Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc. (KBW), a full-service boutique investment bank and broker-dealer that specializes in the financial services sector, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF), today announced that R.J. Grant has been named Director of Equity Trading.

Grant joined the firm in 2005 and has spent the last decade on KBW’s equity trading desk, most recently as Senior Managing Director & Head of Market Making. He now assumes the position previously held by John Ragan, who is retiring after 23 years of service at KBW.

“Under John and R.J.’s leadership, our U.S. equity sales and trading team has been consistently ranked number one by Greenwich Associates and we have significantly increased our share of trading volume,” said Thomas B. Michaud, KBW CEO. “We thank John for his many contributions to KBW and look forward to building on this success with R.J. at the helm.”

KBW is a leading market maker in Nasdaq-listed financial stocks and now ranks among the ten largest traders of U.S. regional bank stocks.

Grant has been an integral member of KBW’s equity trading desk for the past 12 years. He started as a Vice President for Equity Trading and quickly rose through the ranks to Senior Managing Director. A graduate of Bucknell University, Grant began his career as an Associate in the Equity Trading division at Ryan Beck.

“I am honored to pick up where John Ragan left off, and continue providing our clients with the best, most trusted equity trading platform for financial stocks,” said Grant.