MINNEAPOLIS, Aug 03, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) --

Piper Jaffray (NYSE: PJC) announced today that it has hired two senior research analysts to expand its investment research platform. Mike Grondahl, managing director, will provide coverage of financial technology and services companies, and Jagadish Iyer, principal, will provide coverage of industrial technology companies. Grondahl and Iyer have 14 and 12 years, respectively, of industry and related experience. Grondahl will be based in Minneapolis; Iyer will be based in New York.

"Expanding the breadth and depth of coverage in the financial technology, financial services and industrial technology arenas presents a great opportunity to further meet the needs of our clients," said Jeff Klinefelter, director of research at Piper Jaffray. "We are pleased to have Mike and Jagadish on board to assist with this effort."

Grondahl returns to Piper Jaffray from Northland Securities, where he was a financial services and financial technology analyst, in addition to being director of research. He spent seven years on the buy side after spending five years as an analyst with Piper Jaffray. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota.

Iyer has extensive industry experience including roles in marketing, product management and engineering at Applied Materials, KLA-Tencor and Entegris. He was most recently an industrial analyst at Arete Research and, prior to that, a semi-cap and emerging technologies analyst at UBS. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of Madras in India, MS degrees from the University of Texas - El Paso, and MBA from California State University in San Jose.

Piper Jaffray has 38 senior research analysts located in Minneapolis, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Hong Kong and Shanghai, providing research coverage of 623 companies globally across multiple sectors: business and financial services; clean technology and industrial growth; consumer; health care; and technology, media and telecom.

About Piper Jaffray

Piper Jaffray is a leading middle-market investment bank and asset management firm serving clients in the U.S. and internationally. Our proven advisory teams combine deep product and sector expertise with ready access to global capital. Founded in 1895, the firm is headquartered in Minneapolis and has offices across the United States, London, Hong Kong and Zurich. www.piperjaffray.com

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SOURCE: Piper Jaffray

Piper Jaffray
Terry Sandven
AnalystMediaRelations@pjc.com