Institutional broker Auerbach Grayson & Co. has bulked up its high-touch trading desk by adding six veteran sales traders for a new office in Garden City, NY. Conrad Hopkins and Douglas Modico join as managing directors, and Bryan Klopfer, Carmine Curra, Christian Weston, and Christian Renkowski will serve as directors of equity sales and trading. All report to Doug Rivelli, co-head of U.S. equities and global program trading, and Todd Trimmer, co-head of U.S. equities.

Eric Stockland has been named chief strategy officer at IEX. In this position, Stockland will represent the buyside-sponsored ATS in industry and regulatory policy discussions, guide product strategy, and serve on internal management committees. Stockland comes from KCG Holdings were he advised institutional investors on algorithmic trading strategies and solutions, and represented KCG on IEX’s Quality of Markets Committee. Stockland previously ran electronic market-making strategies as an equities trader at KCG and Getco. He replaces, and reports to, Ronan Ryan, who switches seats from chief strategy officer to president. Ryan will continue to oversee sales, listings, market policy, analytics and new business initiatives, while reporting to CEO Brad Katsuyama.

If you have a new job or promotion, let me know at jdantona@marketsmedia.com

Triad Securities hired Michael Bird as a senior managing director. Bird, a 30-year capital-markets veteran, will have responsibilities in the firm’s finance, operations and sales departments. He came from Vandham Securities. Before that he was with Merrill Lynch where he oversaw its Broadcourt Clearing Division and ran the firm’s global commission management businesses. He began his career at R.W. Baird as a market maker and oversaw Nasdaq trading.

Paul Davies, Goldman Sachs managing director and head of futures services for Asia, is reportedly retiring later this year. Davies had been with Goldman for 23 years. He has also stepped down from his role as chairman of FIA Asia’s Regulatory Advisory board. Goldman Sachs’ current head of futures sales trading in Japan, James Busby, is said to be Davies’ replacement.

Global Trading Systems, a high-frequency trading firm, is losing Jamal Tarazi as a director in its European securities unit. According to a regulatory filing, Tarazi joined the firm in July 2015 and departed May 27. Before joing GTS, Tarazi was the head of Virtu Financial’s European trading operations and ran its Aldermanbury Square office in London. He had initiated the firm’s trading on European equity markets including the London Stock Exchange and also oversaw its authorization with the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority in December 2015.

Samantha MacRae Foerster joined vendor Markit as a director and equity sales specialist. Foerster will be charged with providing Markit’s sell side clients with information on equity market structure, transaction cost analysis, best execution reporting, securities finance, commission management, ETF/dividend data and quantitative research signals.Prior to joining Markit, she came from Bloomberg Financial Markets where she was a senior sales director and territory manager in both its San Francisco and New York offices. Foerster has also worked in senior business and product development roles at Credit Suisse, Sungard Global Trading, Fidessa and Aqua Securities, an affiliate company of Cantor Fitzgerald. Before that she has served as a consultant for business development projects with The Security Traders Association, Buyology, Balance Integration Corporation and Janice Winter.

Goldman Sachs hired Mercuria’s Jeremy Taylor as a partner and co-head of global commodities trading, according to an internal memo. Taylor will join Goldman Sachs in August and work alongside Ed Emerson, who is set to become the bank’s other co-head of global commodities trading, the memo said. Both men will be based in New York and report to Greg Agran, head of commodities. Taylor had worked at Mercuria since 2009, where he was head of US power and gas.

The Modern Markets Initiative, a high-frequency trading advocacy group, announced that Kirsten Wegner has been appointed senior vice president, business development. In this role she will create and develop proposals and initiatives in support of solutions to issues affecting all investors. Wegner will also serve as a resource for market participants, regulators and lawmakers looking for a better understanding of modern markets in creating public policy. Wegner came from International Securities Exchange where she served as director, government relations. Before that, she was an attorney at Squire Patton Boggs LLP, where she provided strategic counsel to stock exchanges, industry trade organizations, and brokerages on financial services, tax, and technology matters.

Previous Trading Up columns:

• TRADING UP: Instinet Names Govoni, Parsons to Senior Roles; Waddell CEO to Retire
• TRADING UP: KeyCorp Adds MBS Team; Lacour Takes Over HSBC EMEA Equities
• TRADING UP: JPM and Wedbush Hire Execution Heads