Biographies
Jim Copell - Chairman
James L. Copell is Founder and Chairman of Copell Financial one of the leading equity research firms in the United States. Through a selected acquisition and alliance strategy Mr. Copell has positioned the company for future growth in important markets and sectors of the financial services industry, including the New England banking market for the expansion of trust services and wealth management, as well as institutional portfolio management for unions, endowments, foundations, family offices, colleges and universities across the United States. Copell has complimented trust services and money management with equity research coverage of over 4000 US publicly traded companies with an emphasis on future cash flow generation.
Copell is a leader in the field of competitiveness and economic development bringing important global industry innovation to work in collaboration with local government, local colleges, and universities while building on the existing strength of the local labor force in the United States.
Mr. Copell's professional career includes several years on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange complimenting a fundamental discipline developed at Wheat, First, Butcher, Singer.
James P. Trozze - Chief Executive Officer
James P. Trozze has had considerable experience and accomplishment in the management and supervision of Research Departments while recently spending the past several years as a Portfolio Manager in the PMP program at UBS. The previous 10 years were spent as Senior Vice-President, Head of Research at Moors & Cabot, a private NYSE firm in Boston. There he published Value Investing and compiled an outstanding documented track record. Jim was responsible for all aspects of the research process including all communication to its clients. His career began in Boston 13 years earlier where he was Director of Research at Burgess & Leith, a regional NYSE member. There Jim built a Research Department of seven analysts, initiated three proprietary research publications, and was a member of the Board of Directors. Throughout his career, Jim has been often quoted in major financial publications. He graduated from Cornell University with a B.S. and received an MBA from Babson.
Dana N. Merrill - CFA - TFMS Chairman, CEO and Portfolio Manager
Dana incorporated Trust and Fiduciary Management Services in 2000. Prior to incorporation TFMS had been a stand alone unit since 1990 in other organizations. He began his career in New YorkCity as an investment officer in the trust department of a First National City Bank (Now part of Citicorp) where he held various positions as security analyst, portfolio manager and administrator. He has also developed quantitative investment tools, and formulated investment policy both at First National City and Institutional research brokers where Dana was a partner responsible for very large institutional research clients. He has worked in financial services in Boston since 1975 managing institutional and individual portfolios at Loomis Sayles, Rollert and Sullivan and Boston Security Counselors where he formed TFMS.
Dana attended Cornell University and received a BA in Economics with a minor in both Mathematics and Philosophy from the McMicken College of Liberal Arts at the University of Cincinnati. He earned an MBA in finance from New York University's Graduate School of Business Administration and did graduate studies at both The University of Maryland anf The University of Munich in Germany. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst, a member of the CFA Institute, a member of the Boston Society of Security Analysts, a Senior Security Analyst and is active in the CFA Institute's continuing education program.
Dana lives in Maynard in a 250 year old center chimney colonial house with his wife. His interests lie in social justice, baroque and classical music, science, politics, good coversation, antique automobiles and antique American furniture.
Steven C. Carhart - CFA - TFMS President, CIO and Portfolio Manager
Steve is a veteran investment and research professional with extensive portfoilio management experience. A long time friend and collaborator of Dana Merrill, he joined the unit in September of 1999 as Director of Investments. His previous experience included three years as Vice President and portfolio manager of a major mutual fund at Pioneer Investment Management and five years as Vice President and portfolio manager of the Baker Fentress closed end mutual fund.
Between 1987 and 1991 Steve managed equity and balanced portfolios at the Northern Trust Company of Chicago, IL. His earlier experience included founding the investment research firm Carhart Associctaes Inc., and research positions in energy and productivity at major research institutions such as Brookhaven National Laboratory and the Mellon Institute.
Steve is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a BS in Electrical Engineering. He also earned an MS from the Program for the Social Application in the Sloan School of Management at MIT. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst, and a member of the CFA Institute and the Boston Society of Security Analysts.
Mr. Carhart resides in Manchester by the Sea with his wife and son. He has been active in a number of community youth activities, is active in the MIT alumni Association, and the First Parish Church, Congregational in Manchester. Steve is an avid fisherman and sports car enthusiast.
Richard M. Mason - Chief Operating Officer
Prior to joining the firm, Rich was a First Vice President/Senior Group Project Manager at Prudential Securities where he spent 18 1/2 years working in both Operations and the Information Systems Group. His first 12 years were spent designing, developing, testing, and implementing numerous reporting systems supporting Operations, Finance and Accounting, Law, and Correspondents Clients. During this time Rich was also responsible for the supervising and training of new employees. His last 6 years at Prudential were spent leading teams in the development and implementation of many high profile projects while supporting Prudential's Client Profile System. This system supported 10,000 users worldwide and included account opening and maintenance, document processing, house holding, and customer profile data capture and verification. He was a team leader in database expansion, application customization, and systems testing. In addition to managing the implementation of many special time critical projects, Rich gained valuable experience while providing support for the Compliance Department, the Correspondent Division, and the firm's Law Department. He was the recipient of the Chairman's Award for Innovation and Business Value and the Service Leaders Award. Rich is a 1977 graduate of Montclair State College where he received a B.S. in Business Administration (Management and Marketing). He received a Masters Certificate in Project Management from The George Washington University and ESI-Intl. He also has a Certificate in Computer Programming from New York University.
Elijah A. Martin-Merrill - TFMS VicePresident, Chief Technical Officer and Chief Compliance Officer
Elijah has twelve years experience in programming, network design and administration, and telecommunications. He assisted is the design and administration of the network for the Francis W. Parker Charter Essential School while still a high school student. He was a computer and network technician at Jacson Laboratories, a large genetic and cancer research laboratory in Bar Harbor Maine. There he worked with scientists on presentations and lectures, configured and maintained workstations and servers, designed and implemented network utilities, and assisted in various network administrative tasks. Today he occasionally consults with The Jackson Laboratory continuing to support systems he developed while there. Elijah started as a consultant to TFMSin April of 2005 and became a member of the staff in December of 2005.
Elijah is a graduate of the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, a violinist, an instrument certified private pilot, a lieutenant in the Civial Air Patrol, and an active pilot in Angel Flight. He is an avid reader, enjoys cooking and working on his antique house.