Finra board challengers win spots on ballot

Five outside challengers for seats on the board of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. will have their names placed on the ballot for the upcoming election. The challengers had to obtain a certain number of signatures from member firms and submit them to Finra for certification. A Finra spokesman declined to confirm that the outside candidates had been certified, but according to several of the outside candidates, who include four small-firm representatives and one midsize firm representative, their names will be included on the ballot along with candidates picked by a Finra nominating committee. The small-firm challengers who qualified for the ballot are Jed Bandes, president of Mutual Trust Company of America Securities Inc., Joel Blumenschein, president of Freedom Investors Corp., Ken Norensberg, chief executive of Four Points Capital Partners LLC, and Howard Spindel, a financial principal at A.J. Pace & Co. Inc. and owner of Integrated Management Solutions USA LLC. The nominating committee candidates representing small firms are Lisa Roth, chief executive of Keystone Capital Corp., Donald Steel, president of Planned Investment Company, Inc., and Mari Buechner, chief executive of Coordinated Capital Securities Inc. Tim Smith, founder and chief executive of Comprehensive Asset Management and Servicing Inc., a midsize firm challenger, was also certified. He will run off against the nominating committee candidate, Dennis Ferguson, executive vice president at Sterne Agee Financial Services Inc. The ballot is expected to be sent to Finra members in early July, and a final vote tally will be completed during Finra's annual meeting Aug. 2.