When meeting Brian Sapadin at the newly opened Rockefeller Center offices of CCG Investor Relations, one gets the impression of a polished, distinguished financial
professional. But unless you check out his biography, it is impossible to guess that Sapadin, who was recently named managing director for CCG's New York office, had only a few
years earlier been up on the stage of his own music club, unleashing his inner Jon Entwistle to a hard-rocking crowd.
Sapadin came to the music business after six years at Citicorp, where he worked his way up to a secondary loan trading position. Yet his career switch left many people
aghast.
"I guess it was a childhood dream, something I always wanted to do," he recalls about his plan to open Crossroads, the live music club in New York. "I'm a bit of an
amateur musician - certainly not professional - and there were a few bands that I hired that were kind enough to let me sit in with them."
Sapadin didn't win any Grammys, but that's okay because as a club owner he enjoyed something that 90% of New York music clubs rarely see: Financial viability. "It was highly
successful and profitable for all eight years that I was the owner," he says, adding that he sold the club to a local developer in 2001. "I left the music scene in the business
sense only. Now I can enjoy it from the customer side and not have the headaches."
Rather than return to banking, Sapadin became intrigued with IR. He joined CCG in 2003 to help expand the Los Angeles' company's East Coast client base. His success in
building the business encouraged CCG to open a New York office, rather than fly its staff cross-country every time there was the need for an East Coast roadshow or investment
conference.
For Sapadin, the need for cogent communications is vital for the success of an IR campaign. Thus he relies on several key players within his IR team to ensure the message gets
out and stays fresh.
"Within that team is: A partner-level IR counselor advising on everything from guidance and disclosure policies to stock splits and exchange listings; a media professional,
securing both print and broadcast media coverage for clients; a financial writer who drafts press releases, earnings releases, conference call scripts, corporate profiles and
Power Point presentations; and a market intelligence professional, who is on the phone all day long with targeted buy-side institutions and sell-side analysts who they believe
will be interested in our client's story," he says. "So when we get our clients on the road, they meet highly-qualified people who already know the story."
And who is Sapadin working with today? "The great majority of our companies are NASDAQ and NYSE-listed with market caps in the $50 million to $2 billion range,"
he says.
To which we enthusiastically say: Rock on!
Contact: Brian Sapadin, [email protected].