Member – Operating Committee
Mr. Mims founded Academy Securities in 2009 and provides overall leadership, strategy, and direction as Academy’s Chief Executive Officer and majority controlling shareholder. Immediately prior to launching Academy Securities, Mr. Mims founded and led a San Diego, California- based boutique real estate brokerage, mortgage, and property management firm. For a period of five years with that firm, Mr. Mims focused on investing in, advising on, financing, and managing real estate assets throughout the United States. Earlier in his civilian career, Mr. Mims was an executive and project manager at Home Depot. While with Home Depot he led a Six Sigma non-continental store profitability project that resulted in millions of dollars in annualized savings. Also at Home Depot, Mr. Mims was a regional project manager for a $400 million capital investment that resulted in an 80% increase in comparable store sales.
Previously, Mr. Mims served as a naval officer onboard the USS SENTRY MCM-3 and the USS JOHN PAUL JONES DDG-53 guided missile destroyer enforcing UN sanctions against Iraq and taking part in the initial strikes into Afghanistan during OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM.
Mr. Mims holds a BS in Economics from the US Naval Academy and an MBA from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. Mr. Mims is a licensed California Real Estate Broker and holds his FINRA Series 7, 24, and 63 licenses.
Member – Operating Committee
Mr. McConkey is the President and a Partner at Academy, responsible for overall leadership and overseeing daily operations, as well as business development and equities. Following careers in the military and the National Football League, Mr. McConkey embarked on a financial services career that has spanned over three decades. He has experience in the fields of asset management, trading, alternative investment strategies, and investment banking. He has worked for firms such as Wells Fargo Bank, Deutsche Bank, and BNP Paribas. Mr. McConkey played six years in the NFL following his military service and is best remembered for his touchdown catch in Super Bowl XXI for the New York Giants. He also played for the Green Bay Packers, Arizona Cardinals, and San Diego Chargers. In addition, he was a broadcaster for the New York Giants, CBS Sports, and FOX NY, where he won two New York Sports Emmys for his work on “Giants Today.”
Mr. McConkey holds a B.S. in Engineering from the US Naval Academy and FINRA Series 7, 24, 63, 65 and 55 licenses.
Member – Operating Committee
Mr. Graham is Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer, and a Partner at Academy contributing overall leadership while overseeing all treasury and general operations. Mr. Graham joined Academy Securities from Academy Properties Inc. where he was a Partner, managing all real estate brokerage transactions, mortgage origination, and property management operations firm-wide. Previously, Mr. Graham worked for Lehman Brothers, Inc. as a Sales Associate in fixed income trading, specializing in bond and credit default swap transactions on behalf of institutional clients.
Prior to this, he was a Commissioned Officer of the United States Navy and served as a Division Officer on board the USS JOHN PAUL JONES DDG 53 guided missile destroyer and USS THACH FFG 43 guided missile frigate where he completed two deployments to the Persian Gulf enforcing UN sanctions against Iraq.
Mr. Graham is a graduate of the US Naval Academy and holds an MBA in Finance from Columbia Business School. He holds his FINRA Series 7, 24, 27, 52, 53 and 63 licenses.
Member – Operating Committee
Michael Boyd | Chief Compliance Officer
Mr. Boyd is Chief Compliance Officer for Academy and responsible for all of the firm’s regulatory and compliance matters. Mr. Boyd has extensive compliance experience, having served in varying compliance roles for several broker-dealers and hedge funds including Schwab Capital Markets, Thales Fund, CJM Securities and Labrador R.I.T. His previous positions have included everything from providing firm-wide compliance leadership and supervisory authority to project-specific work. Mr. Boyd is experienced in managing the entire FINRA membership process, handling inspections, managing CRD filings, monitoring all forms of communications and responding to ad hoc requests from regulators. His knowledge base includes equities, futures, and options, as well as various derivative products on both the buy- and sell- sides. Mr. Boyd has ensured compliance with new and existing regulations including Dodd Frank. He has also performed market surveillance, approved employee trading activities, and created firm compliance departments from the ground-up.
