Executive Management
Mark Lehmann
Chief Executive Officer
mlehmann@jmpsecurities.com
Mark Lehmann is Chief Executive Officer of JMP Group and its primary operating subsidiary, JMP Securities. He is a member of the firm’s executive committee.
Prior to joining JMP in 2003, Mark served both as the Global Director of Institutional Sales and as the Global Director of Equity Research at Banc of America Securities after working as an institutional salesperson at the firm and its predecessor, Montgomery Securities, for 11 years.
Mark holds a JD from the New York University School of Law and a BS in accountancy from the University of Illinois. He is a CPA.
Thomas Wright
Chief Operating Officer
twright@jmpsecurities.com
Tom Wright is Chief Operating Officer of JMP Securities. He is a member of the firm’s executive committee.
From 2013 until early 2023, Tom additionally served as the firm’s Director of Equities. Before joining JMP, Tom served as global head of trading at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. for eight years. During the ten prior years, he held a variety of leadership positions at Merrill Lynch & Co., most recently as head of European equity trading and sales trading and previously as head of U.S. equity trading and sales trading. Tom was also a vice president and Nasdaq sales trader at Goldman Sachs & Co. for eight years. He began his career at Merrill Lynch & Co. on the Nasdaq desk in 1983.
Tom received an MBA from New York University Stern School of Business and a BS in economics and finance from Boston College.
Gavin Slader
Head of Investment Banking
gslader@jmpsecurities.com
Gavin Slader is a Managing Director and is head of investment banking at JMP Securities. He also serves as head of mergers and acquisitions. Gavin is a member of the firm’s executive committee.
Prior to joining JMP, Gavin was a senior banker in the technology, media and telecommunications investment banking group at UBS Investment Bank, sharing oversight of the west coast technology mergers and acquisitions practice. Gavin previously held investment banking roles at Piper Jaffray & Co., Credit Suisse First Boston, and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, concentrating on mergers and acquisitions throughout. He began his Wall Street career in Deutsche Bank’s leveraged finance group.
Gavin holds a BA from Claremont McKenna College, graduating with dual degrees in economics and accounting.
Research, Sales and Trading
James O’Day
Director of Equities
joday@jmpsecurities.com
James O’Day is a Managing Director and is Director of Equities at JMP Securities.
James previously served as the firm’s head of institutional sales. Prior to joining JMP, James was a structured credit trader at CypressTree Investments.
James holds a BA from Northeastern University.
Jeffrey Spurr
Director of Research
jspurr@jmpsecurities.com
Jeff Spurr is a Managing Director and is JMP Securities’ Director of Research.
Jeff previously served as JMP’s Director of Product Management, focused on the optimization of the firm’s equity research product, from 2007 through 2011 and as Director of Institutional Sales from 2005 through 2009. Prior to joining JMP, Jeff was in institutional equity sales at Morgan Stanley with coverage of major west coast accounts and was a Managing Director in institutional sales at NationsBanc Montgomery Securities. Beforehand, he was a portfolio manager at Reindeer Capital, L.P. and the general partner of The Steelhead Fund, L.P. Jeff’s earlier investment and financial advisory experience includes roles in the real estate investment banking group of Coldwell Banker Commercial, the acquisition and development arm of American Continental Properties, the mergers and acquisitions department of E.F. Hutton and the corporate sale/leaseback division of Integrated Resources.
Jeff holds an MBA from the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College and a BA from the University of Vermont.
John Pitarresi
Co-Head of Trading
jpitarresi@jmpsecurities.com
John Pitarresi is a Managing Director and is co-head of trading at JMP Securities.
Aidan Whitehead
Co-Head of Trading
awhitehead@jmpsecurities.com
Aidan Whitehead is a Managing Director and is co-head of trading at JMP Securities.
Prior to joining JMP, Aidan was head of listed trading at ThinkEquity partners. He has also served as a Director and position trader at SG Cowen Securities and a Principal and position trader at Robertson Stephens during his career.
Administration
Raymond Jackson
Chief Financial Officer
President, Harvest Capital Strategies
Ray Jackson is Chief Financial Officer of JMP Securities and parent company JMP Group. He also serves as President of Harvest Capital Strategies.
Prior to joining JMP, Ray was corporate controller and an executive officer at Redwood Trust, a publicly traded mortgage REIT. He was previously a senior manager for three years with PricewaterhouseCoopers in the financial services and banking industry practice in San Francisco. He also spent five years with KPMG as a senior audit manager and audit manager in San Francisco and the UK and spent three years with Deloitte & Touche in the UK.
Ray holds a BS degree with honors from Loughborough University in England and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
Devin Ryan
Director of Financial Technology Research
Head of Business Development
Devin Ryan is a Managing Director and equity research analyst covering investment banks, brokers, asset managers, and specialty lenders. As Director of Financial Technology Research, Devin stewards JMP Securities’ coverage of fintech companies that exist at the intersection of traditional finance and technological innovation. Additionally, Devin serves as Head of Business Development for JMP Securities, leveraging his industry expertise and longstanding relationships within the capital markets and financial technology sectors to help chart the future of the firm.
Prior to joining JMP Securities in 2013, Devin spent more than eight years in equity research at Sandler O’Neill & Partners, concluding his tenure there as a Managing Director and senior analyst while covering a range of companies in the capital markets industry with business lines spanning investment banking and securities trading, asset and wealth management, and retail and commercial banking. During his time at Sandler O’Neill, Devin was a three-time winner of the top spot in his sector in an annual ranking of all U.S. equity research analysts conducted by StarMine and published in The Financial Times. He began his Wall Street career in the institutional investor group at Citigroup Smith Barney.
Devin holds a BBA in management information systems from University of Notre Dame.