Securities America Promotes Seven Officers

Securities America, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc., has promoted seven employees to officer positions.

Gregory J. Smith, senior vice president, sales supervision
Smith joined Securities America in 2012 as director of sales supervision and was promoted to vice president, supervision in 2015. Smith is responsible for coordinating sales supervision functions. He has a degree in agribusiness from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and holds series 3, 4, 7, 24, 63 and 65 securities licenses.

Craig Zimmerman, senior vice president, operations
Zimmerman joined Securities America in 2011 as director of operations. He oversees the daily support and workflow for all operations functions, including account processing, maintenance, cashiering, fees, brokerage services and trading. Zimmerman has a degree in finance/banking from Buena Vista University and is a graduate of the Securities Industry Institute at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He has series 3, 4, 7, 24, 55 and 63 securities licenses.

Leon Johnson, senior vice president, information systems operations and tech support, chief information security officer
Johnson joined Securities America in 1995. He is responsible for information systems operations, security, quality assurance and technology support. He also oversees all data centers and infrastructure, disaster recovery, audits, data security, data and website security and facility security. In addition, Johnson’s area provides technology support for advisors with questions or problems involving online systems. He holds his series 99 securities license.

Randy Reed, senior vice president, enterprise development and architecture
Reed leads the application development and business intelligence data quality teams. Prior to joining Securities America in 2001, he was owner and founder of Paricom, Inc., an internet and data security firm, and served in the Air Force. He is a graduate of the American Institute of Management and the Community College of the Air Force.

Christina Heller, first vice president and senior counsel
Over her 12 years with Securities America, Heller has held positions in compliance, supervision and legal. Her primary responsibilities include arbitration and litigation case management and coordinating responses to regulatory inquiries, investigations and examinations. She earned a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Iowa College of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from Creighton University.

Tu Nguyen, first vice president, application development
Nguyen joined Securities America in 2012. He is responsible for leading the implementation and deployment of New Business Solutions, Securities America’s award-winning, paperless system for processing business and opening new accounts. He was previously director of application development. Nguyen has a bachelor’s degree in management information systems from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Robert Plyler, first vice president, business intelligence and data quality
Plyler started with Securities America in 1999 as a developer/analyst and has held management positions in the information services department. He is responsible for the development of application and reporting systems that ensure data integrity. He obtained his undergraduate degree from Penn State University and holds a Master of Business Administration and a master’s degree in information systems from the University of Pittsburgh.

About Securities America
Securities America is one of the nation’s largest independent broker-dealers with more than 2,000 independent advisors and nearly $58 billion in client assets.

Securities offered through Securities America, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services offered through Securities America Advisors, Inc., an SEC Registered Investment Advisory Firm.

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