Vincent Butkevits, CEO

As Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Butkevits oversees all aspects of Zeus’ dealer and institutional businesses. He has been in the financial services and investment banking industry for 40 years, holding positions in operations, sales, trading and business development.

In 2000, prior to starting Zeus, Mr. Butkevits co-founded JVB Financial Holdings, serving as President and CEO of the company and its wholly owned subsidiaries, which included JVB Financial Group. Mr. Butkevits eventually sold JVB in 2010 and is now dedicating his efforts towards his new venture at Zeus. He continues to serve his clients and employees with professionalism and excellence.

Early in his career, Mr. Butkevits had tenures with Primary Dealers: Dean Witter, Merrill Lynch and Salomon Brothers. Then he transitioned from operations to trading while at Exchange National Bank of Chicago.

Leticia Butkevits, Majority Owner

Leticia is the majority owner and is a member of the Zeus Board of Directors. She advises the board on the needs of the community, monitors the business and votes on key issues at board meetings. While she is not an officer of the broker-dealer, nor actively involved in the investment banking or securities business of the firm, she actively seeks opportunities for the firm to positively impact the communities it serves

Gary C. Galarpe, COO|CRO|CCO

As the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Risk Officer, Mr. Galarpe is dually responsible for overseeing the administrative and operational functions of the business as well as mitigating trading and business risks that can impact the firm’s profitability. He works closely with other executives and managers to execute organizational strategy, promote opportunities for growth, foster a culture of teamwork, identify enterprise risk management issues, and develop strategies to reduce those risks.

Mr. Galarpe has over 30 years’ experience in various capacities in the financial industry. Mr. Galarpe was the Head Fixed Income Trader at LPL Financial, before becoming the Senior Fixed Income Trader at Girard Securities. The skills he acquired in retail banking, trading, operations, compliance, finance, and IT were most recently employed as the COO|CFO|COO of Nathan Hale Capital. Mr. Galarpe earned his BA in Business Administration from California State University at Fullerton.

Steven Singer, CFO/FinOp

Steven Singer has spent over 20 years in the financial services arena. After obtaining his bachelor’s degree with concentrations in Accounting and Management Information Systems, Steven successfully passed the CPA exam in New York. He then spent 3 years in the financial services audit practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers (formerly Coopers & Lybrand). Steven spent the next 10 years working his way up the accounting and finance ladder first as an assistant controller, then as a controller, and eventually as a CFO in the securities brokerage arena. Early on in his broker-dealer years, Steven obtained his FINRA Series 27 FINOP license. Prior to starting Maven Strategic in 2004, Steven spent 2 years as the President and CEO of a subsidiary of a publicly traded company, which provides core financial services to small businesses.

PARDEEP KUMAR, MANAGING DIRECTOR

Mr. Kumar brings over 12 years of industry experience as a Fixed Income Trader with an exceptional track record of successfully positioning, pricing, and trading fixed-income products in competitive environments. He has held several roles within Bank of America Merrill Lynch; most recently as Vice President trading Agency MBS. He graduated from Baruch College with a BBA in Finance and Economics.

Mr. Kumar is a Co-Founder of Orchid Bay Financial Holding, LLC (Parent company of Zeus Financial, LLC) and a partner at Zeus Financial, LLC.

Steven Hampton, Executive Vice President, MBS Trading, Zeus Financial, LLC.

Mr. Hampton has 19 years of experience in the Mortgage-Backed securities industry trading Agency CMOs, Specified Pools, & Non-Agency CMOs. His prior experience was at Duncan Williams, Inc for 10 years; as well as with Nathan Hale Capital for 5 years, where he held the position of Senior Vice President on the Mortgage Trading desk. His focus will be on the Agency side in the Mortgage arena, trading Agency CMOs and Specified Pools. He will provide services to both institutional & middle-market clients. Mr. Hampton received a BA in Marketing from Winthrop University.

Mr. Hampton is a Co-Founder and partner of Orchid Bay Financial Holding, LLC (Parent company of Zeus Financial, LLC) and a Partner at Zeus Financial, LLC.

RACHEL TELVI, DIRECTOR OF TRADING & BROKERAGE OPERATIONS

In her capacity, Ms. Telvi is responsible in directing the daily brokerage and trading operations for Zeus Financial. She also oversees and manages trading compliance for our desk.  Her proficiency and dedication in this area drives operational efficiencies.

