office to Richmond is in Bethesda, Maryland
Scott Lynch, Seaport Global managing director, said the move into Richmond is part of a broader growth plan.
“We’re expanding our equity product and were taking advantage of what we consider to be dislocation in the industry,” Lynch said. “We’ve been very patient… we were able to interview some very talented people.
“We felt like we could airlift the entire team out (of BB&T),” he said.
BB&T said in July that 61 Richmond employees were being laid off. Of those, about 22 were senior analysts, said Levin, adding that the bulk have already landed new gigs.
Monday was the group’s first day on the clock at Seaport.
The company is still working to finalize office space in Richmond. Lynch said the company will be downtown, but would not say what buildings it is considering.
Elsewhere downtown, locally-based financial firm Thompson Davis & Co. has also grabbed some talent left available by BB&T.
Thompson Davis & Co. founder and CEO Bill Davis said the firm hired Adam Thalhimer, who had been a senior research analyst at BB&T and was with the company since 2003.
Thalhimer tracks stocks in the building materials and construction sector. He started with Thompson Davis on Monday as a partner at the firm.
“Adam was one of the top producers in the entire firm so we’re very happy to have him on board,” Davis said, proudly adding that Thompson Davis is one of, if not the only locally based firm that still has an in-house equity trading department.
“When I started in the industry 27 years ago there were quite a few,” Davis said.
Thompson Davis now has 18 employees in three offices in Richmond, Raleigh and Sarasota, Florida.
BB&T eliminated dozens of employees at its Riverfront Plaza offices in July.
It didn’t take long for many recently laid off local BB&T workers to land on their feet.
At least two firms, including one local and one from out-of-town, have snatched up stock pickers and analysts who were abruptly cut by the banking giant’s securities arm in July.
New York-based Seaport Global Securities seized on the chance to open its first outpost in Richmond by landing seven former BB&T Capital Markets workers, it announced Tuesday.
The company, which has 300 employees at eight offices around the country, hired a group led by senior analysts Mark Levin, Matt McCall, Kevin Sterling and Rhem Wood to fill out its coverage of publicly traded companies in the air freight, logistics, trucking, maritime, coal, railroads and other industries.
Levin, McCall, Sterling and Wood join Seaport Global as managing directors. They, along with associate analysts Reuben Garner, William Horner and Nathan Martin all worked as a team at BB&T.
“Most of us have worked together for several years,” said Levin, a Richmond native who previously worked at Davenport & Co. prior to his six years at BB&T.
“The entire equity research department was let go (at BB&T). That created an opportunity for us to look at firms and for other firms to look at us.”
Levin said the group liked what Seaport had to offer.
“I think it’s a firm that emphasizes the right things, first of which is work-life balance,” he said. “Second, it’s a firm with tremendous potential for growth.”
The new Richmond office adds to Seaport Global branches in New York, New Orleans, London, Miami, Houston and elsewhere. Its nearest office to Richmond is in Bethesda, Maryland
Scott Lynch, Seaport Global managing director, said the move into Richmond is part of a broader growth plan.
“We’re expanding our equity product and were taking advantage of what we consider to be dislocation in the industry,” Lynch said. “We’ve been very patient… we were able to interview some very talented people.
“We felt like we could airlift the entire team out (of BB&T),” he said.
BB&T said in July that 61 Richmond employees were being laid off. Of those, about 22 were senior analysts, said Levin, adding that the bulk have already landed new gigs.
Monday was the group’s first day on the clock at Seaport.
The company is still working to finalize office space in Richmond. Lynch said the company will be downtown, but would not say what buildings it is considering.
Elsewhere downtown, locally-based financial firm Thompson Davis & Co. has also grabbed some talent left available by BB&T.
Thompson Davis & Co. founder and CEO Bill Davis said the firm hired Adam Thalhimer, who had been a senior research analyst at BB&T and was with the company since 2003.
Thalhimer tracks stocks in the building materials and construction sector. He started with Thompson Davis on Monday as a partner at the firm.
“Adam was one of the top producers in the entire firm so we’re very happy to have him on board,” Davis said, proudly adding that Thompson Davis is one of, if not the only locally based firm that still has an in-house equity trading department.
“When I started in the industry 27 years ago there were quite a few,” Davis said.
Thompson Davis now has 18 employees in three offices in Richmond, Raleigh and Sarasota, Florida.