Leadership Team
Ziegler is proud to have a strong leadership team of professionals with extensive industry experience. Read the professional backgrounds of Ziegler's key leaders below:
- John Mulherin
- Tom Paprocki
- Don Carlson
- Ben DeBerry
- Gary Engle
- Darrell Frank
- Wayne Gilpin
- Leslie Lynch
- Chuck O'Meara
- Tom Ross
- Jeff Vredenbregt
- Elizabeth Watkins
.jpg "John Mulherin Portrait") | John Mulherin - Chief Executive Officer200 South Wacker Drive Phone: 800.366.8899 |
John is an honors graduate of DePaul University (MBA) and Loras College (BA). He has lectured on the subject of "Service Quality" at DePaul and has written commentary on business strategy in a variety of publications including The Harvard Business Review.
John is currently Chairman of The Foundation for Investor Education Advisory Committee.
| Tom Paprocki - President200 South Wacker Drive Phone: 800.366.8899 |
.jpg "Tom Paprocki Pic")
"We truly put ourselves on the same side of the table as our clients - trusted financial advisor is our inspiration and where we've shined versus our competition."
Tom Paprocki is president of Ziegler. He is responsible for the Capital Markets and Wealth Management businesses, as well as Marketing Communications, Services & Technology and Human Resources. Prior to being named president, Tom was chief operating officer of Ziegler Capital Markets. He joined Ziegler in 1997 as a senior vice president, overseeing taxable bond trading activities.
Tom previously served as president of the Huntington Capital Group, a subsidiary of Huntington Bancshares. Prior to that he was a senior vice president, head of bond trading and fixed income research at Robert W. Baird & Co., Inc..
Tom headed Ziegler's business planning team in 2000, and has been instrumental in creating the firm's current long-term business plan. He holds a bachelor of science degree in business administration and a master of science degree in economics from Marquette University.
.jpg "Don Carlson Portrait(2)") | Don Carlson - Vice Chairman200 South Wacker Drive Phone: 800.366.8899 |
Don Carlson is vice chairman of Ziegler. Prior to being named vice chairman, Don was a senior managing director and the head of Ziegler Capital Markets. He also is a member of the Ziegler Company's board of directors. In more than 25 years with Ziegler, he has been directly involved in all phases of financing healthcare organizations throughout the nation.
During Don's career, he has developed many innovative financing structures for an array of healthcare provides and has extensive experience in both the structuring and distribution of tax-exempt and taxable securities. In recent years, he has devoted much of his time to providing strategic and capital advisory services with many of his healthcare clients. His clients include both large and multi-state healthcare systems, as well as independent free-standing hospitals.
In 2002, Modern Healthcare identified Don as one of the 100 most powerful people in the healthcare industry and the only investment banker on the list.
Don received a bachelor of business administration degree in economics and finance and a masters of business administration from Loyola University. He serves on the executive committee of the Healthcare Financing Study Group and serves as chairperson of the Healthcare Finance Form and several other industry associations.
 | Ben DeBerry - General Counsel & Corporate Secretary200 South Wacker Drive |
Ben DeBerry is senior managing director and Ziegler's General Counsel. He joined Ziegler in 2007 bringing experience in pubic finance, venture capital and general securities law.
Formerly, Ben was senior counsel for Motorola, Inc.'s networks and enterprise business. Prior to that, he practiced with Chicago and California law firms representing and counseling emerging growth companies, venture capitalists, investment banks, boards of trustees and municipal issuers. Prior to practicing law, he was a financial analyst for a California Fortune 100 bank.
He is currently vice president of the Rush University Medical Center Associate Board in Chicago.
Ben graduated from the University of Michigan Law School, and holds an undergraduate degree in English Literature from Drake University.
 | Gary Engle, CPA - Finance & Research200 South Wacker Drive |
"Ours is the most fascinating, dynamic and rewarding industry I can imagine. At Ziegler, not only do we get to work in this exciting environment, but we have the satisfaction of helping others as we do."
Gary Engle is a senior managing director with Ziegler. In his role, Gary is responsible for Research and Finance. He joined Ziegler in April 1999, bringing with him a strong background in finance, accounting, investment banking and asset management.
Gary started his career as a staff accountant at Arthur Andersen. He spent 17 years with Robert W. Baird & Co., Inc. where he garnered broad experience serving as the director of fixed income research, as a first vice president of investment banking and as the chief financial officer. Prior to joining Ziegler, he was the chief financial officer of trust and investments at Firstar Corp. in Milwaukee.
Gary holds an masters of business administration from the University of Wisconsin - Madison, and a bachelors of business administration from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee.
.jpg "Darrell Frank Portrait") | Darrell Frank - Service & Technology200 South Wacker Drive |
“Our team takes very seriously their role of protecting our clients’ assets, interests and privacy. Although we are a very progressive financial services firm, we still espouse many old-fashioned values.”
Darrell Frank is senior managing director and is responsible for the company-wide technology and building services, including real estate and insurance. He also serves as the firm’s privacy officer.
Darrell joined Ziegler in 1985 from Rockwell International/Allen-Bradley where he developed computer systems as a senior systems analyst. He has held roles at Ziegler including systems manager, director of strategic change, aided in execution of the company’s turnaround strategy, operations, and was former president and chief executive officer of Ziegler’s discount brokerage subsidiary, Ziegler Thrift Trading, Inc., until it was acquired in 1999.