Ms. Telvi began her career over 16 years ago as a Relationship Manager for the Institutional Sales department of TradeStation Securities. Meeting the needs of equity, futures, and forex institutional clients, as well as serving as a direct liaison to the clearing firm, developed the foundation of her operational skills. She was later named Institutional Sales Operations Manager. In 2006, she joined vFinance Investments, an OTCBB & Pink Sheets equities market maker, as the Trading Operations Coordinator & Trading Assistant to the Head Trader. She has held positions with Network1 Financial, FMS Bonds, and Independent Portfolio Consultants. During her career, Ms. Telvi has acquired an in-depth knowledge of trading, compliance, and back office operations across all asset classes and products.

Ms. Telvi graduated in March 2016 with a BS in Legal Studies from Kaplan University. She is fully bilingual in English and Spanish.

AMBER KENNY, CONTROLLER/CAO

As the firm’s Controller and Chief Administrative Officer, Mrs. Kenny brings over 25 years of experience working with entrepreneurs in a broad range of service and financial companies. Her skills reach through finance, accounting, budgeting, human resources, and organizational behavior. Her diverse experience provides stability in the building of a strong organizational infrastructure for Zeus’ rapidly growing endeavor as she oversees financial and business operations for both Zeus Financial, LLC and its parent company, Orchid Bay Financial Holdings. Mrs. Kenny’s financial services career began as Administrator of Slavic Mutual Funds Management Corp, a predecessor of Slavic401k.com. She earned a BBA in Marketing and Finance from Southern Arkansas University and an MBA from the University of Mississippi.

OMELIO ARMAS, EXECUTIVE VP OF MUNICIPALS

As Executive VP of Municipals, Mr. Armas commits firm capital to buying and selling municipal securities from institutional and broker-dealer firms. He has been in the financial services industry for over 25 years holding positions in equity and fixed income market making and execution services.

Prior to joining Zeus Financial, Mr. Armas began his trading career at JW Charles as an equity execution clerk and later moved on Spear, Leeds, & Kellogg as a NASDAQ market maker. In 2002 he moved on to become trading manager at First American Capital & Trading overseeing execution services for correspondent clients in equities and fixed income securities. In 2010, he became a Vice-President and Trader at JVB Financial Group until his move to Zeus Financial.

PETER BRANDEL, JR., SVP OF MUNICPALS

Mr. Brandel has over 20 years of experience as a fixed income trader. For the past 10+ years he has focused on trading municipal bonds with an institutional client base. He most recently worked at Nathan Hale Capital, LLC where he was Senior Vice-President and co-founder of the Institutional Municipal Bond Trading Department. Prior to that, he worked in various roles at Advisors Asset Management, Banc of America Securities and Quick & Reilly/Fleet Securities. Mr. Brandel earned a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Siena College.

RYAN DORBANDT, DIRECTOR OF DERIVATIVES TRADING

Ryan Dorbandt started in institutional sales in 2011, rotating into trading Mortgage-Backed Securities early in his career. Since then, he has built and led multiple profitable Agency MBS trading desks at different firms. Today, Ryan is a trader at Zeus Financial, LLC, where he focuses primarily on MBS derivative markets. He received a BS in finance from Louisiana State University, graduating with honors in 2010. A proud member of the LSU community, he continues to act as a liaison for the university.

DANIEL FRIEL, SR. EVP OF MUNICIPALS

Dan Friel is a 30+ year veteran of the Municipal bond industry who has been involved in various aspects of trading, underwriting, sales, public finance, buy-side trading, and management. Dan began his career at Adams McEntee, which went through a series of mergers (Norstar Bank, Fleet Bank, Quick & Reilly, etc.) from 1987 to 2004, prior to being hired away by UBS from 2004 to 2009. Dan joined First NY in 2009 as a buy-side trader, and subsequently worked at First Southwest and Stifel Nicolaus before moving to Nathan Hale Capital in 2017 where he became a partner. Dan joined Zeus Financial, LLC at the start of 2022. Dan holds the following licenses: Series 7 (9/19/87), Series 63 (9/24/87), Series 24 (8/2/90) and Series 53 (12/8/93) as well as the SIE (Securities Industry Essentials Exam) (10/1/18). Dan has a BA in Economics from the University of Virginia (1986) and an MA in Theology from the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception (2007). Dan resides with his wife Karen in Charlotte, NC and they have four children.

