Tony Romero
Tony Romero is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Suncoast Capital Group and has over 17 years of trading and brokerage experience. His enthusiasm, work ethic and relentless determination helped him achieve a successful, results-oriented track record in both the underwriting and sales side of the brokerage industry.
From early on, the brokerage industry’s high-performance and results-driven environment caught his attention. After earning a degree in finance from Florida International University, in 1991 he began his career at Miami-based CIC Capital as an account executive in institutional sales. While there he earned his FINRA series 7 and 24 licenses and quickly excelled through his business development acumen and dedication to client satisfaction. In the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew in 1992, he sat in his apartment, strewn with debris and broken glass, and began to call every one of his clients to see if they needed anything. It is precisely that level of commitment that earned him the respect and loyalty of his clients, many of whom remain with him today.
In 1995, he was given the added responsibility of head trader on the CD desk and was responsible for all aspects of sales/trading on the desk, as well as the recruitment and training of new account executives. When CIC was acquired by Shay Financial in 1996, he continued serving in his capacity as head CD trader and focused his efforts on underwriting new CD issues to be distributed primarily through the institutional sales force at Shay.
The same enthusiasm, work ethic and vision from his early days carried through to 2006 when he and Yaques founded Suncoast Capital Group, a CD brokerage firm serving a diverse national client base of both institutional and retail investors. This ambitious and successful entrepreneurial endeavor was the natural course for his career, already marked by strong leadership, expertise and results.
Omar Yaques
Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Suncoast Capital Group, Omar has spent the past twenty years in both the banking and brokerage industry gaining the experience needed to understand the needs of a diverse client base and the knowledge to provide them with custom-fit solutions.
His journey began in 1984 at SunTrust Bank where he gained valuable experience learning all aspects of retail banking operations. After four years in retail banking, he moved on to CenTrust Bank where he focused on working with institutional trust accounts and developing the skills necessary to build and develop those relationships.
His brokerage experience began in 1991 when he joined CIC Capital, a Miami based broker/dealer, as vice president of custodial CD and government securities operations. This leadership role gave him the ability to improve the firm’s performance while gaining strategic perspective of the brokerage industry’s best practices from both the trading and operational standpoint.
CIC was acquired by Shay Financial in 1996 and he assumed responsibility for all Custodial CD operations. After working in that capacity for only one year he was offered the opportunity to move to “the other side of the aisle” and move from operations into a production role in which he would work directly with clients in helping them build diversified portfolios of FDIC insured CDs.
He spent nine years successfully building and developing account relationships and while there he earned his FINRA series 7 and 63 licenses. In January of 2006 he decided he could best serve his clients by forming Suncoast Capital Group. His broad experience has served him well in this new endeavor and he has earned the trust of his clients and respect of his peers.