By Scott Brinton, LIHerald.com
March 20, 2012
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Michael Steigerwald, right, in the cockpit of a C-130 Hercules cargo plane in 2006, when he was a major in the Air Force Reserve, with Capt. Brady Ohr. Steigerwald was shot down over Iraq in 2007 and attained the rank of lieutenant colonel before he was honorably discharged in 2010. These days he’s a vice president at the investment firm Drexel Hamilton, thanks to the Wall Street War Fighters Foundation.

Michael Steigerwald could have left the Air Force Reserve’s 327th Airlift Squadron after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Having served six years in the reserves, he had fulfilled his obligation to the military.

But Steigerwald, now 49, of Bucks County, Pa., didn’t flinch when his unit was activated in the fight for Afghanistan, which began on Oct. 7, 2001, and continues to this day. Steigerwald heeded the call of duty in 2002.

“It was the right thing to do,” he said.

And so, Steigerwald, who had been an international airline pilot for Trans World Airlines and American Airlines for eight years before he was activated, went to Afghanistan, and later to Iraq. In all, he served six tours of duty from 2002 through 2010, when he was honorably discharged.

Steigerwald flew a C-130 Hercules cargo plane in and out of combat zones, attaining the rank of lieutenant colonel and earning the Meritorious Service Medal, the Aerial Achievement Medal, the Air Force Commendation Medal and five Air Medals. In March 2007, he was shot down in a rocket attack outside Baghdad as he ferried vital supplies to U.S. troops, and he broke his leg and dislocated his shoulder in the crash. But he recovered and continued to fly missions.

Cumulative injuries eventually caught up with him, though, and he could no longer fly, ending the career that he had enjoyed as a commercial airline pilot, which he had put on hold to take part in the U.S.’s overseas missions.

Upon leaving the military, Steigerwald, who is married and has two sons, might have had a hard time finding work –– or might have even been jobless –– if he had not heard about the Wall Street War Fighters Foundation from an Air Force friend. The nonprofit organization trained him to work in the financial-services industry. Now Steigerwald is a vice president of sales at Drexel Hamilton, a privately held institutional investment firm.

Disabled Vietnam War veteran Lawrence Doll and Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, who served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2005 to 2007, started the Wall Street War Fighters Foundation, which trains wounded veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars for careers on Wall Street, either at Drexel Hamilton, which Doll founded in 2008, or at any number of the firm’s competitors.

Enter Merokean William Mingione. He’s a 16-year Wall Street veteran who served at one time as vice president of an equity-trading group at financial titan Fidelity Investments. Mingione, 37, knows a lot of people on “The Street.” He could have worked at most any powerhouse investment firm, but he recently joined Drexel Hamilton, a “boutique” firm with $12 million in annual revenue, because he said he believes in its core mission of helping service-disabled veterans like Steigerwald find gainful employment after the military.

“I thought it was something terribly unique,” said Mingione, who grew up in Island Park and now volunteers for the Merrick Fire Department and his sons’ youth hockey team, the Arrows, in Freeport.

Committed to disabled veterans

Mingione learned about Drexel Hamilton, which has offices in Philadelphia and Manhattan, through his longtime friend James Cahill. Cahill is a legend of Wall Street investing who was once managing director at Salomon Brothers and who lost his son, Thomas, a bond trader at Cantor Fitzgerald’s World Trade Center office, on Sept. 11. James Cahill now serves as Drexel Hamilton’s president for $1 a year.

Mingione’s job is three-pronged: sell Drexel Hamilton’s financial products, help the firm connect with municipalities that are preparing to float bonds and help train disabled veterans for Wall Street careers.

Service-disabled veterans are the only salaried employees at Drexel Hamilton. All others, including Mingione, work on commission. Of the firm’s 43 employees, seven are disabled veterans and 12 others are veterans.

The Wall Street War Fighters Foundation sponsors an intense, six-month training course designed to prepare service-disabled veterans to pass their Series 7 and Series 66 exams, which are administered by the North American Securities Administrators Association and allow those who successfully complete them to become investment advisers. Enrollees in the foundation’s training course also serve as interns at Drexel Hamilton’s offices and at other investment firms. The cost to train one veteran is $35,000, which is funded by Drexel Hamilton and private contributions.

