Arkansas Business

Andrew J. Lipke

Drew Lipke is a product of Little Rock. He graduated from Catholic High, and he interned for the Merrill Lynch global private client division in Little Rock while earning his degree from the University of Georgia. When he graduated in 2007, he promptly joined Little Rock's biggest brokerage firm: Stephens Inc.

He started as a junior broker — he has his Series 7 and Series 63 licenses from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority — then moved to a commission-only broker position after two years. He is part of the "West Coast team" whose mission is to line up institutional clients, primarily hedge funds and mutual funds in the western United States. The bulk of the team's clients are in San Francisco, so Lipke travels to California on a regular basis.

"In this industry, at least on the buy side, there are people constantly moving from one place to another, and that's potentially an introduction to a new client," Lipke said.

At Stephens, he's had the opportunity to be mentored by "a lot of people," including Bryant Bradsher, Doug Seelicke and Andy Rogers, whom he described as "probably the best salesman on the floor."

But Lipke is developing his own style, which he says will ideally strike a balance between salesmanship and investment analysis.