20 Years Ago As The Markets Reopened, A 40 Year Old New CEO At Jefferies Wrote This Note To His Team About 9/11 

September 2021

From: Richard Handler on 09/16/2001 06:45 PM
To: JEFG_ALL
Subject: Monday morning reality

I know this past week has given us all a reason to step back and reflect on who we are and how we are spending our precious lives. The emotions of fear, panic, anger and helplessness are ripping through each one of us in our own ways. My own emotions and thoughts have tormented me during this past week. How can we go on? What is really important in life? What do I tell my four kids? Do I ever want to go into New York City or fly again? Why not forget about work and spend all of my time with family and friends? Enough about money and wealth…..how about a life devoted to charity and love? Will I ever care again about missing a trade or having a competitor steal a piece of business? What about the guilt that we are OK and others simply are not? Am I doing something that is even remotely important in the grand scheme? Are we an important Company or are we just a collection of 1130 people who have figured out a way to make a nice living for ourselves?

I look back on my afternoon with the folks at Keefe Bruyette a couple of weeks ago. I gave a rambling presentation to their sales, trading and research departments on the 89th floor conference room. As I took the elevator down with Joe Schenk, I remarked how vibrant and fresh and excited the firm felt. They really understood our entrepreneurial theme and I could tell from the meeting that they wanted to be a part of our story. I never felt prouder of where we were and what we were doing.

My heart goes out to the folks at Cantor Fitzgerald. Having spent my working life as a “bond trader trying to make the spread”…….I realized by my reaction to Howard Lutnick’s interview that I am no longer just a trader….I am a CEO. I still cannot believe that this firm has allowed me to represent them as their Chief Executive Officer. It is an honor I can only hope to deserve some day.

Both of these situations pain me because I can so easily relate to both of these fine companies because it so easily could have been Jefferies. I never fully realized how much I care for our firm and the people here until I saw the pain of last week. Cantor and Keefe are two important companies and I pray that they survive the carnage. But we too are an important Company and while our survival is not in question……..the issue is how high do we want to go?  We can still spend time with our friends and family and we are free to be as charitable as we want to be……….but this small firm is an integral part of the American financial system and we all have important jobs that must be done. I look back this past week and I see our technology and support staffs work around the clock so that we will be as prepared as humanly possible on Monday morning….thank you. I see the research department working frantically to prepare to analyze the new world that will greet us Monday morning….thank you. I see the operations staff settling each trade while the destruction is going on so we as a firm can tell our clients that we are there for them…..thank you. I see the international department prepared and ready to execute trades that our clients needed to get done all through the pain….thank you. I see our corporate finance professionals pounding ahead to help get capital to our clients who will potentially lose their businesses and jobs if we are not successful…..thank you. I see our sales and trading professionals coming in every day knowing that we will not do any business…. but need to be there for their close friends some call clients…….thank you.

John and I (along with the rest of the executive committee) have been stressing oneness as our number one goal to achieve throughout this firm. It sure seems pretty simple and obvious given everything that has happened during this past week. We are all part of an extremely important firm that has never been better positioned to make a difference in the world. This event has reminded us that we are also a family that spends more time together than we do with our own blood. Let’s all be there for each other in this painful time. Let’s be there for our clients (who because of the type of firm we are)…are really just more friends and family.

Our firm has been on a tear recently and we have caught the attention of the press as well as potential acquirors (whom we have little use for). We are building this firm because we all believe in what we are doing. It is important, satisfying, lucrative, and fun. This dislocation will screw up one quarter for us….but that is all. Our positions are ridiculously small and our capital base is secure. We are the best traders on Wall Street and we will deal with our own stock accordingly. Our entrepreneurial culture will allow us to continue growing and enable this platform to become even more vital to the US economy. Let’s do it together.

With great humility and respect,

Rich Handler
Proud To Be Your CEO

Jefferies First Charity Day:

To: JEFG_ALL
Subject: Donations – Final Results

Jefferies’ WTC Relief Day was truly a proud day for our firm and our industry and is the silver lining in an otherwise very dark cloud. Our clients, employees, and other significant members of the financial community used every resource at their disposal to support those affected by the terrorist attacks. The firm’s net trading revenues, plus our employees’ pay for the day, amounted to a total contribution of $6.5 million to a number of charitable organizations.

Congratulations to everyone for making a difference. Jefferies is honored to be a messenger for our generous, compassionate and gracious clients and employees. Details of the donation follow.

Groups to receive $750,000 each:

· Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund
· Foundation for Alger Families (Fred Alger & Company, Inc.)
· FT Fiduciary Trust Memorial Fund
· KBW Family Fund (Keefe, Bruyette & Woods)
· The Sandler O’Neill Assistance Foundation
· The American Red Cross (Family Assistance Program)

Groups to receive $100,000 each:

· American Woman’s Economic Development Corporation
· Army Emergency Relief (Pentagon Victim’s Fund)
· BRAVO Volunteer Ambulance (Brooklyn, NY)
· Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of NY (WTC Support Fund)
· Catholic Charities – Diocese of Brooklyn and Queens (WTC Relief Efforts)
· Joseph Mascali Memorial Fund
· Ladder 12 Firefighters Fund
· Leary Firefighters Foundation
· Michael Canty Memorial Fund
· Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society (Pentagon Assistance Fund)
· New York Firefighters 9-11 Disaster Relief Fund
· New York Police & Fire Widows’ & Children’s Benefit Fund
· Petco Foundation (Disaster Relief Fund)
· Robin Hood Relief Fund
· Securities Lending For Charities Foundation
· Twin Towers Fund
· Union of American Hebrew Congregations Disaster Relief Fund
· United Jewish Communities (Terrorism Response for New York Fund)
· United Methodist Committee on Relief (WTC Relief Fund)