John C. Leo

John C. Leo is the Chairman of Primary Capital (PC), the firm’s general Securities Principal, and Managing Director of Investment Banking.

John Leo acquired PC in July 2007.  Prior to acquiring PC, Mr. Leo was the founder,  Chairman and majority owner of American Union Securities, Inc. (AUS) which focused on taking private China based companies public in the U.S. through reverse merger transactions. In addition to being the Chairman of AUS, Mr. Leo also served as Managing Director of Investment Banking, Head Trader and Chief Compliance Officer at AUS. Mr. Leo sold his majority ownership in AUS in March 2007 to expand his focus beyond China. From the inception of AUS in 2003, through March 2007, Mr. Leo initiated and supervised ten reverse merger transactions with private companies from China which went public in the U.S. Prior to starting AUS, Mr. Leo founded Venture Capital Partners LLC, a private merchant banking, securities trading, and consulting firm which provides business and financial advisory services to late-stage private companies and small to mid-sized public companies. These services include advising on the structure of equity and debt financing, establishing strategic relationships, providing introductions to institutional investors and research analysts, and assisting in the selection of board members. From 1996 through 2001, Mr. Leo worked as a market maker trading Pink Sheet, Over-The-Counter Bulletin Board, and NASDAQ-listed securities as well as IPOs. He was a registered securities principal and OTC trader with AM Capital and MH Meyerson. At these firms, Mr. Leo was responsible for executing orders for non-market makers as well as position trading for the firms’ proprietary accounts. While at MH Meyerson, between 1997 and 2001, Mr. Leo managed a profitable trading list of three hundred securities. Mr. Leo traded long and short positions, used technical analysis and hedging techniques, along with short-term charting trends to make investment decisions. Mr. Leo became a registered representative in 1987 focusing on raising capital for IPOs and reverse merger transactions, as well as private placements and secondary offerings. From 1987 through 1994 Mr. Leo was registered with Wolf Financial Group. In addition to Mr. Leo’s hands-on experience structuring and trading securities, he also has expertise in managing compliance issues and corporate governance for public companies, having served as a board member of seven public companies as well as the positions of CFO and Corporate Secretary. Mr. Leo graduated from Rollins College in 1987 with a degree in psychology, and he currently maintains the following FINRA registrations: Series 7, 63, 55 and 24.

Daniel F. Carlson

Director,  Institutional Sales

Dan Carlson is head of institutional sales for Primary Capital. As an institutional sales person, Mr. Carlson works with the management of client companies as well as with institutional investors to provide valuation analysis, financial models and transaction related research related to the structuring and pricing of financial transactions. Mr. Carlson previously held a similar position with American Union Securities and has an extensive history in finance, having previously been at BayStar Capital- a leading hedge fund focused on PIPE transactions. While at BayStar Mr. Carlson was a Managing Director responsible for trading and performing many other roles, such as analyst, client services and marketing. He has been involved in the money management industry for over 18 years, having also spent time at Husic Capital as head trader, Azure Capital as head trader and analyst, and RCM Capital Management as a senior trader specializing in small cap and technology issues. Mr. Carlson started his career on the Pacific Coast Stock Exchange achieving the level of Specialist on the trading floor. Mr. Carlson graduated from Tufts University in 1989 with a degree in Economics and he currentlymaintains the following FINRA registrations: Series 7.

Brian Zucker

Chief Financial Officer

Brian Zucker is the CFO of Primary Capital and also serves as the firm’s Financial Operations Principal. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, as well as a member of the New York and New Jersey State Society of CPA’s. He has over twenty years of experience as a CPA, which includes Senior Consultant positions at both Price Waterhouse and Deloitte Haskins and Sells. Mr. Zucker currently manages his accounting practice which provides a broad range of services to hedge funds, broker dealers and high net worth individuals. He has previously served as the President and Chairman of Atlantis Business Development Corp., and as a Managing Director of American Frontier Financial Corp., which was a full service investment banking and brokerage firm. As a member of their investment banking committee he was responsible for evaluating investment opportunities for the firm. Mr. Zucker holds a Bachelor’s degree in accounting from Pace University in New York, and has the following FINRA registrations: series 7, 63, 24 and 27.

Grace King

Director, China Business Development, Investment Banking

Grace King is head of China business development for Primary Capital and a member of our investment banking team.. Ms. King has over twenty years of financial transaction experience with extensive contacts and expertise in China. From 1999 through February 2007, Ms. King was a senior investment advisor for Great Eastern Securities, Inc., responsible for overseeing the development of the firm’s Asia related business. From 1990 through 1998 Ms. King worked as a financial consultant and a fund manager for Transpacific Exchange Corp., a private equity fund with a principal focus on China. Ms. King was also responsible for managing equity offerings, acquisitions, joint ventures and real estate investments for the firm. From 1984 through 1989, Ms. King was employed with Merrill Lynch, as a member of their international finance corporate group, where she completed   transactions including IPOs, Yankee bond underwritings, private placements, privatization transactions as well as mergers and acquisitions. She was one of two key investment bankers who successfully underwrote the first Taiwan Fund listed as TWN on the NYSE. Ms. King also served as a banker on Gulf Canada’s global equity offering of over one billion USD. Ms. King graduated with a BS/MBA degree in Finance and International Business in 1984 from Columbia University and was the first Chinese national to graduate from the Columbia Business School. Ms. King has the following FINRA registrations: Series 7, and 63.

Ming Liu

Ming Liu provides verbal and written translations as well as advisory services specific to business in China. Prior to Mr. Liu’s collaboration with PC, he founded the Sino-American Capital Group, which is engaged in developing business and financial relationships between the US and the People's Republic of China. From 2004 through 2005, Mr. Liu served as a board member and the Corporate Secretary to Advanced Battery Technologies, Inc. which trades on the NASDAQ under the symbol ABAT. The company’s Chinese subsidiary, ZQ Power-Tech, is engaged in the development and manufacture of lithium-ion batteries. Mr. Liu also served as Vice President and Secretary to the Board of ZQ Power Tech prior to his appointment to the US board of directors. From 2000 through 2003, Mr. Liu was the Vice President of Harbin Ridaxing Science and Technology Co., Ltd., a technology provider located in the City of Harbin, PRC.  Mr. Liu graduated from Zhongshan University, Guangzhou China in 1997.

Tobias A. Lenza

Tobias Lenza supervises all of the firm’s retail brokers. He has built a successful business by catering to high net worth individuals and providing a broad range of asset management services. Prior to joining Primary Capital, he was employed with Great Eastern Securities as a Senior Branch Manager where he managed assets of $100 million for a global clientele ranging from institutions to individual investors. Mr. Lenza has an extensive range of industry experience which includes market making, proprietary trading, asset management and various supervisory roles. He became a registered representative in 1993 and currently maintains the following FINRA registrations: 7, 63, 24, and 55. Mr. Lenza is a graduate of NYC College with a degree in Political Science.

Jimmy Sung

Mr. Sung supervises the firm’s online trading platform and online customer accounts. He is also the firm’s AML officer. He has extensive expertise in various trading platforms and trading systems, trading software, technical analysis and operational issues.  Mr. Sung holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics from New York University and a Master's of Business Administration in Finance from St. John's University. He currently maintains the following FINRA registrations: Series 7, 63, 55.