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Executive Biographies

Douglas B. Lowey, President and Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Lowey is a Founding Principal of Brownstone Investment Group, LLC and serves as its President and CEO. Mr. Lowey is also a Founding Partner of Brownstone Asset Management, LP, an asset management company whose hedge funds invest within the High Yield and Distressed fixed income markets. Prior to Brownstone, Mr. Lowey ran the High Yield Dealer Trading Desk at Bear Stearns and Co, a business he formed with the company in 1994. Mr. Lowey held various positions at Mabon Securities, Inc. from December 1988 through April 1994, including high-yield trader and Director in charge of its High Yield Department. Mr. Lowey received a B.A. from Duke University.

Barret P. Naylor, Partner and Head of Sales

Mr. Naylor is a Founding Principal of Brownstone Investment Group, LLC and serves as the Head of Sales. Mr. Naylor was a Senior High Yield Salesperson on the Dealer Desk at Bear Stearns & Co. from 1994 to 1998. He was in dealer sales at Mabon Securities from 1992 to 1994. Mr. Naylor began his career at Murphy & Durieu in 1990 brokering High Yield bonds. Mr. Naylor received a B.A. from Boston University.

Jon S. Sablowsky, Partner and Head of Trading

Mr. Sablowsky oversees Brownstone's fixed income trading operations. Mr. Sablowsky joined Brownstone in 2004 as a high-yield trader. Prior to joining Brownstone, Mr. Sablowsky organized and led the High Yield Sales and Trading effort at Maxcor Financial. Mr. Sablowsky founded the High Yield Debt Department at Spear, Leeds & Kellogg, which he ran from 2001-2004. He began the High Yield Debt Trading Desk at Pershing, LLC., and ran it from 1996-2001. Mr. Sablowsky began his career at Gruntal & Co., Inc. where he both ran the Retail Corporate Bond Department and managed the High Yield Debt Trading Desk from 1985-1996. Mr. Sablowsky received a B.A. from Ohio State University.

Our Team

Chris Bailey, Analyst

Mr. Bailey joined Brownstone in 2010 as an analyst focusing on investment opportunities for the firm. Prior to Brownstone, Mr. Bailey worked as an analyst at Caip Partners where he invested in both equities and fixed income. Mr. Bailey started his career at JPMorgan in 2004 and worked as a credit analyst in both high grade and high yield until 2009. Mr. Bailey received a B.S. in Economics at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Finance.

Joanne Bartmess, Chief Financial Officer

Ms. Bartmess had been Brownstone's Financial and Operations Principal (FINOP) since inception and joined the firm full-time in 2010 as Chief Financial Officer. She is also taking on responsibilities in the Compliance department. Also a CPA, she was formerly a Partner and Tax Manager at Halpern & Associates LLC, an accounting firm that specializes in Broker Dealer and Hedge Fund accounting. She received a B.S. degree in Accounting from Sacred Heart University.

Michael Catalano, Director

Mr. Catalano joined Brownstone in 2007 as an investment grade corportate bond trader. From 2004-2007, he was a member of the investment grade trading desk at Pershing LLC. Mr. Catalano was a fixed income trader with TD Waterhouse from 2000-2004. Mr. Catalano received a B.A. degree from the College of New Jersey.

David Dinner, Chief Technology Officer

Mr. Dinner has supported Brownstone’s demanding technology needs since 2006 and joined the firm full-time in 2011 as the Chief Technology Officer. Prior to joining Brownstone Mr. Dinner was accountable for managing the technical operations of over thirty financial institutions in the tri-state area. He also started a firm that specialized in implementing business critical systems for law firms and doctors’ offices. Mr. Dinner received his B.S. from Central Pennsylvania with a major in Information Technology and minor in Cyber Security and Law.

Robert Ditosto, Managing Director

Mr. Ditosto joined Brownstone in 2008 and serves as a distressed trader. Prior to joining the firm, he worked for ICAP Securities specializing in distressed and bankrupt securities trading. He earned a B.S. degree in Accounting from Villanova University. Mr. Ditosto is also a Certified Public Accountant.

Charles Grosso, Managing Director

Mr. Grosso joined Brownstone in 2004 and serves as a high yield salesperson. Mr. Grosso began his career in the financial services industry as a salesperson on the Correspondent Dealer Sales Desk at Pershing, LLC. Mr. Grosso received a B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and received his M.B.A. from St. Peter's College.

