Recognizing those who go above and beyond

Named after our firm’s founder, the Robert A. James Award of Service Excellence program recognizes associates who embody our Service 1st culture and live our core values of putting client first, acting with integrity, thinking long term and valuing independence.

Congratulations to the following associates and teams who were recently recognized for their exemplary service in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2023.

Michael Harper | Team Lead, Technology | IT Network Security 

Michael (pictured with Chair and CEO Paul Reilly and Chair Emeritus Tom James) is a premier example of service within the Network Security team. He is a trusted contact within his team and other associates with whom he works. He’s worked countless hours and with multiple entities to ensure that each group has what they need to support their business functions and enable integration into the Raymond James network.

Cindy Crane | Executive Assistant | Legal Department

Cindy (pictured) is an Executive Assistant in the Legal Department who goes above and beyond daily for the department and her team. While already supporting a large team, she recently took on the responsibility of helping an additional team. 

Cindy also volunteers to take on tasks that are critical to how the Legal Department operates. She always understands the urgency of those tasks, and works throughout the day to make sure documents, communications and other items get where they need to go and are responded to in a timely manner. 

Fixed Income Project Team: Evan Blunk | Vice President, Fixed Income Administration; Carter Hicks | Financial Analyst, Fixed Income; DJ Carney | Director, Fixed Income Operations

The Fixed Income Swaps Operations team was tasked with three major overlapping projects over the last year, all of which needed to be conducted alongside these associates' normal job requirements. 

They were instrumental in seeing these critical projects – which will allow for more consistent reporting and potential operational synergies – to the finish line. 

Thanks to this team and their hard work, all three projects were completed well and on time.

(Pictured here with Paul and Tom: Evan Blunk, left, and Carter Hicks, right)

Arun Kotte | Principal Engineer, Applications Development | IT Capital Markets

Taking initiative, Arun volunteered to lead an important task of migrating our inventory pricing to another platform, which required working with several of our business partners and vendors to gather and understand requirements. Arun dove into the project and was done within two weeks, when we had projected two months. 

In addition, Arun is a force-multiplier. He makes an impact not only through writing great code and architecting a system, but also through how he teaches and mentors others on the team.

Thank you to our dedicated associates for their continued Service 1st commitment!

About the Robert A. James Award of Service Excellence

The Robert A. James Award of Service Excellence is an internal Raymond James recognition delivered to individual employees or teams. Established in 2014, The Robert A. James Award of Service Excellence recognizes associates who embody the Raymond James values and uphold our commitment to service through their exemplary actions. Nominations are accepted on a rolling basis and the nomination committee composed of 11 firm leaders awards the distinction quarterly. This may not be representative of any one client’s experience, it’s not an endorsement, and is not indicative of future performance. No fee was paid in exchange for this award/rating.