ThinkEquity Appoints Franco Zappone as Head of Business Development and Florida Branch Manager
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / May 7, 2026 /ThinkEquity, a boutique investment bank founded by experienced professionals who have worked together for over a decade and collectively financed more than $100 billion in public and private capital raises, restructurings, and mergers and acquisitions, today announced the addition of Franco Zappone as Head of Business Development, Recruiting, and Branch Manager of its Florida Operations.
Franco Zappone is a seasoned financial services executive with more than 36 years of experience in the securities industry. He currently serves as the Head of Business Development, Head of Recruiting and the Branch Office Manager for Think Equity 's recent expansion into South Florida. Prior to joining ThinkEquity, Mr. Zappone 's served as Sales Manager for Investec Ernst & Co., an international specialist bank headquartered in South Africa and the United Kingdom. He previously held positions as Branch Manager at GKN Securities and Sales Manager at Gruntal and Company. Most recently, Zappone was a founding partner of Maxim Group. While at Maxim for 25 years he served as Managing Director of Wealth Management and various roles in building sales, automation and new business lines. Mr. Zappone holds series 7, 8, 9, 10, 24, 55, 57, 63 & 99. Franco earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Finance from St. John 's University.
Joe Jaigobind, CEO of ThinkEquity, stated: "Franco brings a wealth of experience and deep industry connections that will be invaluable to the growth of our expanding institutional sales team and institutional coverage capabilities. Franco will play a key role in our mission to build the largest and most effective institutional sales team in the industry."
About ThinkEquity LLC
ThinkEquity, a NYSE and FINRA member firm, has a team of professionals who, collectively, enjoy more than 275 years of financial experience. In the last decade, our team has helped clients achieve their strategic goals by financing more than $100 billion in capital, providing advisory services, and handling mergers and acquisitions, including public and private capital raises, restructurings, and mergers and acquisitions. ThinkEquity provides a suite of services that add value to its clients, including but not limited to Initial Public Offerings (IPOs), Secondary Offerings, Confidentially Marketed Public Offerings (CMPOs), Registered Directs (RDs), At-the-Market offerings (ATMs), debt placement and acquisition financings. Staffed by industry professionals, ThinkEquity has a NYSE Trading Floor Operation which provides its clients with the best possible access to liquidity together with direct access to Third Party Algo (TPA) to the NYSE Parity order types. Our Floor Brokers trade IPOs, Up-listings, ATM Programs, Convertibles and Derivatives, Rights Offerings, Share Repurchases/10b-18 Buy Backs, Risk Arbitrage and Special Situations. For more information about ThinkEquity, visit our website at www.think-equity.com
Contact:
Franco Zappone
Business Development
Branch Office Manager - Ft. Lauderdale
ThinkEquity
501 East Las Olas Blvd. Suite 200 & 300
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33301
Direct: 954-451-1101
fz@think-equity.com
https://www.think-equity.com
Member NYSE-FINRA-SIPC
SOURCE: ThinkEquity LLC
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