Our Team of Seasoned Professionals
Stuart J. Speckman, CFA, CFP
Chairman and Director of Product Development
Stu is the “math guy” of the group. He created the algorithms for our products. Also, he is the main writer of our white papers and promotional pieces.
Stu has a broad finance background. He was director, fund wholesaler, insurance agent, and sales assistant at several major financial firms. Like Mike R. (below), he understands portfolio theory and the financial sales process. After too many long commutes to lower Manhattan, he packed it in. At the height of the dot-com craze, he helped start a dot-com: Broker Village. The next day, the Nasdaq hit an all-time high. The “bubble” had burst. Most firms failed, but Broker Village survived. We are one of the last dot-coms still standing.
From 1997 to 2000, Stu was Director of Fee-Based Programs at Oppenheimer Funds. From 1990 to 1997, he was at Prudential Securities. He rose to Director of Marketing, Wrap-Fee Programs, before becoming a top wrap-fee wholesaler. He also worked at Shearson Lehman Brothers and Met Life, where he was a producing agent.
Stu received a B.A. in Chemistry from Cornell University and an MBA in Marketing from Syracuse University. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and a Certified Financial Planner (CFP).
Tidbit: Stu likes the outdoors, though he looks nothing like Grizzly Adams. He lived for three days in an igloo, paddled his kayak around the Statue of Liberty, and endured a 100-hour fast (four days and four hours without food) while hiking 25 miles out of the Rockies. That was all years before “Man vs. Wild” or “Survivorman” hit the airwaves.
Shash Patel
Partner and Chief Information Officer
Mr. Patel is the Chief Information Officer and a Broker Village partner. He has been with us since day-one. He is responsible for the architecture and development of our platforms. He leads our technology team working hands on with our software developers and data architects. He understands business requirements keenly in the context of technological solutions.
Shash has 30+ years of experience covering the alternative asset, commercial banking, private equity, and government sectors. His expertise is across the full development stack: code, performance, security, architecture, and integration.
He is also the CEO of a boutique technology consultancy (SysArch) and, until recently, the Global Head of Technology at an alternative capital group. Previously, he was the CIO at a top global hedge fund (Pequot Capital) and venture capital group. He’s held a senior positions at other global hedge funds along with JP Morgan’s hedge fund and private equity services group managing a global team.
Shash has taught graduate courses in information security at Fairfield University. He holds a Master of Science degree in Software Engineering from Fairfield University and a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems from Central Connecticut State University.
Tidbit: We think Shash really is James Bond. He’s our snappiest dresser. He can’t take one step without someone complimenting him on his appearance. Sean Connery and Daniel Craig, beware!
Steven S. Cohen, CFP, CPA/PFS
Senior Business Advisor
Steve is an advisor to Broker Village, focused on business development and marketing. He also serves as the primary banker and financier for our firm. Steve’s been with us since the early days and helped to develop our sister firm, Decision Wisdom. In fact, he secured the first sale for that firm (Skandia, the annuity provider).
For 30+ years, Steve has helped build financial services and technology businesses at blue-chip (Lehman, Morgan Stanley, Prudential) and entrepreneurial firms. With broad institutional and retail expertise, he raised capital in alternative and traditional channels. He also creates strategic alliances and consults on new business lines.
Steve is the founder and CEO of Gold Coast Advisors, a NY-based family office and merchant bank. He was also co-founder and President of eFrontiers. It was a pioneering managed account platform for institutional investors and family offices.
Mr. Cohen holds an MBA from New York University and a BS from the University of Buffalo.
Tidbit: Grab your board! When not at work, Steve can be found with his family at the beach, practicing for the surfing senior tour.
Michael S. Rosen, CFA
Director of Strategic Development
Mike helped found Broker Village in 2000. In the early days, he headed strategic development and led many of our sales meetings. Today he helps with high level strategy decisions, research, and securing resources for us.
Mike is well known to many advisors, particularly from the New York tri-state area. From 1983 to 2000 he was with The Rochester Funds, a hugely successful, multi-billion dollar investment firm. They specialized in municipal bond investing. He was a Managing Director and fixed income portfolio manager for most of that time. He was President of Rochester Fund Distributors. Then he was President of the Rochester Division of Oppenheimer Funds, as a result of their January 1996 acquisition by Oppenheimer.
Mike has a lot of credentials, including being named “Best Bond Fund Manager” by Business Week in 1992. From Lipper Analytical Services, he received a Performance Achievement Certificate for his #1 Rank for the five Years ending in 1995 and five years ending in 1996.
In 2001 he founded Context Capital Management, a San Diego-based hedge fund that specializes in convertible arbitrage. He is now Co-Chairman and was Chief Investment Officer. Since 2010 he has been the director of ETF sponsor, Reality Shares, Inc. He is a board member of a wireless technology firm, the Jewish Federation of San Diego, and Black Cat Decisions. He also is an entrepreneur and restaurateur. He owns several extremely successful, high-end eateries.
Mike has a BA in economics, and an MBA in finance and marketing, from the University of Rochester. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a trustee of the University of Rochester
Tidbit: The first names of everyone in Mike’s family start with the letter “M.” There are four kids and two adults. For you baseball fans, can you make the Vern Law connection?