Michelle Halla Hunter, Managing Director

Ms. Hunter joined Brownstone in 2002 and is the firm's Compliance Officer. She is also responsible for overseeing Brownstone's online trading initiatives. Prior to assuming her current responsibilities, Ms. Hunter served as the firm's Convertible Debt Trader. Ms. Hunter worked at Fidelity Capital Markets from 1998-2002, where she specialized in trading High Yield and Convertible securities. Ms. Hunter began her career at BondNet in 1994, one of the first firms to engage in electronic fixed income trading. Ms. Hunter received a B.A. from Fairfield University.

Christen Harrison, Managing Director

Ms. Harrison has been trading high yield debt at Brownstone since joining the firm in 2000. From 1994 until she joined Brownstone, Ms. Harrison was the primary high yield trader for CIBC Oppenheimer's retail division. Ms. Harrison received a B.S. from Villanova University.

John Kuchar, Managing Director

Mr. Kuchar came to Brownstone as a high yield trader in 2004. Previously, Mr. Kuchar helped in the development of the various departments at Maxcor Financial; Spear, Leeds & Kellogg; and Pershing, LLC, where he started in its Reorganization Department before transitioning to the Fixed Income Department. Mr. Kuchar received a B.A. from the University of Maine and received his M.B.A. from St. John's University.

Justin LaPree, Associate

Mr. LaPree joined Brownstone in 2009 and serves as a high yield salesperson. Mr. LaPree began his career at Citigroup in 2005 on the International Settlements Desk. While at Citigroup, Mr. LaPree oversaw clearing in fixed income, equities and foreign exchange funds. Mr. LaPree enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in March of 2001. He was directly involved in the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the Battle of Fallujah in 2004, where he led a squad of Marine infantryman in numerous combat missions. He was honorably discharged in December 2004 and is an active member in the Wounded Warrior Project. Mr. LaPree attended the University of Houston.

Zach Laverty, Associate Director

Mr. Laverty joined Brownstone in 2007 and serves as a high yield salesperson. Mr. Laverty started his career in financial services with New York Life. Mr. Laverty Received a B.A. from Vanderbilt University.

Christie Morse, Director

Ms. Morse joined Brownstone in 2009 as an investment grade corporate bond trader. From 2007-2009, Ms. Morse worked as a crossover/high yield trader at Banc of America Securities. She also worked in credit trading roles at JPMorganChase and Deutsche Bank. Ms. Morse received a B.S. degree in Mathematics from the University of San Francisco and a M.S. degree in Computational Finance from Carnegie Mellon University.

Michael Plunkett, Director

Mr. Plunkett comes to Brownstone from Jefferies & Co, where he was a vice president with the fixed income dealer sales group for 8+ years. Prior to Jefferies, he held similar positions at Pershing, Gruntal and Mabon. He started his career at Legg Mason Wood Walker. He received a B.A. from St. Joseph’s University and an M.F.A. from Temple University.

Sean Richter, Director

Mr. Richter joined Brownstone in 2010 and serves as an investment grade corporate bond trader. Mr. Richter comes to Brownstone from Stifel Nicolaus, where he was co-head of the Investment Grade Corporate Desk. He held Vice President positions at Spear, Leeds & Kellogg from 2002-2005, and Pershing from 2001-2002. Mr.Richter began his career in corporate bond trading at Legg Mason Wood Walker in 1996. Mr. Richter received a B.A. from Loyola University Maryland.

Joshua Rosenblum

Mr. Rosenblum joined Brownstone in 2010 as an associate on the trading desk. Prior to joining the firm, he spent 5 months in London, UK at GE Capital Europe. In addition to back-office and trade support, he provides project management for Brownstone's technology-based trading tools. Rosenblum received a B.S. in Financial Economics from Binghamton University.

Paul Sitarz, Managing Director

Mr. Sitarz joined Brownstone in 2011 and is responsible for the firm’s municipal securities business. From 2007-2011 he was a Managing Director at UBS where he was a member of the Complex Structured Products group, managing its’ Auction Rate Securities book. Prior to that he managed the municipal investor derivatives business. He was a founding member of the municipal bond department at Morgan Stanley & Co where he served in various capacities from 1983-2007, including sales, product and research manager and derivatives marketing. Prior to Morgan Stanley, he worked at Chemical Bank and Hartford National Bank. He has served on the SIFMA New Products Committee and the Nominating Committee of the MSRB. He earned a B.S. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.