JOHN C. HATTON, EVP OF MUNICIPAL TRADING & UNDERWRITING

John has been working in the municipal bond market for more than 32 years, the last twelve as the SVP of Municipal Trading for at JVB Financial Group, LLC, a subsidiary of Institutional Financial Markets, Inc.

Before JVB, John was associated with Bank of America Investment Services and its predecessors in several different roles ranging from Trading and Underwriting municipal securities to managing the fixed income trading and middle office for a sales force of over 2,000 registered representatives. Mr. Hatton started in the bond business as a back-office clerk in the bond department of First Equity Corp of Fl advancing into a trading role there.

MARK SQUITIERI, EVP OF CORPORATE BONDS & STRUCTURED PRODUCTS, ZEUS FINANCIAL LLC

Mr. Squitieri has been working in Investment Banking and Credit Trading at U.S. and Japanese firms for over 35 years. Mr. Squitieri has established Credit desks at firms such as Irving Trust and Vining-Sparks IBG.

Mr. Squitieri is a graduate of Rutgers University, Newark College of Arts and Sciences and a Veteran of the United States Army.

MARK McCABE, SR. EVP OF MUNICIPAL SALES, ZEUS FINANCIAL LLC

Mark McCabe is a 36 year veteran of Institutional Municipal Bond Sales.  He began his career in March of 1986 at Adams, McEntee & Co. after spending 5 years selling high-end Diagnostic Medical Equipment.  Mark was with Fleet Securities until they merged with Bank of America. He went to work for Stone & Youngberg out of San Francisco assisting them in opening a New York office.  Mark became a partner in 2006 and was with S&Y until they merged with Stifel. He worked for First Southwest, Janney Montgomery and 280 Securities/InspereX until moving over to Zeus Financial in July of 2022.

Mark has been covering primarily Tier 1 and Tier 2 municipal bond accounts selling them both tax exempt and taxable municipal bonds.  He also has accounts that he works with that trade Investment Grade Corporates, Agencies and US Treasury Bonds.  He has a BA in Psychology from Iona University (1979). Mark has been married to the same woman for 40 years (her nickname is Super St. Beth).  They have four children and 5 grandchildren.

GERARD McNAMARA, SR. EVP OF MUNICIPAL SALES, ZEUS FINANCIAL LLC

Gerard “Jerry” McNamara began his career in Operations at Bache & Company, later becoming Prudential Securities. He began trading Municipal Bonds at Prudential Securities in 1985. Jerry traded NY, NJ paper & Puerto Rico, and managed that desk starting 1986. He then traded long “dollar” bonds and became Institutional Trading Desk Manager in 1995 before leaving for Alex Brown in 1996 as Head of Trading Sales and Syndicate. After Alex Brown merged with Bankers Trust he left for Rauscher Pierce in Dallas, TX in the same role, out of their NY office. Rauscher then merged with Dain Bosworth in 1997 and Jerry became the Municipal Sales Manager at the merged entity. Jerry then went to Paine Webber as a High Yield Trader and later became a Head Trader at UBS (which bought Paine Webber). UBS closed Municipal Institutional Trading and Banking in 2008. Jerry then went on to start PFB, LLC, a municipal trading firm and in 2017 joined a family office, Watermill Asset Management, where he was the Trader/Portfolio Manager until June of 2021. He then started at Manteio Capital, a fixed income hedge fund, where he headed Municipal Trading. Jerry joined Zeus Financial in July of 2022. Jerry lives and works in NYC and has 3 children and a Yorkie. He is a graduate of Fairfield University, CT.

JAMES K. FERRY, SENIOR EXECUTIVE VP ZEUS FINANCIAL LLC

James has spent 25 years on the fixed income trading desk and is an expert in municipal and mortgage-backed securities.  In 2000 James Co-founded the regional broker dealer – JVB Financial Group -headquartered in Boca Raton FL. The firm specializes in the wholesale distribution of fixed income securities. James and his partner grew the firm to five regional offices with 85 employees. They sold the firm in 2010, and continued to help run the organization into 2015.  Subsequently James joined Morgan Stanley in Boca Raton FL as a Wealth Adviser serving high net worth individuals and small business entrepreneurs. Prior to joining Harvest Portfolio Management, James raised capital for One Oak Capital Management, a New York based firm specializing in municipal, corporate, and mortgage-backed securities. In March of 2021 James joined Harvest as Managing Director of the Private Client Group and Fixed Income Specialist in the Delray Beach, FL office. In June of 2022 James joined Zeus Financial LLC as a fixed income specialist covering institutional and regional firms. James graduated from Wagner College in 1984 with a degree in Business Administration.

