Quotron Reorg Joins Retail, Institutional Sales Under Weiss

Quotron Systems Inc.'s recently appointed head of sales and marketing, Alan Weiss, last week outlined plans to restructure his organization. The plans are calculated to "mobilize resources," and along with reshuffling existing staff, bring the historically separate Institutional Marketing group responsible for Quotron's Trading Support System (TSS) under Weiss's wing.

Sources at Quotron say the move reflects an ongoing rethink of Quotron's next-generation delivery platform, with TSS now a candidate to distribute the vendors' array of retail- oriented services.

Weiss was recruited from Citicorp's commercial real estate division by Quotron president and chief executive officer Thomas Cirillo (IMD, Oct. 14). Since joining Quotron last month, Weiss has reported directly to Cirillo.

Effective Dec. 1, Quotron's two current sales regions will be subdivided into four geographic regions to allocate "precious sales resources" more efficiently. Weiss has formed a Special Tactical Acquisition Team (STAT), charged with reviving Quotron's ailing revenues by winning new business nationwide. STAT will be headed by former eastern regional director Tony Sepp.

The marketing organization, made much leaner by recent layoffs (IMD, Nov. 11), emerges in two halves. A Retail Marketing group and a Retail Product Delivery will loosely divide traditional marketing responsibilities from delivery assurance, respectively.

Weiss's move to include the Institutional Marketing group in his organization marks a shift in Quotron's sales strategy. Weiss's position previously oversaw the sales and marketing primarily of Quotron's retail offerings. Institutional Marketing, headed by Quotron vice president Ed Berlin, includes QMDF, the still unreleased 56 kilobit/second data feed product (IMD, Sept. 30), as well as TSS. Prior to the reorganization, Berlin had reported directly to Quotron's chief operating officer R. Max Gould.

TSS is the Sun Microsystems Inc. server-based feed handling and workstation software system that has made increasing inroads in customers' trading rooms (Trading Systems Technology, Oct. 21). TSS distributes fixed-income data from a number of third parties, and also provides access to Quotron's standard Q1000 services.

In a number of accounts interested in sticking with Quotron but anxious for a standard hardware platform, TSS has been offered as a replacement for existing Q1000s. TSS has the added advantage over Quotron's proposed RS/6000 and PS/2- based New Premises System (IMD, Oct. 28) of being available today.

By adding TSS to the repertoire of platforms Quotron's sales force can offer clients' trading and retail operations, Weiss may be laying the foundation for TSS to become a delivery platform for Quotron's standard retail products, Quotron sources say.

A memo circulated internally at Quotron by Weiss cites the organization's need to "accelerate its pacing." The memo outlines a STAT team dedicated to roaming the country winning new business. Meanwhile, New York-based consulting firm Sibson & Co. has been contracted to devise a compensation plan for Quotron's newly "accelerated" sales force.

The current National Accounts sales group becomes National Accounts Management, still under Paul Savage, who now adds oversight of technical and sales support staff to his duties. Former director of sales support Jay Fuchs steps up to bat for Quotron as National Account Manager at Dean Witter Reynolds Inc.'s newly open field (see related story).

The reorganization splits Quotron's previously bipolar sales regions into four. Vice president Steve Gillin, currently head of the eastern region, takes charge of the new northeastern region. Western region sales chief, vice president Mike Lambke, becomes central region head. Two new region heads are former sales manager Mike Naughton, who heads the western region, and Steve Christiansen, who assumes responsibility for the southeastern region. Christiansen previously ran Broker's Notebook, Quotron's PC-based client management service.

The Retail Marketing group will be headed by Weiss's fellow former Citicoporal and chief of staff Mary Egmelian. Her staff includes Rosanna Lackaye, director of front- and back- office integration and Susan Anderson, who takes over responsibility for Broker's Notebook. Caren Brustein will continue as director of market data services, reporting to Egmelian.

Weiss also created a Retail Product Delivery group led by Phil Becker, who reports directly to Weiss. Becker's previous responsibilities included retail brokerage marketing, and pinch-hitting for Quotron at Dean Witter.