President Of Johnston, Lemon Quits; Patrick Ryan to Join New Investment Firm
Patrick C. Ryan, president of the Washington stock brokerage Johnston, Lemon & Co., is leaving the firm to join a relative newcomer to the local investment banking business.</br></br>Ryan, a longtime stock trader and brokerage executive here, will join the McLean-based firm of Hartley & Lee, which will be renamed Ryan, Hartley & Lee Inc., the firm said yesterday.</br></br>"He did an excellent job here and we are sorry to see him go," said Lemon, chief operating officer at Johnston, Lemon. "I don't think his leaving, however, signals anything. It's business as usual."</br></br>Others in the investment banking business said Ryan's departure may signal Johnston, Lemon's further retreat from the high-risk brokerage and trading business and a stronger focus on managing its multibillion-dollar Washington Mutual Investors Fund.</br></br>That change in focus left Ryan, who has 31 years of experience in the brokerage and trading business, without a place to practice fully what he knows best, they said.