Firm Bios

Lawrence K. Doll is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Drexel Hamilton Financial. He entered the real estate industry in 1980 with the founding of The Lawrence Doll Company, which specializes in land development. In 1995, he formed Lawrence Doll Homes, a builder of upscale homes and townhouses. Mr. Doll is also Chairman of the Board of United Bank, a retail and commercial banking subsidiary of United Bankshares with over $4 billion in assets and operations in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

Mr. Doll currently serves on the boards of the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges and Inova Fairfax Hospital’s Life With Cancer Foundation. He is also a founding sponsor of the Virginia Ann Wiedmaier Holiday Dinner, which provides a holiday meal to recovering servicemembers at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and at the Bethesda Naval Hospital. In the past, he has served as the chairman of the Athletic Board of George Mason University; a member of the Board of Trustees of the George Mason University Foundation; a member of the Board of Governors of the University of Maryland’s Education Foundation; and as a member of the Board of Trustees of Youth For Tomorrow.

Mr. Doll is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran whose service in Vietnam earned him two Purple Hearts, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, and a prestigious appointment to the Silent Drill Platoon of the U.S. Marine Corps Honor Guard.

General Peter Pace is a Partner at Drexel Hamilton. General Pace retired from active duty on October 1, 2007, after more than 40 years of service in the United States Marine Corps.

General Pace was sworn in as sixteenth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Sep. 30, 2005. In this capacity, he served as the principal military advisor to the President, the Secretary of Defense, the National Security Council, and the Homeland Security Council. Prior to becoming Chairman, he served as Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. General Pace holds the distinction of being the first Marine to have served in either of these positions.

Born in Brooklyn and raised in Teaneck, NJ, General Pace was commissioned in June 1967, following graduation from the United States Naval Academy. He holds a Master's Degree in Business Administration from George Washington University, attended the Harvard University Senior Executives in National and International Security program, and graduated from the National War College.

During his distinguished career, General Pace has held command at virtually every level, beginning as a Rifle Platoon Leader in Vietnam. He also served as Commanding Officer of the Marine Barracks in Washington, D.C.; Deputy Commander, Marine Forces Somalia; Deputy Commander, Joint Task Force Somalia; Director of Operations for the Joint Staff; Commander, U.S., Marine Forces Atlantic/Europe/South; and Commander in Chief, U.S. Southern Command.

In June, 2008, General Pace was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civil honor a President can bestow.

General Pace is currently serving on the Board of Directors of several corporate entities involved in management consulting, private equity, and IT security. He serves on the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, and the Secretary of Defense’s Defense Policy Board. He is a long-standing member of the Board of Directors for the Marine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation – a charity that provides scholarship bonds to children of Marines or Federal law enforcement personnel who were killed while serving our country.

Harry J. Gobora is the Chief Operating Officer of Drexel Hamilton. He leads the firm’s brokerage operations and oversees its regulatory compliance. Mr. Gobora has over 20 years of experience in the securities industry. He has worked at the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, Republic New York Securities, Legg Mason, and Philadelphia Investors.

Mr. Gobora is a member of the Bond Club of Philadelphia, the Securities Industry Association, the Investment Traders Association of Philadelphia, the Military Order of Foreign Wars, and the British Officers Club of Philadelphia. Mr. Gobora has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from East Stroudsburg University as well as Series 4, 7, 24, 63, and 65 licenses from FINRA. Mr. Gobora recently retired from the Pennsylvania Army National Guard after more than 21 years of service. He has supported several post-9/11 overseas missions including Task Force Keystone in Germany, KFOR 5A in Kosovo, and Operation Bright Star in Egypt.

S. Brooks Hulitt is a Managing Director of Drexel Hamilton. Mr. Hulitt focuses on government relations, capital introductions, and strategic alliances. He is the founder of Strategic Contracting, which helps small businesses navigate the federal government marketplace.

Mr. Hulitt serves on the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Small Business Regulatory Fairness Board, which investigates and reports instances of excessive enforcement actions taken against small businesses to the SBA Ombudsman and to Congress. He is a U.S. Air Force veteran who served in the Presidential Honor Guard and in Operation Vigilant Warrior in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Mr. Hulitt volunteers for the First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry’s color guard. He is currently a member of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard.

Brenda A. Smith is the Financial and Operations Principal of Drexel Hamilton and the founding partner of BA Smith & Associates, LLC. Her 24 years of tax and financial management experience includes working in the securities, manufacturing, healthcare, telecommunications, retail, and not-for-profit industries.