Steigerwald completed the course and his exams in 2010 and was hired at Drexel Hamilton last year. When interviewing for investing jobs, Steigerwald said he was often asked how he handled pressure. He would note simply that his previous job was flying a $100 million, government-owned airplane through enemy fire. If that’s not pressure, what is?

Finding a new life on ‘The Street’

Steigerwald said he misses flying, but he loves his new work. “It’s busy. It’s a continually changing environment. It’s technical. I’m used to that,” he said, seated at his spartan desk on the 20th floor at 14 Wall St., around the corner from the New York Stock Exchange, with two computer screens flashing numbers and charts before him.

Still, he added, “There’s a steep learning curve. It’s a big change for me.”

Eric Eberth, Drexel Hamilton’s vice president for municipal finance, also came through the Wall Street War Fighters Foundation in 2010. Eberth, an Army Apache helicopter pilot, suffered a traumatic brain injury while deployed in Iraq in 2008. These days he’s stationed at his desk at Drexel Hamilton, just across from Steigerwald.

Though Eberth required two years of rehabilitation to overcome his injuries and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, he said he has no regrets about his service to his country. The military “never teaches you how to feel sorry for yourself,” he said with a smile.

In fact, he said, he had no desire to leave the military. “I was fighting to stay in,” Eberth said. But his injuries precluded him from further service. He might have been unemployed, or working as a trainer at a military base, if not for the Wall Street War Fighters Foundation.

Eberth said he hopes to get the word out about the foundation. “There’s not enough disabled veterans who understand the program exists,” he said.

Cauldon Quinn, a 1997 Naval Academy graduate who served with a special-forces unit in Afghanistan in 2002, required multiple surgeries to repair damage to his knees and back. Now Quinn is Drexel Hamilton’s managing director and chief financial officer.

Quinn noted that the unemployment rate among veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars is greater than 20 percent. Among service-disabled veterans, it can be as high as 25 percent. “I want to do anything that I can to help disabled veterans,” Quinn said.

Mingione said that Drexel Hamilton does what it does in the name of aiding the most vulnerable of veterans. “There’s no fat cat getting rich here,” he said.

The Wall Street Warfighters Foundation “was my opportunity to give back to this program, and that helped me so much,” says Eric Eberth.

Service-disabled veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are moving from the battlefront to the front lines of the municipal bond market after enlisting for a new type of boot camp that arms them for yet another challenging “mission” —  returning to the workforce.

A joint mentorship between broker-dealer Drexel Hamilton LLC and the nonprofit Wall Street Warfighters Foundation gives veterans with dreams of a career in the financial industry a chance to reinvent themselves after being injured during active duty.

Veterans suffering with everything from post-traumatic stress disorder to complications from brain injuries can qualify for a six-month, fourphase financial and trading education program, which is fully funded with Drexel’s profits and is conducted at the firm’s three main offices in New York City, Philadelphia and Chicago.

Upon completion, the veterans have the opportunity to become fully licensed brokers. Of the 24 trainees that have graduated so far, seven are currently employed by Drexel.

Eric Eberth, a disabled pilot and veteran of the U.S. Air Force, Marines and Navy, was diagnosed with post-traumatic
stress disorder and traumatic brain injury after deployment to Iraq.

“This was my opportunity to give back to this program, and that helped me so much,” said Eberth, who graduated
from the Warfighters program last year and is currently a vice president at the firm. He is getting on-the-job training
from long-time municipal and fixed-income market veterans like Tom Mead and Jim Cahill, who left paying careers
to help prepare the veterans for “combat” in the financial industry. They joined Drexel in 2010.

Eberth, who is also currently a graduate student working toward a master’s of business administration, is learning
the ropes — from building relationships with issuers and structuring deals to supporting the syndicate desk and sales and trading operations.

