The winners were culled from a pool of nominees announced on Oct. 13, based on e-mail and phone feedback from buy-side managers. Although winners were picked solely at the discretion of BW, the crucial determinants were the volume and detail of buy-side responses, with preference given to those nominees who generated the most explicit responses. In other words, a vote that nominated a sales executive because he or she was good at relative value trade selection or had a commitment to secondary market trading was worth more than a vote that simply nominated the executive.
MBS/ABS
Tom Cornacchia
Goldman Sachs
New York
Cornacchia, winning for the second consecutive year, generates a level of affection and regard among otherwise cynical and jaded buy-side managers that is rare, with one going so far as to make him the Godfather to one of his children. One manager of a large New York based-account that invests across the mortgage- and asset-backed spectrum says, "Tom excels at the one area that all accounts who do what I do are most vulnerable in: facilitation. He keeps me in touch with bankers, analysts and his trading desk. He briefs them on what I need, why I need it and makes sure that they try and do that for me." He continues that because of this, Cornacchia ensures "I know what [Goldman Sachs] deals are coming, I can have input as to the structures that I seek, be made aware of the flows that are out there and have access to research on them."
Another manager of a very large total-return account is more bold: "He's the number one pick you'd make if you were to start an [MBS sales] desk from scratch." He furthers this by adding "Tom fuses technical and fundamental knowledge of the market that surpasses all of his competition." By way of example, he points to the fact that "everybody was telling accounts that MBS was expensive, very expensive a few months ago. The thing is, Tom, looking at charts and price histories, argued forcefully that they were going to get richer. A lot of investors kept chips on the table and a lot of us made more money."
Cornacchia joined Goldman in the summer of 2002, after seven years at Credit Suisse First Boston, where he both traded and covered accounts. He lives in Darien, Conn., with his wife and five kids. With respects to leisure, he laughs and says, "I don't have any. I sleep, commute and work." He does note, however, that now that his son is eight-years old, he finds himself making excuses for father-son fishing trips more frequently.
Tom Cornacchia
Credit
Jim McHugh
FTN Financial
New York
McHugh, selling corporates on the Street since 1987, "is a guy who really has convinced us that he cares about our performance," says one manager of a $15 billion fixed-income portfolio. This manager continues, making the argument that "Jim is one of the few sales pros covering our account that brutally speaks his mind. He will tell us if he disagrees or if he has a different angle on something we're doing." Moreover, McHugh "understands that as a regional dealer, without underwriting, we can't get him the business volumes that the bulge-bracket guys get from us, but he still out hustles his competition." This manager does note, however, that "he gets a lot of our $3-5 million bond orders."
Another client adds "Jim has a lot of integrity and is an idea generator, always [finding reasons] for me to look at trades that I have passed over. He makes us money and he has integrity."
McHugh has been at FTN Financial since early 2001. He lives in Rumson, N.J., with his wife and three daughters, for whom he coaches soccer. When he has a moment, he plays golf and hockey in a men's rec-league.
Treasury and Agency
Malcolm Wain
Banc Of America Securities
Charlotte
Wain garners voluminous praise from a variety of buy-side accounts, citing his experience, candor and integrity. Mike O'Neil, portfolio manager at U.S. Trust in Stamford, Conn., says Wain's experience as an analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank in Boston makes him "the best person there is on a sales desk--any desk--in understanding what economic figures really mean, leading to better trade opportunities." O'Neil also praises Wain's experience, arguing that none of his other coverage can provide "anything close to the insight Malcolm has on cycles and relative-value, especially since he's seen how bond prices really react (as opposed to what models indicate) over numerous market cycles."
Dick Piket, portfolio manager of the City and County of San Francisco Retirement System, says "to me, Malcolm's calm demeanor and integrity ensures that I can have confidence that my needs are being addressed logically. More importantly, he does not peddle bonds, but rather advises on relative-value across sectors." Bill Guilshan, Treasury trader at Evergreen Investments in Charlotte, has slightly more fun with the idea of Wain's experience, saying that he is the "walking, breathing bond market encyclopedia in condensed form," touching upon what many say is Wain's uncanny ability to remember bond prices and trades.
Wain attributes much of his success, as due several of his customers, to the close working relationship he has with fellow BofA salesman Paul Randelman, with whom he shares coverage on many accounts, and who himself is a 25-year veteran of the bond market. After working at the Fed from 1973-76, Wain worked at several predecessor firms to HSBC Securities, until 1986, when he joined Security Pacific, taking posts in London and San Francisco, prior to its eventual purchase by Bank of America.
