Merriman Capital Names Senior Investment Banker Ronald F. Richards as Head of Strategic Business Advisory Services

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Merriman Capital, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Merriman Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: MERR), today announced the hiring of Ronald F. Richards as Head of Strategic Business Advisory Services.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100914/SF64919LOGO)

Richards will help expand Merriman's investment banking services, general corporate financing activity and M&A advisory services by building a strategic business advisory practice for the firm. In this role, he will provide turnaround, restructuring and general capital markets advice, primarily to public companies under $250 million in market capitalization.  

Richards brings more than 23 years of experience working with public and private companies on financial and market strategies in the areas of investment banking, law and accounting.  He joins Merriman from Gray Wolf Partners, a management consulting firm where he served as Founder and Managing Director and advised companies on financial and market strategies.

"Ron and I had a very successful partnership at Wells Fargo Van Kasper and I'm excited to team up with him again. His experience, breadth of contacts and ability to originate business will be a significant asset," said Jon Merriman, CEO of Merriman Holdings. "Ron's group will add significant value to new and existing corporate clients, deepen our banking pipeline and further differentiate us as a premier advisory firm for fast-growing, small capitalization companies."

Prior to Gray Wolf Partners, Richards served as Managing Director of Viking Asset Management.  His responsibilities included working with portfolio companies to enhance their value, and conducting due diligence and structuring potential investment opportunities for Viking's Longview Funds.

Currently, Richards is Chairman of the Board of Optex Systems Holdings, Inc. and also a member of the Board of Directors of EGCell Scientific, Inc. He has extensive operational and management experience, including positions as Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President, Business Development, of Biopure Corporation, a publicly traded life sciences company.  

Richards previously served as the Managing Director of Corporate Finance at Wells Fargo Van Kasper.  There he led a cross-functional investment banking and research team focused on technology, including optical networking and related broadband infrastructure. Richards planned and executed numerous public equity offerings, M&A transactions and other financial advisory assignments. He formed a structured finance group focused on PIPEs, and identified, structured and executed numerous PIPE transactions as the firm's expert in this area. Richards co-authored the text PIPES: The CEO's Guide to Successful Private Investments in Public Equities.

Richards holds a J.D. from the UCLA School of Law and an M.B.A. from the Anderson School at UCLA. He received his B.A. in economics and business from UCLA. Richards is a member of the State Bar of California and a retired Certified Public Accountant.

About Merriman Capital, Inc.

Merriman Capital, Inc. is an investment banking firm providing equity and options execution services, market making, and differentiated research for high growth companies.  We also provide capital raising, advisory and M&A services.  Merriman Capital, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Merriman Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: MERR) and is the leading investment banking firm for OTCQX companies.  For more information, please go to http://www.merrimanco.com/.

Merriman Capital, Inc. is a registered broker-dealer and member of The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) http://www.finra.org and the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) http://www.sipc.org/contact.cfm.

Note to Investors

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements based on our current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties. This release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of offers to buy any securities of the Company. Forward-looking statements in this release are based on information available to us as of the date hereof. Our actual results may differ materially from those stated or implied in such forward-looking statements, due to risks and uncertainties associated with our business, which include the risk factors disclosed in our Form 10-K/A filed on April 28, 2011 and our Form 10-Q filed on August 15, 2011. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding our expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future and can be identified by forward-looking words such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "should," and "would" or similar words. We assume no obligation to update the information included in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The Form 10-K/A filed on April 28, 2011 and 10-Q filed on August 15, 2011, together with this press release and the financial information contained herein, are available on our website, www.merrimanco.com. Please click on "Investor Relations."

SOURCE Merriman Holdings, Inc.