On Monday, Eberth got a glimpse at the primary market in action when he visited Ramirez & Co.’s Wall Street office for the first day of a retail order period for the firm’s $400 million New York City Municipal Water Finance Authority deal. Drexel is financial advisor for the transaction.

Mead, managing director of Drexel’s muni operations, and Cahill, president of the firm, both previously worked at
the former Salomon Brothers. Mead was the managing director of municipal sales, trading and underwriting, and Cahill was managing director of fixed income. They are now non-salaried employees of Drexel.

“We have learned from some of the best and we import that to these people,” Cahill said. “While we were sleeping they were protecting us and making a sacrifice…we owe them something.”

Goldman, Sachs & Co. is one of the corporate mentors of the program, providing financial support and training opportunities. It also clears all of Drexel’s transactions and backs all legally executed trades, with no financial limit.

According to Mead, the firm’s footprint in the municipal market has grown in the last 12 months since first becoming active in muni sales, trading and underwriting in December 2010. Drexel co-managed six deals last year and was credited with $306.3
million, ranking 72nd, according to Thomson Reuters. It was the financial advisor on 10 issues and credited with $1.58 billion last year, ranking it 22nd.

“The firm has been profitable every quarter for the last year, the client base is growing, and the firm is adding value”
to the recent syndicate deals in which it has served as selling group member and co-manager, according to Mead. One of the largest it participated as a comanager was a $1.31 billion New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund Authority offering in Nov. 2011.

Mead said Drexel is “looking forward” to its first senior-managed issue in the Texas market in about six underwriting presence from its mostly Northeast-focused banking, and is planning to open branch offices in Florida, Texas and California.

Back at the Wall Street Warfighters Foundation, the newest class of eight trainees reports for duty in early February. Phase one “Basic Training” provides career guidance and introduction to the financial industry, while “Building Blocks” offers training programs and short-term internships with corporate partners.

“Advanced Training” prepares veterans to pass the FINRA Series 7 and 63 licensing exams, while the final “Deployment” phase provides corporate internships lasting four to six months, culminating with an opportunity for full-time employment.

Successful job placement gives veterans a renewed sense of pride and integrity, according to Cauldon “Cal” Quinn, Drexel’s chief financial officer and a former Marine who served in Afghanistan and Pakistan. For some it helps overcome the stigma of having been rejected by potential employers because of their debilitating injuries, he said.

Both Drexel and the nonprofit foundation were co-founded in late 2007 by Larry Doll, a disabled Marine Corp. veteran and dual Purple Heart recipient who served in Vietnam, and his former commanding officer, Peter Pace, a retired four-star general and the 16th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff whose career in the Marines spanned 40 years.

Doll, Drexel’s chairman and chief executive officer, wanted to help his unemployed comrades around the country. Pace agreed, and became the chairman of the foundation.

“To be in this industry is a challenge,” Doll explained. “Wall Street is unbelievably competitive…it’s an Ivy League street.”

“These veterans are not looking for a handout, they are looking for an opportunity and a chance,” he added.

Like Drexel, Wall Street Warfighters is also marked for growth. Doll said the program is thriving and he hopes it will be profitable enough to generate the $1.2 million necessary to train as many as 24 veterans each year. Drexel is currently 40% owned and operated by veterans, but Doll anticipates the firm being fully owned and operated by veterans and disabled veterans one day.

“It’s a real mission to help these people and basically change their lives,” the CEO said.

To be eligible for the program, applicants must have a disability rating of 30%, among other requirements. For more information on the program, or to become a corporate sponsor, visit www.wallstreetwarfighters.org.

Drexel Hamilton's Cal Quinn in his formal Navy whites, his combat garb, and today as a CFO.

A brokerage exists to turn a profit that will help it find jobs for disabled former service members like its own finance chief.

 
The grace under pressure that’s essential for executing sensitive military missions is also a valuable trait for Cal Quinn in his civilian professional life, where he is CFO of Drexel Hamilton, a small but fast-growing institutional equity broker-dealer.