He holds a bachelor of science - business administration degree, a masters in business adminsitration, and has license designations of Series 7, 63 and 24.
 | Wayne Gilpin - Ziegler Wealth Management200 South Wacker Drive |
Wayne Gilpin is the senior managing director and head of Ziegler's Wealth Management. Prior to joining Ziegler in 2005, Wayne was President/Owner of Westland Services LLC, a new broker/dealer firm he founded to focus on private placements in the energy sector. Previously, he was President and CEO of Madison Securities, which specialized in private debt and equity placements. Wayne acted as trading principal for that firm's NASDAQ market-making activities and made markets in over 100 securities. Earlier in his career while with a couple of large Wall Street companies, Wayne was responsible for private placement distribution and was an equity syndicate manager.
Wayne was a member of the Correspondents Advisory Board for National Financial Service Corp., providing policy and oversight guidance on behalf of correspondent firms. He has been a guest speaker at the Securities Industry Association's small firms conferences. Wayne attended the University of Maryland and holds the Series 3, 4, 7, 24, 27, 53, 55, and 63 registrations.
 | Leslie Lynch - Marketing Communications & Human Resources200 South Wacker Drive |
"Our associates are tied by a common mission... to serve clients who serve others. We do it with our firm's core values front and center - our clients, our shareholders, our associates, integrity, teamwork and innovation."
Leslie Lynch is Ziegler's senior managing director of Marketing Communications and Human Resources. As a human resources and marketing practitioner, her background is rather unique. She brings expertise from leading HR functions, supporting marketing functions, as well as experience "carrying a bag" as a sales professional in the financial services sector.
Prior to joining Ziegler, Leslie was the president of an entrepreneurial, professional development firm, which provided education and training to the financial services industry. Her HR leadership experience was developed during her many years at Strong Capital Management, as well as an earlier experience in the healthcare sector.
Leslie has her Masters of Science in Administation from Central Michigan University and her bachelors of science in business administration and biology from Adrian College. She holds the Series 7 and 66 registrations.
 | Chuck O'Meara - Private Equity200 South Wacker Drive |
Chuck O'Meara became senior managing director of Ziegler's private equity practice in 2006. In this capacity, he is responsible for the oversight and development of the firm’s venture capital strategy, which focuses on the healthcare industry.
Prior to this position, Chuck was general counsel and corporate secretary of The Ziegler Companies, Inc. and its subsidiaries from 1993 to 2006. He also served as the firm’s risk management officer. In these capacities, he supervised the legal and compliance support functions for substantially all business units of the firm, and oversaw the firm’s risk management processes.
In 2005 and 2006, Chuck was instrumental in forming Ziegler Meditech Equity Partners, LP, a $52 million venture capital fund investing globally in mid- to late-stage companies with new medical device technology. Chuck serves as a managing director of the Fund’s General Partner.
Chuck received an A.B. degree from the University of Notre Dame and his J.D. from Marquette University Law School.
 | Tom Ross - Proprietary Investments & Chief Credit Officer200 South Wacker Drive |
Tom Ross is a senior managing director leading Ziegler's proprietary investments and acting as chief credit officer. He joined Ziegler in 1981. He has an extensive and varied background in the credit analysis of a variety of transactions. He is responsible for the review of all non-rated transactions underwritten by the firm, as well as the review and approval of all private equity investments made by Ziegler or its investor.
Tom earned a bachelor of science in finance and a bachelor of arts in geography from Valparaiso University.
 | Jeffrey C. Vredenbregt, CPA - Chief Financial Officer200 South Wacker Drive |
"At Ziegler, the level of service and the desire to get it right is something that is important each and every associate."
Jeff Vredenbregt is a managing director and Chief Financial Officer with Ziegler. He oversees financial accounting, external financial reporting, and treasury functions and its related private equity entities. He is the FINRA Financial and Operations Principal for Ziegler's broker dealer subsidiary, B.C. Ziegler and Company.
Prior to joining Ziegler, Jeff was in public accounting at Arthur Andersen LLP. He joined Ziegler in 1987 as corporate controller and has been promoted and appointed to various officer positions within Ziegler and its subsidiaries. In 2004, he was appointed Chief Financial Officer for The Ziegler Companies, Inc.
Jeff is a graduate the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee where he earned a bachelor of business administration and a masters of business administration. He is a member of both the American and Wisconsin Institutes of Certified Public Accountants and the Institute of Management Accountants.
 | Elizabeth Watkins - Chief Compliance Officer200 South Wacker Drive |
Elizabeth Watkins is a senior managing director and Ziegler's Chief Compliance Officer. She joined Ziegler in November 2003 bringing with her a business-minded approach to the firm's regulatory compliance and internal audit programs.
Liz has more than 15 years of experience in the investment services industry in marketing, brokerage and trading operations, and compliance, having held various management positions at independent and boutique financial services firms. She is focused on providing business units with regulatory guidance and in maintaining a client-centric, proactive, risk management program.
Liz is a graduate of Northern Illinois University and is currently undertaking a course of study to obtain the Compliance and Regulatory Certified Professional designation from the FINRA and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She is a member of the National Society of Compliance Professionals and the Security Industry Association's Compliance and Legal Division.