FBR Appoints Timothy Wood Chief Information Officer

ARLINGTON, Va., June 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group, Inc. today announced that Timothy Wood has joined the firm as Chief Information Officer with responsibility for the strategic development and implementation of all business information systems, trading and technology infrastructure. Mr. Wood most recently was Executive Director, Head of Distribution and Research Technology, for CIBC World Markets.

"Tim Wood comes to FBR with a breadth and depth of technology and industry experience that fits well with our current growth trajectory, the mix of our existing businesses, and many of our future opportunities," said FBR President and COO, Richard J. Hendrix. "The importance of technology to the success of our business, and therefore the importance of Tim's role to the future of FBR, cannot be overstated. We look forward to the addition of Tim's expertise, vision and leadership to our senior management team."

Prior to CIBC, Mr. Wood held a number of leadership positions with UBS Investment Bank including Executive Director, Head of Program Trading Technology - US Cash Equities IT and Global Head of Sales and Client Technology - Fixed Income IT. Mr. Wood holds an MS in Management from the MIT Sloan School of Management and a B.A. in Physics, Economics and French from Duke University.

Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group, Inc. provides investment banking*, institutional brokerage*, asset management, and private wealth through its operating subsidiaries and invests in mortgage-related assets and merchant banking opportunities. FBR focuses capital and financial expertise on eight industry sectors: consumer, diversified industrials, energy and natural resources, financial institutions, healthcare, insurance, real estate, and technology, media and telecommunications. FBR is headquartered in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area with offices in Arlington, Va., Boston, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Irvine, London, New York, Phoenix and San Francisco. Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group, Inc. is the parent company of First NLC Financial Services, Inc., a non-conforming residential mortgage originator headquartered in Deerfield Beach, Florida. For more information, visit http://www.fbr.com/.

*Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co., Inc.