Management
Bernay Box
Chief Executive Officer
Bernay Box was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Terra Nova Financial Group, Inc. in November 2009. He is the founder and managing partner of Bonanza Capital, Ltd, a private investment partnership. Based in Dallas, Texas, Bonanza is a small-cap investment fund managing money for high net worth and institutional clients. Mr. Box has more than 20 years of investment experience and is a graduate of Baylor University.
Raymond Burley
President and Chief Operating Officer
As the President and Chief Operating Officer of Terra Nova Financial, LLC, Raymond Burley draws on expertise in operations, financial reporting, compliance and audits to direct the delivery of Terra Nova’s exceptional back office functionality, including oversight of the design, implementation and maintenance of its proprietary clearing system. Mr. Burley has more than 20 years of experience in the financial services and brokerage industries, including roles as COO of full-service investment management and brokerage firm Romano Brothers & Company and COO and CFO of options market maker Cutler Group, LP. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Western Illinois University and has earned FINRA Series 7, 24 and 27 accreditations.
Murrey Wanstrath, CPA, CFA
Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer
Murrey Wanstrath was named Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of Terra Nova Financial Group, Inc. in April 2009 and has served as a Director of the Company since June 2006. Previously, Mr. Wanstrath acted as the Company’s interim Chief Financial Officer, Secretary and Treasurer. As Managing Director with Bonanza Capital from November 2005 to August 2008, he was responsible for identifying and executing investments in small cap public companies. Earlier in his career, Mr. Wanstrath held roles as Senior Equity Analyst for Hibernia Southcoast Capital and Manager in Ernst & Young’s transaction services group. Mr. Wanstrath is a Certified Public Accountant and has earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. He graduated from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting.
http://www.tnfg.com/Company/Management.aspx
http://www.ecommerce-journal.com/node/25466
INRA fines Terra Nova Financial for making profits on soft dollar payments
November 24, 2009
FINRA fines Terra Nova Financial for making profits on soft dollar payments
Terra Nova Financial, LLC, of Chicago, has been fined by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority today. The reason is that it made more than $1 million in improper soft dollar payments to or on behalf of five hedge fund managers, without following its own policies to ensure the payments were proper.
In addition, it was also charged with failing to properly supervise its soft dollar program, failing to perform corresponding supervisory procedures and failing to hold its business-related electronic instant messages. Terra Nova failed to timely respond to FINRA’s requests for productions of various documents, including emails and instant messages, in that way FINRA’s investigation delayed.
Also three individual of FINRA were sanctioned: Cleovan Jordan, the soft dollar administrator, was fined $20,000; Joshua Teuber, who supervised the soft dollar operation, was fined $15,000; David Persenaire, the firm’s Chief Compliance Officer until September 2009, was fined $10,000 FINRA also required Terra Nova to retain an independent cunsultant to review and enhance its systems, policies and procedures relating to its soft dollar operations.
FINRA found that Terra Nova set up soft dollar accounts for eight hedge funds to encourage the funds tu fulfill trades with the firm starting in 2004. Terra Nova gathered a portion of the commissions produced by the funds’ which trade in separate soft dollar accounts and from those accounts pain invoices from the fund managers or third parties for various sevices. It’s allowed to advisors to use soft dollars to pay for research or brokerage-related expenses by federal securities laws. But advisors may only use soft dollars to pay for personal expenses or other non-research or non-brokerage related expenses if those types of payments were previously disclosed to investors and if they are made in accordance with the terms of the fund’s organizing documents.
Terra Nova had to pay at least $1 million in expenses without receiving adequate documentation or conducting an adequate review to determine that the payments were for expenses authorized by fund documents. Those payments included:
• $13,700 for seven trips by a hedge fund manager to a “gentlemen’s club” in a two-week period.
• $65,000 for credit card bills that contained charges for meals, clothing, auto repairs and parking tickets. Terra Nova made other payments for limousines, airline tickets and hotel stays.
• $145,000 for salaries and benefits of non-clerical employees when the fund documents only permitted payments for “clerical staff salaries and benefits.”
• $389,000 in payments for “consulting fees related to research” when the invoices requesting the payments did not sufficiently identify who provided the research or what research was being provided.
• More than $470,000 to one manager based solely on the manager’s representation that soft dollars would be used to “fund expenses in conjunction with our documents” without any clear understanding of what expenses were being paid.
In settling this matter, Terra Nova, Jordan, Teuber and Persenaire either didn’t admit or didn’t deny the charges, but agreed to the entry of FINRA’s findings.