Our People

People who make a difference. Not excuses.

The staff of Pacific American Securities is comprised of seasoned professionals with the experience and skill to effectively meet the needs of institutional investors and high net worth individuals.

Michelle Morton
President, Chief Executive Officer

Constance L. Gibbs
Chief Compliance Officer, Chief Finacial Officer

John R. Glasmann
Head Trader, Managing Director

McCullough "Mac" Williams III
Director of Marketing

Stephen S. Brixey III
Senior Vice President, Director of Fixed Income

Frank Bavaro
Senior Vice President, New York Branch Manager

Eric "Coach" Welle
Senior Vice President

Charles Johnson
First Vice President, Managing Director

Michael Cohen, CMA, CFM
Director of Research

Beverly Teape
Senior Vice President

Eric Carmichael
Senior Vice President, Managing Director

Randy Schiffman
Vice President, Director of Information Services

Michelle Morton
President, Chief Executive Officer

Ms. Morton has been in the investment industry since 1983 and has an extensive understanding of both the buy side and the sell side of the business. Prior to the founding the Pacific American Securities, Ms. Morton was a Vice President of Mellon Private Asset Management. Her responsibility in that role included leadership in expanding Mellon’s presence among high net worth investors in Southern California. Before joining Mellon, she was an Assistant Vice President and Treasury Officer with Union Bank. At Union, her duties included providing investment services to the bank’s corporate clients as well as its high net worth clientele. In her capacity as President and CEO, Ms. Morton is responsible for the day to day operations and marketing of both Pacific American Securities and Pacific American Advisors.

In recognition of her leadership abilities, Ms. Morton was a finalist in the Working Woman/AT&T General Excellence category of the Working Woman Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards for 2001. As a member of the Board of Trustees of her alma mater from 2001 until 2006, she served as Chair of its Finance Committee from 2003 until 2005 and as Chair of the Board from 2005 until 2006. In January of 2007, Ms. Morton was elected to the Board of Trustees of the Cancer Institute of New Jersey Foundation. Ms. Morton also served as a Producer on the award winning documentary film, “Little Man” directed by Nicole Conn.

Ms. Morton holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Hood College and Series 7, 63, 24, and 87 securities licenses

Constance L. Gibbs
Chief Compliance Officer, Chief Financial Officer

Ms. Gibbs is both the Chief Compliance Officer and CFO (FINOP) at PAS. She and her staff ensure that the firm and staff comply with FINRA regulations, and that all reporting (both financial and non-financial) is done on a timely basis. Ms. Gibbs has been in the investment industry since 1988. She has been a Chief Compliance Officer for 15 years and has operated as a FINOP for 18 years. During her career, she has worked as Compliance officer at both broker/dealers and investment advisory firms. Ms. Gibbs has been with Pacific American Securities since its inception in 1997. She holds Series 7, 24, 27, 52, 55, 63, and 65 licenses.

John R. Glasmann
Head Trader, Managing Director

Mr. Glasmann has been an equity trader since 1992 and has been Head Trader at Pacific American since 2001. His duties include managing the day to day operations of all institutional and retail trading. Before joining Pacific American Securities,LLC, he was a trader at SK International Securities. Mr. Glasmann specializes in several styles of equity execution in NASDAQ, Listed, and Preferred securities and has helped to differentiate Pacific American from its peers by successfully developing the firm's capability to execute orders of stocks that are difficult to trade.

Because of his thorough understanding of the equity market and the various impetus' that effect its movement, clients look to Mr. Glasmann, and his entire trading team, for steady guidance in times of volatility and uncertainty.

Mr. Glasmann holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from the California State University, San Marcos. He holds Series 7, 24, 27, 55, and 63 securities licenses. He is also a contributing source to Bloomberg Television reports.

McCullough "Mac" Williams III
Director of Marketing

Mr. Williams has been in the investment industry since 1990. Prior to joining Pacific American Securities, he was a Principal with Greentree Securities. While there, he was responsible for the company's business development, institutional marketing, and customer service. Prior to joining Greentree, he was a Senior Vice President with Pryor, Counts & Company, Inc. While at Pryor, he developed the company's institutional brokerage business in the Midwest. Before entering the investment industry, Mr. Williams served as Deputy State Auditor for the State of Ohio from 1987 until 1996. As Deputy Auditor, he served as a board member on all five of Ohio's public pension systems.

McCullough received Juris Doctorate degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Law, and a Bachelors of Arts degree in Economics from Miami University in Ohio. He holds Series 7, 24, and 63 licenses and is a member of the Columbus Stock and Bond Club, the National Association of Securities Professionals, and the Columbus Bar Association.

Stephen S. Brixey III
Senior Vice President, Director of Fixed Income

Mr.Brixey has been in the investment since 1984 and is a founding employee and minority share holder of Pacific American Securities, LLC. As Director of Fixed Income, he oversees all corporate and municipal fixed income trading and underwriting for the firm. Before joining Pacific American, He was Director of Fixed Income Sales and Underwriting for Yaeger Capital Markets, Inc.

Mr. Brixey's depth of experience in the fixed income arena has allowed Pacific American to successfully expand its fixed income division.

Mr. Brixey holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Business Economics from the University of California at Santa Barbara. He received his Masters of Business Administration in Finance from the University of Southern California. He holds Series 4,7,24,27,53,55, and 63 securities licenses.

Frank Bavaro
Senior Vice President, New York Branch Manager

Mr. Bavaro has been an equity trader since 1986 and has been the Branch Manager of the New York office since 2000. His duties include oversight of the day to day operations of the New York office and equity trading. Mr. Bavaro has been instrumental in developing Pacific American's Program and Algorithmic trading capabilities. Mr. Bavaro is also co-coordinating Pacific American's burgeoning Corporate Buy-Back program.

