John Starr has been managing broker-dealers or divisions within those firms for 35 years. He came to 1st BridgeHouse in 2006 and quickly established a much needed international investment banking presence for the firm.



John started his career in 1971 with Philips Appel & Walden, Inc., a NYSE member firm with over 700 professionals, as an Executive Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer. In 1982 he became the firm's Chief Operating Officer with bottom line responsibility for OTC, fixed income trading, floor operations, and retail branches. In 1988, John became an Executive Vice President of Stuart Coleman & Company (now known as Investech Ernst & Co.), where he was responsible for developing and implementing the firm's strategic business plan, helping it grow from 20 to over 300 employees.



In 1990, John joined Hampshire Securities Corporation as its President and CEO, and in 1994 he and 3 other partners purchased the firm. In 1990, Hampshire Securities had 5 employees and generated $800,000 in revenue. By the time John and his partners sold Hampshire Securities, it had developed into an investment banking boutique employing over 100 professionals, generating over $25 million in revenue, and became a leader in the "small cap' underwriting market. From 1990 to 1998, Hampshire Securities managed or co-managed over 25 initial public offerings or secondary offerings of securities, raising $1 billion for its investment banking clients. Many of these transactions were co-managed with some of the largest financial services firms on Wall Street, including First Boston, Salomon Brothers, UBS Securities, and Oppenheimer.



In 1998, John and his partners sold Hampshire Securities to Gruntal & Co., LLC, a NYSE member firm with 23 offices and 700 retail and institutional securities brokers. He became an Executive Vice President of Gruntal's capital markets group where he was responsible for their investment banking, institutional sales, research and equity syndicate activities. John was a member of the firm's Executive and Management Committees and was Chairman of the Commitment, Institutional Credit and Compliance Committees.



In 2003 John joined Kuhns Brothers, Inc. as its President and CEO. Kuhns Brothers, Inc. is the holding company for a group of diversified financial services companies specializing in providing investment banking services to the Power Technology and Alternative Energy industries. John was responsible for all of the subsidiary companies including Investment Banking, Money Management, Brokerage and Venture Capital. After reorganizing reporting responsibilities, accounting functions, compliance, marketing and the banking functions, John expanded the firm's investment banking reach into China.



Despite his heavy workload, John has been as devoted to public service as he has been to his professional duties. He has been involved in various roles within the Securities Industry Association since 1978. He is a Vice President and has been a member since 1977 of the Board of Trustees of the Madison Square Boys and Girls Club. In addition, he is past member of the Board of Trustees of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Bridgeport, and is currently the Chairman of the Retirement and Pension Board for the Town of Fairfield, Connecticut.