PEOPLE: HONCHO OF BROKER’S NET SERVICE HOPES QUICK & CHEAPLY WILL SELL; NEW JOBS

Don Montanaro first recognized the potential of online commerce when he was a law student in the late 1980s.

“One day they carted in these computers with Lexis and Westlaw, and suddenly I was able to do in 30 seconds what would normally take me a day in the library stacks,” says Mr. Montanaro. “It was a revelation.”

Online business proved to be more interesting to Mr. Montanaro than the law. Convinced that the securities industry was on the verge of an electronic revolution, he took a job with Quick & Reilly Group Inc. in 1992. He helped the firm develop its first touch-tone and online trading services.

Now on the net

In November, he was named president of Suretrade Inc., Quick & Reilly’s new Internet service.

“Given his brokerage experience with the firm and his keen interest in the Internet and how it’s evolved, Don was the likely choice when it came to selecting someone to head up Suretrade,” says Quick & Reilly President Thomas Quick.

Launched in November with a $15 million-plus advertising campaign, Suretrade is Quick & Reilly’s latest online venture. Taking aim at deep discounters like Ameritrade and Datek Securities, Suretrade boasts the lowest commissions of any major online broker $7.95 to buy or sell up to 5,000 shares of stock.

Suretrade has been able to undercut the competition’s pricing, according to Mr. Montanaro, because it is not paying outside firms to execute trades.

“Under the Quick & Reilly umbrella, you have not only Quick & Reilly’s own retail operation but also U.S. Clearing Corp., which clears for Quick & Reilly and 350 other banks and brokerages; JJC Specialist Corp., the second-largest specialist on the New York Stock Exchange; and Nash Weiss & Co., the fifth-largest Nasdaq market maker,” he says. “So if the game is price, we knew we could compete.”

By going head-to-head with the deep discounters, Quick & Reilly runs the risk of alienating existing customers of QuickWay Plus and QuickWay Net, its more expensive
on-line services. QuickWay’s commissions are two or three times that of Suretrade’s, but QuickWay offers perks such as asset management accounts with check-writing privileges and the opportunity to deal one-on-one with a personal broker. Suretrade’s service is no-frills by comparison.

In order to avoid alienating customers or cannibalizing existing accounts, Quick & Reilly has gone out of its way to keep its name out of Suretrade’s ads and off its Web site.

IN THE BLACK BY YEAREND?

After three months in business, Suretrade is fast approaching 50,000 accounts, and Mr. Montanaro expects the company to turn a profit this year.

“The jury’s still out because it’s still in the building phase,” says Bill Burnham, an analyst with Piper Jaffray Inc. “But Suretrade has done a great job getting its name out, and it’s definitely a force to be reckoned with.”

Crain News Service

New Jobs

Bessemer Group Inc. of New York has announced that Donald J. Herrema, 45, now chief operating officer, will become president and chief executive at yearend, when John R. Whitmore, 64 and CEO since 1975, retires. Mr. Herrema was also elected to the board of directors.

Diversified Investments Advisors Inc. of Purchase, N.Y., has named Catherine A. (Cari) Cardaci, 36, vice president of investment communications. She had been vice president and director of institutional marketing at AIG Global Investment Corp. of New York, where she established an institutional marketing group.

New England Investment Cos. LP of Boston has named Douglas L. DuMond, 35,

senior vice president of retirement sales and marketing. He comes from Met Life in New York, where he was managing director and national sales manager for defined contribution and investment services.

Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States has granted new titles to three senior executives.

Michael S. Martin, 51, a senior vice president, was named chief marketing officer of the New York-based company. The agency marketing group, which he hea
ds, has been expanded to include life and annuity wholesalers.

Jose S. Suquet, 41, an executive vice president, was named chief distribution officer as head of a newly developed integrated distribution group.

Derry Bishop, 51, also a senior vice president, was appointed chief agency officer. He reports to Mr. Suquet.

Advantus Capital Management Inc. of St. Paul, Minn., has named Thomas G. Meyer, 40, vice president of market development. He had been director of marketing and sales at Mimlic Asset Management, the company’s parent.

Rodney B. Hare, 39, was appointed vice president and director of institutional and marketing client services. Barbara D. Carrane was named marketing information manager. Mr. Hare had been senior vice president of marketing and client services at NCM Capital Management Group of Durham, N.C. Ms. Carrane, 45, was director of marketing communications for Voyageur Investments of Minneapolis.

American Century Investments of Kansas City, Mo., has named Michael Turgeon vice president and director of broker-dealer sales. He succeeds Mark Killen, 37, who was promoted to senior vice president and director of investor services in September. Mr. Turgeon, 38, joined American Century in June as vice president, institutional marketing.

The company also added two portfolio manager-vice presidents to the company’s Twentieth Century funds. C. Kim Goodwin, 38, formerly a vice president and portfolio manager for Prudential Mutual Fund Investment Management of Newark, N.J., will head the Growth Fund, and Arnold Douville, 42, a former senior portfolio manager for Munder Capital Management of Birmingham, Mich., will head the Vista Fund and help oversee the mid-cap growth area.

Clayton Financial Group of Jackson, Tenn., has appointed Michael D. Rodgers, 27, as an associate in marketing and research. He is a former paraplanner at Equity Financial Corp. of Knoxville.

GE Capital Load Services Inc. of Stamford, Conn., formerly GE Capital Asset Management, has promoted Joseph Beggins, 38, to chief exe
cutive, replacing Ann Hambly, 41, who became president of Nomura Capital’s Dallas-based mortgage servicing company. Mr. Beggins had been vice president.

Principal Financial Group has promoted Dennis P. Francis to senior vice president of investments and Mary A. O’Keefe to senior vice president of corporate relations. The Des Moines-based company also named Gregory C. Hauser, 44, a vice president to succeed Mr. Francis as head of the commercial real estate department.

Mr. Francis, 54, will succeed Ronald E. Keller, 62, as executive vice president of investments when he retires in May.

Ms. O’Keefe, 41, had been vice president of corporate relations and Mr. Hauser served as vice president of commercial real estate underwriting.