R.J. O'Brien Appoints Donna Heidkamp President of RJO Futures

CHICAGO, Oct. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- R.J. O'Brien & Associates (RJO), the largest independent futures brokerage firm in the United States, announced today that it has appointed one of its leading retail brokers President of RJO Futures (RJOF), the firm's private client division.  Donna Heidkamp, a 15-year veteran of RJOF, takes on the role today.

Gerry Corcoran, Chief Executive Officer of RJO, said:  "Donna is ideally suited to lead RJOF, bringing her broad experience, passion for client service, commitment to quality and in-depth understanding of RJO's business, strategy, vision and value-added offerings.  She's a terrific and well-respected leader, determined to take RJO Futures to the next level."

Said Heidkamp:  "I'm truly honored to take on this exciting leadership position.  I want to ensure that RJOF remains focused intently on client service, embracing evolving industry challenges and finding new avenues for meeting our clients' needs.  Near and dear to my heart are the training and mentoring I have done over the years, and these programs are critical components to building and maintaining a strong team of professionals."

After completing the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Agricultural Broker Training Program in 1995, Heidkamp joined RJOF as Trading Desk Clerk and Account Executive.  She was promoted in 1997 to Trading Desk Manager and Senior Account Executive, monitoring all RJOF clients' risk exposure, developing employee training programs and working with back-office and client relationship management software.  She was also the primary Beta tester of RJO's proprietary online order entry platform.  

In 2003, Heidkamp began serving clients directly, building a successful book of futures and options business and researching underlying factors affecting fundamental and technical trading strategies.  She has contributed to a variety of RJO's educational materials, including "Intro to Fundamental Analysis," "Intro to Technical Analysis" and an "Options Trading Strategies Guide."  Heidkamp also has served as a television market commentator on network business programs.

Heidkamp earned her Series 3 futures brokerage license in 1995 and Series 30 branch office manager license in 2003. She also passed the Canadian Futures Licensing Exam last year.

She graduated from Texas Tech University with a bachelor of science degree in agricultural economics.  While at RJOF, Heidkamp earned a master of science degree in financial markets and trading from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

She and her family reside in Chicago.

About R.J. O'Brien

Founded in 1914, RJO is the largest independent futures brokerage firm in the United States.  The firm offers state-of-the-art electronic trading technology and 24-hour trade execution on every futures exchange worldwide.  Clearing more than 80,000 client accounts, RJO services a global network of more than 300 introducing brokers and many of the world's largest financial, industrial and agricultural institutions.  For more information, please visit www.rjobrien.com.  

SOURCE R.J. O'Brien & Associates