November 1, 2022, St. Petersburg, FL – Water Tower Research LLC (www.watertowerresearch.com) is a leading, digitally focused investor engagement and stakeholder communication firm. Chairman of the Board Dan Bukowski is pleased to announce that, effective immediately, current Chief Executive Officer Stu Linde is now moving to Executive Chairman, and current Chief Operating Officer Charlie Phippen is promoted to Chief Executive Officer. Phippen also joins the Company’s Board of Managers effective immediately.
Water Tower Research was founded to provide “Research for the Other 99%™”, with a mission to improve the communication channels between companies and their stakeholders that have been impaired by dramatic structural changes to the conventional equity research and investor engagement models.
Bukowski said, “The Board is very excited about Water Tower Research’s success and believe we have a very strong outlook. These promotions solidify our leadership team, which has led the organization from start-up to our rapid growth. Charlie and Stu make a world-class team and we look forward to serving many more clients at Water Tower Research.”
Newly appointed Executive Chairman Linde said, “The hard work and progress of our teams at Water Tower Research has been amazing. I am excited to continue the progress of our organization. We are focused on serving our clients, growing our analyst roster, executing our proven strategy, and maintaining a happy positive productive work culture. The future for Water Tower Research is very bright and I am excited to be part of our continued success.”
Phippen is excited about his executive leadership role and joining the firm’s Board. The firm covers a diverse and expanding group of sectors, including chemicals and materials technology, climate tech, consumer discretionary, consumer hardlines, healthcare, natural resources and technology, among others.
“Joining Water Tower Research and being part of the firm’s execution, strategy, and growth has been an amazing experience. We have a tremendous group of professionals and expect to expand our team of world-class analysts beyond our current 10. We strive every day to work hard for our clients and assist with investor education, awareness and investor engagement. While we have experienced significant growth over the past two years, our best is yet to come.”
As a global leader in the financial industry, Phippen has more than 25 years of experience across investment banking, sales, trading, and equity research at leading firms including Goldman Sachs, UBS, and BNP Paribas. He has successfully built and run numerous businesses across financial markets.
Just prior to joining Water Tower Research in 2021, Phippen was the Chief Operating Officer of Market Structure & Technology at Coalition Greenwich, a Crisil-owned company that is majority owned by S&P Global, where he drove profitability by managing operations, sales, and marketing.
Prior to Coalition Greenwich, Phippen was the Director of Product Management at IHS Markit, developing and expanding its suite of analyst research offerings for the financial markets. He also held management positions at BNP Paribas, UBS, and Goldman Sachs, overseeing equity, derivatives, and investment banking. He received his BA in Business, Economics, and a minor in Psychology from Lafayette College.
Throughout his 30-year career as an equity research analyst, manager, and leader, Linde has been focused on building ROE accretive businesses, changing the business of equity research, and creating a legacy of analyst development. He has been a successful equity research analyst in multiple sectors, a leader of the top US equity research team, and has built a global equity research department across multiple regions, training and mentoring numerous top analysts along the way.
After a career as an Institutional Investor All-America top-ranked analyst, Linde became the Head of US Equity Research at Lehman/Barclays for the next decade. During his tenure, the US equity research department was ranked #1 in the annual Institutional Investor All-America research survey for six consecutive years and the equity research department ranked in the top three for all 10 years.
Following the merger of Barclays and Lehman Brothers in 2008, Linde oversaw the buildout of the global equity research platform. While maintaining a top platform in the US, under Stu’s leadership Barclays expanded its presence in Europe, Japan, Non-Japan Asia, Canada, and Latin America. After retiring from Barclays in 2014, he continued his career at Sterne Agee CRT and Scotiabank as Head of US Equity Research. Linde holds an MBA in Finance from Rutgers University Graduate School of Management and a BA in Economics from New York University.
About Water Tower Research (WTR)
Water Tower Research is an investor engagement and stakeholder communication platform powered by sector experts with significant Wall Street and industry experience. We create, deliver, and maintain the information flow required by companies to build and preserve relationships with all stakeholders and existing and potential investors. “Research for the Other 99%™” opens the door for companies to digitally share their stories directly and engage with a broad, diverse set of investors. Water Tower Research is built on the foundation of democratizing information flow. We bridge the growing information gap between companies and investors through our investor engagement strategies and open-access research platform.