John A. Straus Named Managing Director of Samoset Capital Group and Chief Executive Officer of Samoset Wealth Management

DARIEN, CT, July 7, 2010 -- Samoset Capital Group LLC announced today that John A. Straus will be joining the firm as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the firm’s subsidiary, Samoset Wealth Management Company LLC.  John will also join the Board of Directors at Samoset Capital Group.  As CEO of Samoset Wealth Management, John will provide strategic leadership and executive management to the firm, and develop Samoset’s wealth management business.

John brings a wealth of experience to this new position.  Most recently, he served as Managing Director and Head of Private Wealth Management at UBS Wealth Management Americas and Chairman of UBS Private Bank Americas.  Over the three and one-half years he led UBS Wealth Management Americas, he increased the number of Private Wealth Advisors from 80 to 350, increased the number of offices from one to 19 and significantly increased assets under management (AUM) for ultra high net worth clients to approximately $160 billion.  In addition, John’s team at UBS Private Bank Americas restructured and returned the US Private Bank to profitability.

From 2000-2005 John was a Managing Director and Head of Private Banking in the United States for JPMorgan, where he led a team of 500 professionals in a business with $250 billion of AUM, and $1.25 billion of revenue.  During his leadership, the Private Bank integrated private bankers from four separate mergers.

Before joining JP Morgan, John spent 13 years at Morgan Stanley leading a variety of businesses. From 1994-2000 he was Managing Director and Head of Private Wealth Management where he led a team of 250 advisors and reorganized and repositioned Private Wealth Management, growing revenues by more than 300% and achieving a profit margin exceeding 30%.

“John is a proven leader with tremendous experience and an outstanding track record managing private wealth management and private banking businesses.  John’s previous experience building value in and substantially growing those businesses will bring significant value to Samoset as we continue to execute our business plan.  We are extremely pleased that he will be leading our wealth management team and coordinating the firm’s efforts in building our core business at Samoset Wealth Management Company,” stated William R. Battey, Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Samoset Capital Group.

“I am excited about joining the team at Samoset,” said John.  The private wealth management space has undergone tremendous upheaval and change over the past two years.  There are significant opportunities for new entrants with the right business model and plan to satisfy the demands of high net worth clients as they seek the right advisors and wealth management solutions in an unconflicted, unbiased manor.  Both clients and their advisors are looking for the personalized and customized service and solutions Samoset offers.  Samoset is at the leading edge of understanding the needs of clients and their advisors. They have a differentiated platform and the right team to become the leading, fully-integrated wealth management provider.”

Samoset Wealth Management Company is a private wealth management company that offers estate and financial planning and an independent, open-architecture, “manager of managers” platform to high net worth individuals and families, endowments and foundations.  It provides clients with a full platform of wealth management services, delivers customized investment strategies and utilizes a global array of traditional and alternative asset classes.  For wealth advisors, it offers the ability to partner with the firm as an owner and work in an environment that is exclusively devoted to advising private clients.

Samoset Capital Group was formed in 2007 and is an independent wealth management firm focused on delivering centralized financial planning, investment management and trust-related services to high net worth individuals and families.  Since its founding, Samoset Capital Group has attracted a seasoned management team along with experienced investment professionals that share the vision of a firm aligned exclusively with its clients and a strong belief in a multi-generational approach to managing family wealth.

Samoset’s senior team includes William R. Battey, Jr., most recently President and CEO of CSFB Data and Analytics Company, and Managing Director and Head of Credit, Emerging Markets, Structured Products and Strategy Research worldwide at Credit Suisse First Boston; Peter E. Ruhlin, formerly the Head of the U.S. Capital Markets Practice, Head of the U.S. Practice, Asia and a founder of the U.S. practice at Linklaters; David M. Litt, a former senior executive at Lehman Brothers and Morgan Stanley focused on analytical financial investing; Daniel M. FitzPatrick, recently the Chief Executive Officer of Citi Trust and Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Goldman Sachs Trust Company, N.A.; Rajan Govindan, formerly a Senior Managing Director and the Chief Operating Officer of Bear Stearns Asset Management; Thomas G. Hoffman, the former Chief Investment Officer of Managers Investment Group; Peter F. Karpen, most recently the managing partner of Diversified Capital Investment Fund, L.P., a fund of hedge funds for high net worth investors; Peter S. Milhaupt, formerly the Co-Head of Global Debt Capital Markets and a member of Credit Suisse First Boston’s Investment Banking Committee; and Clark Van Nostrand, formerly the Chief Operating Officer of Credit Suisse First Boston’s Global Corporate Finance Group and Head of the Transportation Group globally.

John received his BS degree in finance from Boston College (cum laude) and his MBA from DePaul University.  He is married with three children and lives in Darien, CT.