ROBERT KURSAR, SVP OF INSTITUTIONAL MUNICIPAL GROUP

Bob has over 30 years of Fixed-Income trading experience. After starting his career as a retail generalist at Invest Financial in Chicago, he joined the Institutional Agency desk at Kemper/Everen Securities. He then spent eight years as a market maker of Agency debt and MBS Pass-throughs for the Institutional Fixed-Income group at Wachovia Bank. Most recently, he spent eight years trading Municipal debt at Nathan Hale Capital. Mr. Kursar received a BS in Finance from DePaul University.

DANIEL STEUER, SR. EVP OF DERIVATIVES TRADING

Dan Steuer started actively trading MBS in 1990, as Countrywide’s first CMO trader. He spent ten years building a flow business in agency and non-agency backed classes, including restructuring cashflows into derivative classes. In 2001 Mr. Steuer transitioned to United Capital Markets to focus on the senior stack of classes in non-agency deals and exceled in custom creation of unique derivative classes such as the FLIB (“floored TTIB”). In 2007, Mr. Steuer joined Guggenheim Partners to trade non-agency backed REMIC classes, and to manage a southern California trading/sales office. As Guggenheim grew, Dan earned the title of Head Trader. In 2015, Mr. Steuer left the corporate world to embrace the boutique sector, and joined AK Capital, LLC to trade Agency and Non-Agency REMICS, with an emphasis on derivative classes.

Mr. Steuer is one of our newest employees. He holds a B.S. in finance from Cal State University. He has been married for 35 years and has two daughters and a Labradoodle.

CHRIS DOBSON, EVP OF PRIMARY CDs

Chris Dobson is a 27+ year veteran of the Brokered CD industry who has been involved in all aspects of the US CD markets, New Issue underwriting and trading of bullets, callable and structured CD investments. Chris has placed in excess of $300 billion worth of CDs with thousands of FDIC insured depository institutions over his career. Chris began his career at Finance 500 in Newport Beach, CA from 1995 to 2007 turning F500 into one of the largest underwriters in the nation. In 2008 Chris moved to New York and joined Pali Capital then FNY/MPS Fixed income and later RBC Wealth management furthering his expansion into the structured CD markets and providing alternative funding solutions to Issuers. Chris joined Zeus Financial in the spring of 2022 to head the new CD underwriting effort in Boca Raton, FL. Chris holds the following licenses: Series 7, 24 ,63 and SIE. Chris resides in Delray Beach, FL.

ROBBE UHRHAMMER, DIRECTOR OF CD TRADING

Robbe started in the financial industry over 12 years ago and for the most part focused on trading Certificates of Deposits. Robbe brings a wide base of knowledge having dealt with Municipals, Treasury, Agency, and Corporate debt throughout his career. Prior to joining Zeus Financial, Mr. Uhrhammer facilitated trades in all products for over 150 reps at Advisors Asset Management. He then moved on to trading Certificate of Deposits at Nathan Hale Capital. Robbe has earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Colorado.

MARK D. ZARRILLI, EVP OF SALES

Mark has been with Zeus since January 2020, focusing on MBS Sales, CMOs, Agency, Whole Loans, Arms, Hybrids, Derivs, Coll, & ABS. Early in his career, he began working at Sanwa BGK Securities at One World Trade Center in Wall Street NY early in his career as VP in 1986. He then took on a position at Cantor Fitzgerald SEC/ISG as Director in the same building. He later moved on to a position at Bank of America as Principal. Other positions held are Director at Deutsche Bank in Wall Street, Director at Janney Montgomery Scott, and prior to joining Zeus, Mr. Zarrilli worked in the Greater New York City area at Mizuho Americas as the Executive Director for almost 12 years in MBS, ABS Sales.

Mark has an AAS in Electronic Engineering at Ocean County College, NJ in 1986 and his BA in Liberal Studies in 2010 at Thomas Edison State University, NJ. He is an Author of a book called BRICK & MORTAR. A memoir of living, navigating a career on Wall Street, adventures, places and most importantly the people and relationships he forged along the way. “If life is not fun, you are not doing it right!” Mark D. Zarrilli Amazon/Kindle, Barnes & Noble.