Greg Zappin, formerly a director of telecom research at Standard & Poor's, has joined Delaware Investment Advisors in Philadelphia, according to a spokeswoman at Delaware. Zappin will work as an analyst focusing on junk and high-grade credits primarily in the consumer products, retail and industrial sectors. He reports to Ward Tatge, senior v.p. and director of fixed-income research. The position is new as Delaware was looking to beef up its research group. No further hires are planned.
Rich Siderman, Zappin's former boss at S&P, declines to discuss staffing issues, but says the agency has back-up analysts on credits so there is no interruption in coverage when departures occur. When Zappin left S&P there was speculation that he may have departed due to a dispute over whether Qwest Communications and Sprint should have been downgraded. Zappin, who covered both credits, left S&P before both downgrades. Siderman says there is absolutely no relationship between Zappin's departure and the downgrades, because "downgrades are done by committee and an individual doesn't have authority to change a rating." Zappin declined to discuss the matter, though a person familiar with his decision to change jobs says he left because he wanted an opportunity to manage money.