Financial Services >> Sector Roundtables >> November 17, 2003
NICK PIRSOS is a Managing Director for Sandler O'Neill & Partners, LP.
Mr. Pirsos joined Sandler O'Neill in January 1999 and is Managing
Director of Insurance Equity Research. Prior to this, he was an
insurance equity analyst at Ryan, Beck & Co. During his 12 years of
experience, Mr. Pirsos has served in financial positions internal and
external to the insurance industry. At Everest Reinsurance he was
Manager of Financial Services, responsible for treasury and financial
analysis operations. At The Firemark Group, Mr. Pirsos was responsible
for insurance security selection of its insurance sector funds.
Previously, he was a senior insurance equity analyst at Ryan, Beck & Co.
Mr. Pirsos received his MBA from Pace University, studying Finance and
Portfolio Management, and is a graduate of New York University, having
majored in Finance and International Economics. He has been a
commentator on insurance stocks on CNBC, CNN and Bloomberg television as
well as other business news media. In 2002, he was ranked the leading
insurance analyst by the Wall Street Journal for stock performance,
covering the property-casualty industry. Profile
ELIZABETH C. MALONE is a Managing Director in the research department of
Advest Inc. Ms. Malone is head of the securities research insurance
effort at Advest. Her responsibilities include analyzing the insurance
industry and advising institutional and retail clients on investing in
the insurance industry. In addition to Advest, Ms. Malone have been a
senior research analyst covering the insurance industry at a number of
prestigious Wall Street firms including: Alex. Brown & Sons, now known
as Deutsche Bank, Legg Mason Wood Walker, and Friedman Billings Ramsey.
In addition, Ms. Malone worked as a financial manager for the National
Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). Her responsibilities
included working with state insurance departments to identify and manage
financially troubled insurance companies. During the mid-1990s, Ms.
Malone was a Vice President for a $1 billion market capitalization
insurance company. Her responsibilities involved merger and
acquisitions as well as working with investors and rating agencies. Ms.
Malone has twice been ranked as an All-Star analyst by The Wall Street
Journal. In 2002, Zacks Investor Service ranked Ms. Malone as the number
one life and health insurance analyst as measured by stock performance.
Ms. Malone has a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance and Accounting
from the University of Virginia and a Master's of Business
Administration in Finance from Loyola College, where she graduated cum
laude. In addition, Ms. Malone has been a Chartered Financial Analyst
for 15 years. Profile
BIJAN MOAZAMI is a chartered financial analyst and managing director in
the financial services research group of Friedman, billings, Ramsey
Group, Inc. Mr. Moazami has more than eight years of experience in the
property/casualty insurance sector, and is highly respected in his field
for his objective, insightful research. Prior to joining FBR, Mr.
Moazami worked with Alex. Brown's investment banking division. There, he
was actively involved in corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions,
strategic advisory, and valuation analysis, and new business pitches to
a broad array of clients, primarily in the property-casualty and life
insurance sectors. Prior to joining Alex. Brown, Mr. Moazami was an
associate research analyst at Morgan Stanley insurance group, where he
co-covered property-casualty insurance and reinsurance stocks. Mr.
Moazami received his MA in international finance and monetary theory and
his BA of commerce in finance and international business from McGill
University, Montreal. Profile
group performed so far this year?
Ms. Malone: The stocks that I follow in the property-casualty industry,
which are
