Allegiance Capital competitors

Chad Abraham serves as the chief executive officer of Piper Jaffray and is a member of the firm's board of directors. Abraham joined the firm in 1991 as an investment banking analyst. He spent the next 13 years on the West Coast as a banker in the company's technology investment banking group. He was promoted to managing director and head of technology investment banking in 1999. In 2005, Abraham was promoted to head of capital markets and in 2010, he became the global co-head of investment banking and capital markets. Under the leadership of Abraham and co-head Scott LaRue, the firm's investment banking division grew revenues from approximately $150 million to more than $500 million. They established coverage in energy and financial services, expanded debt capital markets capabilities and added key offices and personnel. Abraham serves on the board of trustees of the Nature Conservancy’s Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota chapter and the board of trustees of The Blake School. He graduated from Northwestern University with a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science.

Robert Steers, Chief Executive Officer of Cohen & Steers, founded the firm with Martin Cohen in 1986 as the first investment advisor dedicated to real estate securities. He serves on the Advisory Committee for the International Monetary Fund’s Staff Retirement Plan. At his alma mater of Georgetown University, Mr. Steers is Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Steers Center for Global Real Estate and is a member of the Endowment Investment Committee. From 1982 to 1986, he was Chief Investment Officer of National Securities and Research Corporation, where he and Mr. Cohen organized and managed the first real estate securities mutual fund in the United States. Prior to that, Mr. Steers was an analyst and portfolio manager of Citibank’s Emerging Growth Stock Fund. Mr. Steers holds a BS from Georgetown University and an MBA from George Washington University. He is based in New York.