Financials

Chris Kotowski is Managing Director and Senior Analyst covering the Large Cap Banks & Brokers, Private Equity companies, and the Business Development Corporations. Chris originally joined Oppenheimer in 1985 as a research associate in the banks franchise and was promoted to Senior Bank Analyst two years later. Over the next nine years, he led a team of four in covering over 45 stocks supporting both large cap institutional efforts and the firm's small cap franchise. During this time, he was often represented in Institutional Investor's annual rankings and was consistently ranked among the firm's top analysts. He served as Associate Director of Research and then as Director of Research at Oppenheimer and CIBC World Markets. In 2004, Chris joined Leerink Swann & Co. where he served as Director of Research and Head of Institutional Equities. In 2009, he returned to his roots, re-joining Oppenheimer as Senior Analyst covering the Large Cap Banks & Brokers, and has subsequently expanded his coverage into the PE and BDC sectors.

Rayna Kumar is a Managing Director and Senior Analyst covering the FinTech sector.  Prior to joining Oppenheimer, Rayna previously held similar roles covering FinTech at UBS and Evercore ISI.  Rayna began her career at Ernst & Young in Structured Finance.  She holds a B.S. from Boston College in Finance & Computer Science and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.

Owen Lau is Executive Director and Senior Analyst covering the Exchanges, Information Analytics and Asset Management Sector. Owen joined the firm in 2015, originally working with Chris Kotowski covering Large Cap Banks & Brokers and Private Equity companies. Prior to Oppenheimer Owen was with Janney Montgomery Scott covering the Consumer Finance Sector. Owen received an M.S. in Computer Science from The Chinese University of Hong Kong and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School where he received Graduation Dean’s Honor. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Mitchel Penn is Managing Director and Senior Analyst covering business development companies. Prior to joining Oppenheimer, he followed business development companies at Janney Montgomery Scott. In addition, he was an Equity Portfolio Manager/Financial Analyst at Legg Mason Capital Management from 2001 to 2012 where he specialized in financial companies. Prior to this, he managed fixed income portfolios at Legg Mason Capital Management and Aetna. He began his career as an accountant at Price Waterhouse in 1981.

Mitch is a member of the Baltimore CFA Society and has served as President and also on the Board of Directors. He holds a B.A. from Villanova University and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.

Michael Phillips is a Managing Director and Senior Analysts covering the Insurance sector. Prior to joining Oppenheimer in 2023 he was at Morgan Stanley, where he also covered P&C Insurance, and was with Stifel, Nicolaus before that. He brings extensive industry experience including as a consultant to many well-known public companies. He began his career as an actuary working at Travelers Insurance, Zurich Insurance and GMAC Reinsurance (Motors Insurance Corp). He received his B.A. in Mathematics and Economics from Bucknell University and a M.B.A. from University of North Carolina.