Quinn, who served in specialized combat roles in Afghanistan and off the coast of Iraq during his 10-year Navy career, is running the internal finance function for a firm with a foundational value that many would view as incompatible with running a successful company. That is, Drexel Hamilton commits 20% of its expenses to a charitable cause. “Put a fifth of my budget to something that doesn’t drive revenue? That’s business hara-kiri, right? But we are firmly committed to both missions,” says Quinn.

The nonprofit mission is to help disabled veterans find meaningful work. Much of that effort is directed to an affiliated nonprofit organization called the Wall Street Warfighters Foundation, which identifies, trains, and places veterans in careers in the financial-services industry. The organization has a 100% job-placement rate for graduates of its six-month training program. Quinn, himself a graduate, has had 13 surgeries on both knees, his right hand, his back, and more, stemming from service-related, noncombat trauma.

The firm and foundation were co-founded three years ago by Drexel CEO Lawrence Doll, a Vietnam veteran with two Purple Hearts, and Peter Pace, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who chairs the foundation. About 40% of Drexel’s employees are veterans, and half of those are disabled.

Quinn came to the firm in 2009, seven years after leaving the service and setting out to become an expert in electronic trading. “I knew that if I wanted to create value for myself with an organization, I had to learn something other people didn’t know about,” he says. The strategy paid off big, with electronic trading having become an increasingly dominant force in the institutional equity markets since then.

His first role with Drexel was helping the firm get its fixed-income execution business off the ground, but when Doll offered to make him president of that unit, Quinn declined, saying he didn’t know enough about fixed income to lead the effort. But he had graduated from the Naval Academy’s affiliated business school after completing his undergraduate program, interned with Dean Witter before going into active service, and held a succession of increasingly responsible posts at institutional finance firms for the previous several years. So, in October 2010 he got a new offer: to be the firm’s first CFO.

In that role, Quinn says, he has been well buoyed by his military experiences, in which thinking on his feet became second nature. For three years, he was part of a team that boarded and forcibly took over Iraqi vessels under cover of night to enforce an embargo in effect at the time. The team climbed up the sides of the ships on beaded ladders, carrying telescopic poles. “I had some exposure to noncompliant boardings and dangerous situations,” he says.

Later, he volunteered to be part of a team that conducted the initial insurgency into Afghanistan in 2001. “Any loss of life is bad, mine or theirs, and what I had been involved in made me feel I could handle volatile situations and potentially prevent the taking of life.”

The need for quick decision-making is a trait of Quinn’s professional career, too. Every transaction a broker-dealer makes could affect its ability to conduct business. Even a single trade can sink a firm. There are also many regulatory requirements for brokerages, so close daily monitoring of Drexel’s capital position and expenses-to-revenue ratio is essential, Quinn says.

Other basics absorbed from the military include integrity and discipline. “If you’ve got 48 hours of things to do but only 24 hours to do them, you’d better have organization and structure,” he says.

Quinn, 39, says veterans may have an advantage over their contemporaries when it comes to discipline. Noting his generation’s often-suggested sense of entitlement, he says the “humbling” experience of military service gave him a heightened sense of earning what he gets. “I’m not going to ask for something out of the gate. I’m going to seek out a meritocracy that will give me an opportunity to earn into something, and I will then demonstrate capacity and competence.”

Perhaps even more important to his CFO role is a military-hardened commitment to mission. “In a combat theater, there is no do-over and no opportunity to say you can’t achieve the mission. You either die or you live. That’s useful for me in my civilian career. Failure is not an option. You just find a way.

“The reality is that investment banking and brokerage is a very difficult market right now,” he says. “Volumes are at a three-year low, and investors are very skittish about putting their money to work. In the [past] year the industry has laid off 200,000 people involved in equity transactions. But I don’t care about that. We can’t allow those excuses to dominate our rhetoric.”

For Quinn and Drexel Hamilton, today’s twofold mission starts with building a top-echelon brokerage that stands on the merits of the services it delivers. And the future indeed looks bright. In 2009 the firm, with six employees, was deep in red ink and executed trades totaling only 200,000 shares, which Quinn likens to an auto dealer “selling one hubcap.” Now the firm is up to 40 employees and has been increasingly profitable every quarter since 2010.

