CEO, Founding Partner

In this office, I am the "Crafty Veteran", which is simply the polite way of saying that I am the old guy on the block, with 35 years of futures trading experience.

Needless to say, there is a lot I have seen over the past 35 years, including the beginnings of trading in many new markets including bonds, currencies and stock indexes to mention a few. The question is, can all this experience be of any meaningful benefit to my clients and ITS as a whole. Of course I think it can.

After graduating from the University of Minnesota, I started my commodities career in 1973 with a firm that traded cash grain and futures with an export firm next door. I cut my teeth on fundamental trading. Today traders must have some technical expertise. In 1982, I took over the manager's job at DLJ in Minneapolis, where I oversaw a clearing operation on the Minneapolis Grain Exchange and a retail brokerage office. This experience was a big help in seeing a lot of things that got brokers and their clients in trouble. Sometimes that experience can be quite beneficial simply by avoiding the extremely risky situations as well as seeking the potentially profitable trades.

My dealings over the years with large commercial hedgers and small speculators, and all the accounts in between, have given me the ability to better understand the clients needs. We don't pretend to understand all markets or all clients needs, but we have learned how to deal with most people and most markets with honesty, integrity, and good old fashioned hard work.

My ultimate message to you, whether or not you choose ITS as your broker, can be summed up in one word – discipline. Use sound money management and you could be one of the good statistics in a business full of bad ones.