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Briefcase

Profile: Christopher Frankel

Although numerous responsibilities come with his new job at GunnAllen Financial, Christopher Frankel said he is putting special emphasis on recruiting.

By FRED W. WRIGHT JR.
Published September 11, 2006

Although numerous responsibilities come with his new job at GunnAllen Financial, Christopher Frankel said he is putting special emphasis on recruiting.

"My first few focuses are trying to get the company operating at optimum efficiency level and then restructuring our recruiting effort, putting in more regionalized recruiting," Frankel said.

Frankel is responsible for GunnAllen's day-to-day operations, he said. Since starting June 15, he has been commuting from his home in Birmingham, but he plans to move to the Tampa Bay area as soon as possible. "It can't happen soon enough," he said.

Initially, Frankel said, he will be supporting GunnAllen's approximately 600 employees in Tampa.

"Shortly, I will start taking tours of some of the other offices nationally," he said. GunnAllen has offices in about 40 states, concentrated in the Northeast and Florida, with about 900 independent brokers.

Frankel said his choice to move to Tampa was, in part, motivated by his desire to find a supportive community in which to live.

"At my age (38), it becomes a quality-of-life issue," he said. "Where do I want to raise my family? I wanted to raise my family around water. I'm a big water guy."

A native of Atlanta, Frankel attended Florida State University and earned a bachelor's degree in finance and economics from Georgia State in Atlanta in 1989. After working briefly for an accounting firm in Atlanta, Frankel took a position with Solomon Brothers in New York City in fixed-income sales.

He then worked in banking investments in St. Louis, joining the Sterne, Agee and Leach Group there, then transferred back to his hometown in 1994, where he was vice president of correspondence clearing.

Frankel said financial management is the ideal career path.

"I don't know how to do anything else," he said. "The great thing about this business: You're in a position to really make a difference in people's lives.

"Next to your family and health and religion, what's the next most important thing? Your finances. ... The whole country revolves around this industry. We finance America."

The shift from the Atlanta metropolitan area to the Tampa Bay area offers some obvious contrasts, Frankel said. The bay area, Frankel said, "isn't as touristy as Orlando. It has a little bit of a Southern city but a pretty big metro area."

Frankel and his wife, Lorri, have three children: Max, 5; Gunner, 4; and Mallie, 20 months.

Frankel said he likes to boat and fish. He has entered several billfishing tournaments in the Bahamas. His best catch? A 400-pound marlin. Now that he has Tampa Bay as his back yard, Frankel said, he hopes to "buy a kayak and do some flats fishing."

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

2000-2006: President and chief financial officer, Sterne Agee Capital Markets, Birmingham, Ala., and executive vice president, managing director of operations, Sterne, Agee & Leach, Birmingham.

1998-2006: President, CEO, Sterne, Agee & Leach Financial Services, Birmingham.

1994-1998: Vice president, Stern, Agee & Leach Financial Services, Atlanta, and vice president, Sterne, Agee & Leach, Atlanta.

1992-1994: Associate vice president, business development, InBank Investments, St. Louis.

PREVIOUS POSITION: CEO, SterneAgee Capital Markets, Birmingham, Ala.

[Last modified September 11, 2006, 05:46:30]