The goal is not only profitability for its own sake but also to use the firm’s cash to hire more disabled veterans directly, be the financial engine behind the philanthropic effort of Wall Street Warfighters, and “demonstrate to the market how disabled veterans can add to an organization.”

Quinn says the number of veterans with disabilities qualifies as an epidemic. One in four who has served in overseas battle zones since September 11, 2001, has returned disabled, compared with a historical average of 13%, he says. Of the disabled, 20% are unemployed, or more than twice the rate of their civilian contemporaries. Altogether, there are 110,000 unemployed disabled vets.

HIPAA regulations prevent the Veteran’s Affairs department from sending the foundation a list of the disabled, so Wall Street Warfighters representatives have to make personal visits to VA rehabilitation centers to meet potential applicants.

“There are people who push the morphine button, and those who put it down because they’re ready to move on with their lives,” says Quinn. “Those are the people we’re looking for, regardless of educational background. And we’re looking for the same thing any employer should look for: demonstrated excellence. If you were the top-performing sergeant in the 6th Battalion, and you need help getting your life in order, we can harness your skills so you can be successful in this industry as well, even if you don’t have the academic prowess to be a credit trader.”

Fred Phelan, United States Air Force

Fred Phelan graduated from the United States Air Force Academy in 1993 and served as an aircraft navigator flying RC-135 aircraft. His initial service culminated in 2002 over the skies of Afghanistan while serving as the 45th Expeditionary Squadron Operations Officer during Operation Ensuring Freedom.

Upon separating from active service in September 2002, Fred transitioned to the Air Force Reserves and deployed on three additional tours of duty over Iraq and Afghanistan flying C-130 aircraft. While assigned to the 746th Expeditionary Wing during Operation Iraqi Freedom, his aircraft was ambushed by rocket fire and a surface to air missile while departing on a mission from Bagdad, Iraq in April 2006. The explosions threw the aircraft into an uncontrolled altitude. His aircrew was able to safely recover the aircraft without any injuries to the troops on board; however, the realization of impending tragedy stayed with him long after the incident.

Fred realized the impact of his combat experiences and was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD). Through a daily routine of counseling and medical treatment, he was able to get back on his feet with a renewed confidence. Fred was able to put the past behind him and returned to Afghanistan for his fifth tour of duty to fly in combat again in 2009. Furthermore, to prepare for a career in the financial services industry, he earned an M.B.A. degree from Drexel University in June of 2010. As a member of the Wallstreet Warfighters Foundation, Fred’s desire is to gain exposure to the broad range of careers within the financial services industry. But more importantly, he hopes to serve as an example to other veterans who have suffered from PTSD and reassure them that it is not an end but yet another obstacle that can be overcome by reaching out for the help of others.

Major Phelan has 2,800 total flight hours with 456 combat flight hours. His military decorations include the Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal, Aerial Achievement Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal, and the Air Force Achievement Medal.

Fred lives in Wayne, Pennsylvania with his wife Melissa, daughter Caroline, and son Nicholas.

Jerald Majetich, United States Marine Corps, United States Army

Jerald Majetich has served in the Marine Corps, Army, and the Indiana National Guard. Jerald started his military career in 1998 at the Marine Corp Recruit Depot in San Diego, California. He was assigned to the Marine Corps Security Forces (MCSF) aboard the USS Saratoga, NAS May port, Florida. He served as the Security team leader and Captains orderly during operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. He was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps in 1992.

Jerald served in the Army from 1993 to 1998. He attended the Finance and Accounting School, Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indianapolis, Indiana. In 1999, Jerald joined the Indiana National Guard. While serving in the National Guard his unit was mobilized to Iraq.

