James Ross

Southwest Securities, a Dallas-based brokerage, will open a second Houston office by this fall and staff it with up to 20 brokers. Also, it will add 19 brokers to its existing Houston office. "We are expanding our Texas presence at a slow, controlled pace," said James Ross, executive v.p. The brokerage may expand outside Texas as well, but not anytime soon, Ross added.

In addition, Southwest hired Edward Neuhaus as v.p. and district manager to run the Houston offices. He worked over five years at UBS as a corporate v.p., where he developed and managed branch offices. He worked 16 years at brokerage Rauscher Pierce Refsnes, which combined with Dain Bosworth in 1997 to become Dain Rauscher. Southwest has 11 offices and around 100 brokers.