The Team
David Nixon
Senior Vice President - Sales & Trading
Mr. Nixon has over 30 years’ experience in the securities business globally. Prior to BV, Mr. Nixon was Managing Director at Seaport Global, responsible for expanding the firm’s credit sales coverage of life insurance and public pension fund clients. From 2005 to 2018 Mr. Nixon played integral roles in successful build outs of multiple US investment grade credit sales platforms including Barclays Capital, MUFG and Janney Montgomery Scott.
Mr. Nixon began his career at Morgan Stanley, where over 19 years he distributed fixed income products to institutional investors while based in New York, Chicago, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Sydney. While in Asia, he established the firm’s Hong Kong and Sydney sales desks and managed all institutional fixed income client relationships in Australasia, Korea, Thailand, Philippines, and Hong Kong. He holds a B.A. from Princeton University and an MBA from Columbia University.
Alan R. Jones
Senior Vice President –Sales and Trading
Mr. Jones has over 35 years of experience in taxable fixed income, capital markets, and alternative investments. During the first 18 years of his career, he worked with the sales and trading divisions of Salomon Brothers and Morgan Stanley in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. He then founded a venture capital company which specialized in advising and investing in early stage companies across various industries. More recently, he has held senior level positions at Utendahl Capital Partners and Aladdin Capital. Mr. Jones is a graduate and former Trustee of the Phillips Exeter Academy. He earned his BA from Dartmouth College and his MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Stephen Gabriel
Senior Vice President - Fixed Income Trading
Mr. Gabriel has over 40 years of experience in fixed income specializing in municipal finance sales and trading. Mr. Gabriel started his career with Shearson/Lehman Brothers in the municipal bond department assisting the Institution Sales group. Mr. Gabriel continued his career with Bear Stearns & Co. working with asset managers, bond funds, insurance companies and government-sponsored agencies.
He has also held senior vice president positions with AG Edwards, Janney Montgomery Scott and Mesirow Financial. Mr. Gabriel is a graduate of Fairleigh Dickenson University with a BS in Economics & Finance. Stephen resides in Darien CT wife is wife Joanne and two sons.
David Pichler
Executive Director, Corporate Sales & Trading
Dave Pichler joined Blaylock Van in January 2023 and has over 25 years of experience in Fixed Income Sales and Trading. Dave was most notably Co-Head of Global Trading at Citigroup, Head of US Credit Trading at RBC Capital Markets, Co-Head of Credit Fixed Income at Cantor Fitzgerald and most recently Head of IG Sales at StoneX. Dave brings a comprehensive understanding of Fixed Income Credit as both a trader and salesperson and looks forward to expanding the secondary credit platform at Blaylock Van.
Timothy O'Brien
Executive Vice President –Sales & Trading
Mr. O’Brien has over 30 years of experience in the sales, trading execution, and clearing of domestic equity and taxable fixed income products. Prior to joining Robert Van Securities in 1992, he was an assistant vice president for Sutro & Company and Dean Witter Reynolds, where he worked on BIS (Branch Institutional Sales) teams. Tim is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, with a B.S. in Social Science/Education.
Manny Small
Executive Vice President –National Sales Manager
Mr. Small joined Blaylock Van in 2007 and has been in the financial services business for over 30 years. Prior firms include, Utendahl Capital, Oppehehimer & Company, Tucker Anthony, Mesirow Financial, and Rodman & Renshaw. Mr. Small graduated from Brooklyn College with a B.A. in Economics and received an MBA in Finance from New York University Business School.
Earl L. Manns
Senior V.P. - Equity Sales and Trading
Earl Manns joined Blaylock in September of 2013 with over 20 years of industry experience, having headed both buy and sell side trading desks. His insights into trading have been enhanced by his previous tenure at Driehaus Securities where he was Head Trader. Over the past 20 years, Mr. Manns has been an Institutional Sales Trader at various firms, including Robertson Stephens [San Francisco] and William Blair [Chicago], where he was a Managing Partner.
Chris Corwin
Manager of Equities
Mr. Corwin graduated from Pace University, then spent multiple years working as a head trader at Abel Noser, LLC., where he reduced costs and grew revenues from 10% to 200%. He later worked as Head of Trading for Spartan Capital Securities, LLC., where he helped establish an Institutional Equity trading desk, developed new products, and introduced strategic partnerships. He has Series 7, 63, 55, and 24 licensure, and is a member of the Security Traders Association.
Joe Petraccaro
Senior Vice President –Emerging Markets Debt Trading
Mr. Petraccaro joined Blaylock Van, LLC in July 2019. He serves as SVP of Emerging Markets Debt Trading. He closely monitors political and regulatory changes across many emerging market economies, evaluating their impacts on the financial markets. Mr. Petraccaro has a particular focus in the Latin American and EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) markets. With close to 15 years in the industry, he has been able to establish many close relationships with buy and sellside firms. This provides him with the trading capability of enhancing price discovery and transparency for clients, while maintaining anonymity and confidentiality. He earned his B.A. in Economics from Pace University and holds Series 7, 63, and 3 licenses.
Ronald Banaszek
Sr. Vice President
Manager of Municipal Distribution
Ron Banaszek recently joined Blaylock Van after more than11 years with
Ramirez & Co. , where he had been Municipal Institutional Sales
Manager and a member of the Institutional Sales Team. Mr. Banaszek will
be responsible for growing the firm’s institutional relationships and
distribution network. Prior to Ramirez, Mr. Banaszek worked in the
Municipal Department at UBS where he was an institutional salesperson
and eventually sales manager. He has over 30+ years experience in the
financial services industry and over 25+ years of experience directly in
the Municipal Bond Market. He has held positions in trading,
underwriting, and sales of municipal securities and has worked with
Public Finance bankers throughout his career providing market and client
information to their issuer clients. Mr. Banaszek holds Series 7, 53
and 63 licenses.