Mr. Boyd served as an officer aboard a naval tank landing ship with deployments in the Middle East and East Africa, for which he was awarded the Southwest Asia Service Medal.
Mr. Boyd graduated from the US Naval Academy with a BS in Engineering and served as a Surface Warfare Officer in the U.S. Navy. He holds his Series 4, 7, 24, 53, 55, 63 and 79 licenses.
Spencer Wilcox is Managing Director, Head of Capital Markets and Fixed Income at Academy Securities. Prior to his current role, Mr. Wilcox worked at Jefferies for 5 years having traded a broad array of Fixed Income products including Rates, Municipal Bonds and Investment Grade Corporate Debt. Mr. Wilcox served in the United States Navy. During his service, Mr. Wilcox planned and led over 180 flying missions and over 50 armed missions as a helicopter aircraft commander. In Kabul, Afghanistan, Mr. Wilcox led a 7-man joint team and was instrumental in establishing the first-ever Commando training program for the Afghan government. Mr. Wilcox negotiated with 43 foreign governments, 80 ships, and several U.S. government agencies to plan and execute 24 strategic humanitarian missions under U.S. Navy’s Project Handclasp.
Mr. Wilcox is a United States Naval Academy graduate with post-graduate work (MBA) at Columbia University – Columbia Business School and University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business. He holds his Series 7, 24, 63 licenses.
Member – Operating Committee
Rick Kolman | Managing Director, Head of the Municipal Securities Group
Mr. Kolman, Managing Director and Head of the Municipal Securities Group, is a 35 year veteran of the Municipal Securities Industry. Mr. Kolman spent the majority of his career at Goldman Sachs serving as Manager of the New Issue desk (overseeing the pricing of over $100 billion in debt). In his final years at Goldman Sachs, he was Co-Head of the short and long-term sales, trading, underwriting and derivative business for the Municipal Department. He retired from Goldman Sachs in 2008 and worked with Macquarie Bank developing a startup financial guaranty company (called Municipal and Infrastructure Assurance Company) and served as the Vice Chairman. Mr. Kolman then joined US Bancorp in May of 2010 as Head of the Municipal Securities Department and was tasked with building out a full-service Municipal team. Mr. Kolman served on the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) as well as the Executive Committee of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) where he was Chairman of the Municipal Division.
Mr. Kolman received the SIFMA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007. He received a BS from Villanova University and an MBA from New York University in Finance. He holds his FINRA Series 7, 24, and 53 licenses.
Janie L. Mines is an Academy Securities’ Advisory Board Member and Academy’s Head of Inclusion and Innovation.
Ms. Mines is a former naval officer who was the first African-American woman to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy, where she earned a Bachelor of Science. She graduated in 1980 after serving in several leadership positions in the Brigade of Midshipmen. She was later selected to participate in the prestigious Sloan Fellows Program, where she earned an MBA from the Alfred P. Sloan School of Business Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Ms. Mines held positions of increasing responsibility, as a Navy Supply Corps officer and in several corporations including Procter & Gamble, Pepsi (Frito-Lay), Hershey Foods, and Bank of America. She was formerly an independent executive management consultant focusing on Strategic Planning, Change Management, Quality and Productivity, Integrated Business Transformation, and Program Management serving nonprofits, government and Fortune 500 corporations.
Ms. Mines served as the Sr. Advisor, Business Process, Senior Executive Service in the Office of the Secretary of the Navy. She formerly served on the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWITS) for the Secretary of Defense.
Ms. Mines founded and managed a non-profit organization for over 10 years, Boyz to Men Club, Inc, after observing the needs of adolescent boys in the community. Her awards include National Women of Color in Business Award winner, Olympic Torchbearer, Civic Volunteer of the Year, 9 Who Care Award winner for the Charlotte Metropolitan Area, and a South Carolina Black History Honoree. She received a Congressional Record Proclamation for her service. Ms. Mines has served as a member of the Rotary Club International, the Board of Directors of the Founders Federal Credit Union, and the Board of the Springs Close Foundation. She is the author of No Coincidences – Reflections of the First Black Female Graduate of the United States Naval Academy.