Bruce Spates
Director of Analytics
Bruce is in charge of analytics design and structure. He’s now focused on the market-facing version of our Trade and Compliance Analyzer. Beyond that key tool, he advises Broker Village with regard to data visualization techniques, database integration protocols, and product development issues. He’s worked alongside us for more than ten years, helping to develop many of our industry’s most recognized tools.
With over 30 years of experience in the financial industry, Bruce has served in a variety of roles, from compliance and operations, to technology and product development. Most of that time was at FINRA. He has extensive expertise designing and building business and technical operations and creating innovative financial analysis tools. He is incredibly good at making complex and powerful financial tools easy to use and understand. Broker Village leverages his talents to the max.
Mr. Spates holds a BS from the University of Maryland in Production and Operations Management.
Tidbit: Bruce is a black belt in karate, an ocean sailor, and a scuba diver. He’s also a great chef. These days you’ll often find him on a mountain trail with his hound dog chasing sunsets.
Mike Norman, CFP, ChFC
Senior Advisor and Head of Sales
Mike has been with us from day-one. He’s an owner and, depending on the year, works with us on a full-time or advisory level. He writes strategic plans, assists with marketing efforts, and does sales! He’s our “been there, done that” guy.
Mike has a diverse background within the financial services industry. He has over thirty years of experience as a retail broker, product wholesaler, and sales executive. Those positions were at major money managers, brokerage houses, and fund firms.
Business development is his focus. He created and led many successful sales and marketing campaigns. He is known for bringing parties together, helping to negotiate long lasting, mutually beneficial partnerships. His efforts are guided by comprehensive strategic plans. The plans focus squarely on client needs, only then fitting-in the investments. Client firms include multinational, independent B/Ds, RIAs, banks, and insurers.
Mike earned his bachelor’s degree in business from the Keene State College and his Executive MBA from the Jack Welch Management Institute at Strayer University. He’s been on several industry committees, including those for the Financial Planning Association.
Tidbit: Mike is a former Eagle Scout. He enjoys the outdoors. All over his house you see pictures of him with fish – large and small…and most with big teeth! He caught them all over the world. From rivers to lakes to oceans, he’s caught it…and released it.
Analytics and Development Team
Programmers, designers, and project managers
Our development team comprises professionals who bring unique talents to our design, modeling, database, and software efforts. The team is led by Shash, with lots of help from Ugur and his additional crew. Their collective experience is extensive. Much of it comes from the finance vertical, but it also pulls from the defense and healthcare verticals, among others.
Under Shash’s leadership, the team is very agile, addressing internal and external initiatives. We create lots of analytics. Some are for public consumption. Others are internally-facing. The team continually develops innovative solutions that address our clients’ needs.
We are best-known for the external work that we supply to the financial services industry. That includes brokerage firms, fund firms, insurance companies, mortgage lenders, and regulators.
We also create analytics for other industries. Usually, that’s the recruiting, housing design, and high-end collectibles markets. Math and analytics can inform the decision-making for those industries as easily as it can for Wall Street. The “team” then expands to include architects, builders, recruiters, and collectibles dealers.
Our entire team is solely based in the U.S.
Non-Math Associates, Muses, and Gurus
Our Team of CPAs, Lawyers, and Statistical Analysts
At Broker Village, we love math. That’s no surprise. We also love tax and law. Almost every day we work with a CPA or lawyer. These folks are considered part of the team. They logged thousands of hours on our projects, for those of a sister company, Decision Wisdom (which handles 529 work), and for our housing and collectibles initiatives.
Our CPA work is very tax-intensive. For example, we codified the income tax savings due to a mortgage refi…for each state, income level, and filing status! We also codified the federal and state taxation rules for UGMA accounts (which was exceptionally complex).
Top CPAs audit some of our code. As applicable, clients receive an AICPA-compliant Determination Letter. It states that our tools do exactly as we claim. Capossela, Cohen, LLC (www.capossela.com ) does the work. They’re a 30+ person, very high-end CPA and consulting firm. Capossela is part of one of the world’s biggest accounting firms: BDO Siedman. BDO is currently ranked #6.
On the legal side, three law firms support us. Two are among the largest and most respected in the country. For intellectual property work, formation, and litigation, we use Norton Rose Fulbright: www.nortonrosefulbright.com. For contracts and investor issues we use Jones Day: www.jonesday.com. For the legal opinion on the tools and consulting projects, we use Patricia Foster of private practice.
We even work with true blue mathematicians. For super complex formulas or gigantic databases, we call-in the big gun. That’s William “Matt” Briggs, our PhD in statistical analysis. From verifying drug efficacy trials, to predicting weather patterns, validating the accuracy of sports predictions, and verifying the math related to 401(k) matches, he’s the go-to guy. Check out his site: www.wmbriggs.com. Here’s his education: Ph.D., Statistics, Cornell University, 2004; M.S., Atmospheric Science, Cornell University, 1995; B.S., Summa Cum Laude, Meteorology and Math, Central Michigan University, 1992.
Tidbit: At times, we drive the CPAs and lawyers a bit crazy. Every document they write, every opinion they issue, and every financial statement they create, we review with a fine tooth comb. If it’s written in legalese, we re-write it in English. If there’s a typo, we catch it and correct it. If there’s a math error, we find and fix it. And, yes, we all get along great.