Ms. Smith received her Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Louisiana State University. She holds Series 7, 27, and 63 licenses from FINRA and is a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Financial Planner, and Certified Internal Auditor. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountant

Claire Bailey Johnson is the Managing Director of Marketing and Client Service for Drexel Hamilton and has 27 years of experience in business development in the investment industry through institutional investors. Claire started her career on Wall Street with Oppenheimer Capital Corp. marketing their equity, fixed income and balanced separate account and fund management services to institutional and high net worth investors, through the E.F. Hutton Brokerage Company. After that experience Claire worked for a correspondent firm of Oppenheimer and Company developing major institutional client relationships in the Midwest, including a pioneering direct access floor brokerage product for the in-house equity trader at General Dynamics. Claire moved to Boston in 1991 to work for State Street Global Advisors as an Assistant Vice President in marketing and client service where she continued to work with institutional investors nation-wide. In 1994 Claire joined Brandywine Asset Management as a Managing Director in Wilmington, DE in order to successfully raise assets for new and existing products through consultants as well as directly through institutions. Claire has also been a marketing executive at Attalus Capital in Philadelphia, a large hedge fund of funds organization.

Claire received her B.A. degree in International Relations and French from Colgate University in Hamilton, NY. She currently holds a Series 7 license from FINRA

Helen T. Diehl is the Director of Equity Trading for Drexel Hamilton Financial. Ms. Diehl has over 20 years experience in the securities industry. Before joining the firm, Helen spent 16 years at McNamara Trading Company as Senior Vice President in Equity Execution Trading. Prior to McNamara Trading, she was with Janney Montgomery Scott as part of their floor operations division. Helen is widely considered one of the most experienced and well-respected traders on the floor on the Philadelphia Stock Exchange during the past two decades.

Ms. Diehl is a member of the Investment Traders Association and was elected to the Board of Governors in 1999. She holds a Bachelors of Arts in Finance from LaSalle University as well a Series 7, 24, 55, & 63 licenses from FINRA.

Barry Forbes is a Director of institutional Sales and Trading for Drexel Hamilton and has 25 years experience in trust and investment banking. He has worked in equity derivatives sales and dealing to institutional equity clients in North America, Asia, Europe and Australia. Barry has extensive international investment experience in equity, derivatives and futures trading at Warburg Dillon Read- UBS, ABN AMRO, BZW Barclays International, Deutsche Bank AG., while based in Sydney, Australia. Barry began his career in the management training program at Mellon Bank East, moving on spending five years at the Mellon Bank East Financial Services, Trust Department. The next 18 years were spent working for Warburg Dillon Read- UBS, ABN AMRO, BZW Barclays International, Deutsche Bank AG. while based in Sydney, Australia.
Barry was in the 104th Cavalry Pennsylvania Army National Guard and the Australia Defense Force Officers Training Program.

Cauldon D. Quinn is a Managing Director of Drexel Hamilton. He is a service disabled veteran and the eighth graduate of the Wallstreet Warfighters program. He is the inaugural trainee for the fixed income curriculum with responsibilities for fixed income brokerage services and organizing Drexel Hamilton's equity sales efforts.

He began his civilian career with an equity agency execution broker-dealer, Embarcadero Securities, LLC in 2002. With the acquisition of the then third largest ECN aggregator, UNX, Inc. he transitioned to electronic trading systems, ultimately serving as the Director of Client Services/Product Specialist. He has continued to serve the financial services industry with technology solutions working for SEI Investments and CorePROFIT Solutions. With expertise in electronic equity execution services, program trading and algorithmic trading he served as a board member on the Investment Traders Association of Philadelphia (ITAP) from 2004 to 2009. He has been certified by FINRA for series 7, 24, 53, 55, and 66 licenses.

Mr. Quinn is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy and a service disabled veteran of the U.S. Navy. Among his military accomplishments, he participated in the initial phase of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2001 providing forward combat logistical support to Surface, Aviation, and Coalition Special Forces Units operating in Afghanistan. He is a Foundation Trustee to the Naval Academy Athletic Association, proud husband and father to four boys.

Raymond “Ray” Hally is currently the senior trader for Drexel Hamilton. He brings over 18 years of experience in the securities arena. He joined Drexel Hamilton after spending 15 years at Goldman Sachs as a Vice President in the Equities Division, more particularly in the NYSE specialist division. His primary role was managing a team of traders in both domestic and international securities. Mr. Hally was responsible for managing international risk variables including non-US trading platforms, currency fluctuation, and international settlement. He was a member of the NYSE from 2000-2007. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from the University of Hartford. He holds series 7, 21, 25 and 63 licenses from FINRA.