Ms. Mines has maintained her relationship with the Naval Academy throughout the decades and was selected as a Distinguished Graduate for her outstanding service. She continues to positively impact the lives of midshipmen and naval officers through her mentorship and ongoing support.
Major General James A. “Spider” Marks is Head of Geopolitical Strategy and Academy Securities’ Senior Advisory Board Member. General Marks is the Founder and President of The Marks Collaborative, an advisory for corporate leader development, education and training and has led entrepreneurial efforts in global primary research and national security. He served over 30 years in the Army holding every command position from infantry platoon leader to commanding general and was the senior intelligence officer in the LA Riots, the Balkans, Korea, and Operation Iraqi Freedom. He culminated his career as the Commanding General of the US Army Intelligence Center and School at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. He has been awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf cluster, Bronze Star, and multiple combat, expeditionary and service ribbons. General Marks is a Master parachutist, authorized to wear Korean and Canadian Airborne wings, Air Assault qualified, and Honor Graduate of the US Army Ranger School. General Marks is a national security contributor to CNN and member of the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame.
Academy’s Macro Strategy department is led by Peter Tchir and is designed to help companies and investors navigate markets and the economy by creating content that analyzes developments in a provocative way.
Our coverage focuses on fixed income and credit markets and harnesses Peter’s experience as a trader and portfolio manager. Academy’s Macro Strategy content challenges existing consensus views and incorporates ESG and Geopolitical analysis in a way that helps clarify how world events affect the unique individual objectives of our clients and partners.
Peter Tchir has been advising asset managers and corporations since 2009. He has traded and structured a wide variety of fixed income products, including synthetic CDO’s, high yield bonds, aircraft leases, indices, and fixed income ETFs. That experience helps provide unique insights into the markets via the “T-Report” and frequent appearances on various financial markets networks.
Randy Lauer is Managing Director, Head of Business Development and Institutional Sales. He is a seasoned executive with over 33 years of experience in the financial services industry. Most recently Mr. Lauer was a Managing Director at Citigroup and oversaw all Institutional Markets Sales for the Midwest Region. In this role, Mr. Lauer managed a regional team of sales and trading professionals and was responsible for the distribution of all fixed income, futures, equities, and municipal product in the region. Mr. Lauer and his sales team interacted with and provided service to some of the top hedge funds, asset managers, banks, and insurance companies in the country. Prior to this role, Mr. Lauer was in New York and oversaw all Securitized Product Sales for North America. Mr. Lauer started his career with Salomon Brothers in New York and held numerous sales leadership positions all in institutional markets.
Mr. Lauer currently serves as an Independent Trustee (Governance and Nominating Committee as well as the Audit Committee) for the HPS Corporate Lending Fund (HLEND) which is a public, perpetually non-traded business development company that primarily invests in privately originated, senior secured loans, to middle and upper-middle market companies in the United States. HPS Investment Partners, HLEND’s investment adviser, is one of the largest global credit-focused alternative investment managers with over $72BN in assets under management. In addition, Mr. Lauer also serves on the Board of Directors of Silent Falcon UAS Technologies. With operations in Albuquerque, New Mexico and Front Royal Airport, Virginia, Silent Falcon uses its proprietary and state of the art technology to collect, analyze, and upload data geared toward numerous applications including airfield maintenance and repair, and roadway management.
Prior to coming to Wall Street, Mr. Lauer was an officer in the United States Marine Corps and held numerous leadership billets ranging from platoon commander to company commander. Mr. Lauer’s service included overseas deployments to Okinawa, Japan, the Republic of South Korea, the Philippine Islands, and Thailand. Mr. Lauer received his bachelor’s degree from Lake Forest College and his MBA from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University. Mr. Lauer currently serves as a Trustee for Lake Forest College (Chair of the Development and External Relations Committee) and St Johns Northwestern Academies (Chair of the Governance Committee). A longtime champion of diversity, Mr. Lauer was regional executive sponsor for Citi’s Veterans Network Chicago, was past co-chair of the Citi Illinois Leadership Council, and was co-business sponsor of the Citi Black Heritage Network Chicago. In addition, Mr. Lauer holds FINRA series 3, 7, 24, 53, and 63 securities licenses.