Before joining Pacific American in 1999, Mr. Bavaro was the Head of Equity Trading at Williams Capital Group. As one of Williams' founding employees, he played a significant role in the firm's development and success. Before joining Williams Capital, he was an Institutional Block Trader with Jefferies & Co.

Mr. Bavaro holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics from St. Francis College in New York. He holds Series 3, 4, 7, 24, 55, and 63 securities licenses.

Eric "Coach" Welle
Senior Vice President

Eric has 37 years of trading experience at firms including Josephthal, W & D Securities, Francis I DuPont, and Pershing. Because of his extensive experience and his commitment to providing the highest level of service to his clients, his is widely recognized and highly respected throughout the financial community.

Charles W. Johnson
First Vice President, Managing Director

Mr. Johnson heads the Syndicate department at Pacific American Securities, LLC. An Equity Trader since 1972, Mr. Johnson was Senior Managing Director of Equity Sales Trading at Blaylock & Partners, L.P. before joining Pacific American. While there, he was responsible for the development of Blaylock's equity trading, sales, and syndicate activities. Before joining Blaylock, Mr. Johnson served as Managing Director of Corporate Equities as well as Head of Equity Trading at Chapman Company. In addition, Mr. Johnson served as Vice President and a NASDAQ Sales Trader at Sherwood Securities, a Partner and Equity Trader at Brean Murray Foster Securities, and a Vice President at Kidder Peabody and Co. where he established the firm's NASDAQ Block Trading Department.

Mr. Johnson received his MBA in Finance from Columbia University's Graduate School of Business and his BA in American History from Columbia College. Mr. Johnson served as a Director of the Episcopal Church Foundation, and was a Trustee of the Walters Museum in Baltimore, MD. He holds Series 7, 24, 55, and 63 securities licenses. Mr. Johnson has been a contributing stock market commentator to CNBC, Dow Jones News, and Bloomberg Television.

Michael Cohen, CMA, CFM
Director of Research

Mr. Cohen founded the research department at Pacific American Securities, LLC in 2002. He has focused his investment career on the information technology sector and is expanding into emerging energy. His research has also included a specialization on legal developments in patent infringement and antitrust cases.

Mr. Cohen has worked on both the buy side and the sell side of the industry for more than eight years. Prior to joining Pacific American Securities, Mr. Cohen was a financial analyst and co-fund manager of the Alpha Analytics Digital Future Fund, a public mutual fund. The Alpha Analytics Digital Future Fund was established in December 1999. Mr. Cohen participated in the fund's design and planning and maintained responsibility for analyzing the technology sector as well as initially reviewing and selecting all the stocks for the Fund.

Mr. Cohen earned his MBA with a concentration in finance from California State University, Northridge in 1997 and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics (cum laude) from California State University, Northridge in 1988. The Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) has awarded him the Certified Management Accountant (CMA) and the Certified Financial Manager (CFM) designations. Mr. Cohen served on the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee of the IMA, as well as Chairman of their international-level Committee on Information Technology, from 2003 until 2005. Mr. Cohen holds series 7, 63, 86, and 87 securities licenses and is currently a Level-II candidate in the CFA Study and Examination Program offered by the CFA Institute.

Mr. Cohen is a featured technology investment expert in a variety of different media. He has made numerous television appearances on Bloomberg, CNBC, CNNfn and Canada’s Business News Network (BNN). His comments frequently appear in stories on major financial wire services and in newspapers across the country.

Beverly Teape
Senior Vice President

Beverly has over 20 years of institutional investment marketing experience with a proven track record of initiating new client relationships and generating revenue. During her career, she has been a Managing Director at Furman Selz LLC where she was responsible for new sales and trading opportunities for the Derivative Securities Group. While there, she also successfully raised investment capital for the Furman Selz Investment Management Group. Prior to joining Furman Selz, she worked as an independent contractor and was retained by a major small cap investment management firm to market their products and services to institutional investors. Beverly was also a Vice President at Advent Capital Management where she successfully raised substantial capital for their convertible securities product and she was Director of Institutional Options Marketing at the American Stock Exchange. She attended Morris Brown College in Atlanta, GA and holds Series 7 and 63 securities licenses.

Eric Carmichael
Senior Vice President, Marketing

Eric has 19 years of experience in the investment industry. Prior to joining PAS, he was a Principal with Greentree Securities where he was responsible for the company's business development, strategic planning, and client relations. In addition, he integrated trading, technology, and research into a customized service for each client. Before joining Greentree, Eric served as a Senior Vice President with Pryor, Counts & Company, Inc. When he opened the Columbus office in 1988, it became the most successful branch office in the company. Eric has frequently held lectures on investing for individuals responsible for managing public funds.

Eric received Bachelors of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania. He holds Series 7, 24, and 63 licenses. Eric is active in his local and extended communities and currently serves on the Board of Housing Partnership in Columbus, OH.

Randy Schiffman
Vice President, Director of Information Services

Mr. Schiffman has extensive experience working in high stress/high availability environments. Before joining PAS, he worked for Syzgy Technologies as a Senior Engineer supporting the testing and development of software and hardware systems used by the US Navy. Prior to joining Syzgy Technologies, Mr. Schiffman was an Electronics Technician with the US Navy. During his deployment during Desert Storm, he was recognized for maintaining "99.9% uptime" on equipment that was critical to his battle group.

Mr. Schiffman received a Bachelors of Science degree in Computer Science (cum laude) from National University. Mr. Schiffman leads a team of technology consultants (based in both New York and San Diego) retained by Pacific American to ensure that all of our systems, especially our trading and clearing systems, operate efficiently.