In October of 2005, his vehicle was struck with an IED and he was medically evacuated to Landstuhl, Germany where he was stabilized. He was later transported to Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC), Fort Sam Houston, Texas on November 2, 2005. His injuries are 35% Total Body Surface (TBS) burns, 100% face and scalp burns, the loss of both ears and a portion of his nose. Complete amputation of right pinky and thumb, amputation down to the first joint of the remaining three fingers, fingertip amputation of all four fingers of the left hand. He also suffered severe muscle loss and damage to the right arm and shoulder. Jerald’s breast plate was forced into his stomach during the blast, which resulted in the loss of 1/3 of his small intestines and 1/4 of his stomach. Upon evacuation from Iraq, he was wounded by gun shots to the rear upper right leg. He also fractured his spine in three places along the L4 and L5 lumbar region.

Jerald was awards several awards for his service. He received the Bronze Star and Purple Heart in 2006. Jerald is hoping that the training the Wallstreet Warfighters Foundation is providing will equip him with the tools needed to provide for his family.

John Holman, United States Army

Mr. Holman was born July 30, 1983. He served eight years in the Army, four of which were active years. John served in the 82nd Airborne Division as a paratrooper. He progressed to team leader and squad leader positions. John was promoted to rank of Sergeant and received the honor of being one of the youngest soldiers to hold the position of squad leader.

While serving, John was wounded in Iraq in 2003. However, John does not allow his disabilities to limit him. He is expecting to complete his J.D. in May 2011 from the Golden Gate University in San Francisco, California. Mr. Holman’s father was an Army Officer and a stockbroker in his post service years.

John’s father worked for Dean Witter, A.G. Edwards, and Smith Barney. John would like to follow in his father’s footsteps and believes that the Wallstreet Warfighters Foundation will afford him the opportunity to do so.

Eric Eberth, United States Air Force, United States Marine Corps, United States Army

Eric C. Eberth is a former AH-64D Apache Longbow pilot from Salem, Oregon. Eric joined the military in 1996 as an Air Transportation Journeyman in the United States Air Force. Eric then attended Officer Candidate School with the United States Marine Corps in hopes of becoming an aviator. When the Marines failed to provide an opportunity to attend flight school, Eric changed services once again to the United States Army. Serving first as an infantryman and finally as an Apache Longbow pilot.

Eric was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) after deployment to Iraq. Consequently, Eric was medically separated from the armed forces in December 2008.

Eric possesses a BS in Professional Aeronautics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. He is currently a graduate student working towards a Masters of Business Administration degree.

Mr. Eberth became aware of the Wallstreet Warfighters program by reading the Army Wounded Warrior blog online and through his Army Wounded Warrior (AW2) representative, Dough Miller.

Jon Arnold, United States Army

Jon Arnold enlisted in the Army in 1990 as a Signals Intelligence Interceptor (Spanish). From 1998 through 2003, he served with the 204th Military Intelligence Battalion (Arial Reconnaissance) out of Fort Bliss, TX, where he deployed several times to Colombia as part of US counter drug operations. In 2003, he reclassified to an All Source Intelligence Analyst and was stationed with the 101st Airborne Division. While at the 101st, he served two tours in Iraq. During his first tour, he was part of a team that assessed and provided funding for developmental projects in Iraq. During his second tour he served on a MiTT Team, training Iraqi staff officers in intelligence operations and served as a liaison between the Iraqi government and multinational forces.

In 2006 while returning from a training mission, he was severely wounded during an IED and grenade attack on his convoy in the city of Hawija, Iraq. He received a large amount of shrapnel to his right foot which was amputated in theater and later revised to a below knee amputation.

Since being medically retired from the military, he has completed his bachelor’s degree in Political Science, graduating Summa Cum Laude from the University of Texas in San Antonio in 2007. He is pursuing his graduate degree in Global Policy Studies from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas in Austin.

He is also a volunteer working with the Amputee peer visitor program at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio where he mentors severely wounded soldiers just returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He also  volunteers as a patient advocate at the Frank Tejeda Outpatient Clinic in San Antonio, informing patients on a form of PTSD treatment known as “Cognitive Behavioral Restructuring”.

Jon’s military awards and decorations include a Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Purple Heart, Good Conduct (two awards), Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, and National Service Defense Medal.