Rachel Washburn is a graduate of Drexel University and a former U.S. Army Captain. While enrolled at Drexel, Rachel spent three seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles as an NFL cheerleader in addition to being a full-time student and ROTC scholarship cadet. After graduation, Rachel served six years on active duty as an Intelligence Officer, deploying twice to Afghanistan; first as a member of the pioneer Cultural Support Team (CST) and second as an Intelligence Platoon Leader. As a member of the CST program, Rachel was one of the first women selected to train and deploy with Special Operation teams to Afghanistan. On her CST deployment, Rachel spent nine months living in a remote village in Southern Afghanistan with a Special Forces team, training local security forces, engaging with the female population, and conducting over 100 combat operations all before the ban on women serving in combat had been lifted. Following her combat tours, Rachel was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and Combat Action Badge. Since leaving the Army in 2016, Rachel has continued her pursuit in addressing global security and instability, acting as a Regional Director with a nonprofit focused on bringing relief in the wake of disasters and armed conflicts. Rachel is currently the Head of Geopolitical Intelligence at Academy Securities, a Disabled Veteran Owned Investment Bank with a social mission to train, hire, and mentor post 9-11 veterans as well as a VP of debt capital markets, covering corporate clients in the consumer staples, energy, healthcare, and aerospace and defense industries
Dan Stahlschmidt is Managing Director, Head of Equity Capital Markets. Before joining Academy, Mr. Stahlschmidt led UBS’s Midwest Equities Execution and was an institutional equity sales trader for nearly 7 years. Prior to UBS, Mr. Stahlschmidt held positions in equity sales at Oppenheimer & Co. and Jefferies. Mr. Stahlschmidt spent 10 years as a Naval Aviator with over 60 combat missions during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Mr. Stahlschmidt holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the Naval Academy and an MBA from the University of Virginia (Darden). Mr. Stahlschmidt is based in Chicago where he resides with his wife (also Navy veteran) and their three children. He holds his Series 4, 7, 24, 55, and 63 licenses.
Member – Operating Committee
Mr. Lowry is Managing Director, Head of Special Situations and leverages his in-depth knowledge of the financial services industry, having specialized as an M&A professional with over ten years of experience executing a variety of highly complex transactions. In this capacity, Mr. Lowry most recently worked as a Director in Investment Banking focusing on Consumer & Retail Mergers & Acquisitions at Financo. During that time, he executed both sell-side and buy-side M&A assignments. Prior to that, Mr. Lowry worked as an Investment Banking Vice President in Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Global Mergers & Acquisitions Group.
Before starting his financial services career, Mr. Lowry was a Surface Warfare Officer in the United States Navy, where he completed two Persian Gulf deployments as Maritime Interdiction Visit, Board, Search and Seizure (VBSS) Boarding Officer, Communications Officer, and Engineering Officer. During his service, Mr. Lowry was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation and Achievement Medals for leadership and mission accomplishment in United Nations sanctions enforcement and National Command Authority tasking.
Mr. Lowry is a US Naval Academy graduate and earned his MBA from the University of Southern California. He holds his FINRA Series 24, 63 and 79 licenses.
Mr. Rodriguez, Head of Sustainable Finance at Academy Securities, is a former infantry Marine who was wounded in the Battle of Fallujah and awarded the Purple Heart. Following his military service and recovery, he did his graduate work at Dartmouth where he focused on issues of sustainability as it pertains to National Security and earned a Master’s Degree in Globalization Studies. His specialization at Academy Securities is in Sustainable Finance, where he focuses on the metrics by which green and sustainably themed/marketed securities are evaluated.
Ms. Brewer is Senior Vice President of Treasury and Compliance at Academy. She joined the firm in 2014 and focuses on overall firm compliance, supervision, and internal controls. Ms. Brewer has been in the financial industry for 15 years with extensive experience in broker dealer compliance and financial operations. She previously served as a Compliance Analyst at Bain Capital, and a Compliance Officer at Carolina Capital Markets.
Ms. Brewer graduated from Villanova University with a BA in Communications. She holds the Series 7,24,63,79, and 99 licenses.
