Dealmaker § Calming Down The Hustler

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There's a long list of things Ken taught me. But he most important lesson was stylistic.

Keywords:
Initial Offering

Mentioned:
UBS

Article
My Mentor : Calming Down The Hustler

Brian Webber, joint head of technology investment banking at UBS, has worked for his mentor and friend Ken Moelis, president of UBS Investment Bank, since joining Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette’s Los Angeles office in 1992.

By: Janet Lewis , Photography by Jimmy Nicol , Alex Irvin (House)
Premiere Issue , Page 19

Webber: We first met when I was at Harvard Business School and Ken came to recruit. Ken was the Michael Jordan of our industry; DLJ L.A. was an exciting place to be.

Moelis: Brian reminded me of the young Pete Rose in his Charlie Hustle days — particularly the haircut.

Webber: There’s a long list of things Ken taught me. But the most important lesson was stylistic. Ken never pressures clients for the business; he lets them know he’s there to give them the right advice.

Ken called me over to his house for a meeting one Saturday; I was very nervous. He told me I was running fast and hustling hard but that I needed to go after things in a calmer, more thoughtful way so clients would view me as impartial and in it for the long term.

Moelis: The most important advice I ever gave Brian was in 2000, when he was running the IT-services practice in Chicago. Frank Quattrone at Credit Suisse First Boston tried to lure him away.

Brian read us a prepared quitting speech on the phone that CSFB had given him, then immediately flew up to San Francisco, where they hid him. I spent all day tracking down his wife and convincing her to cough up his phone number. I persuaded him to come back — which was good, because 2000 would have been a terrible time for him to go there.

Webber: Ken told me that if something looked too good to be true, it probably was.