Hambrecht Chairman to Leave in April

Hambrecht & Quist, the San Francisco investment banking house that has achieved prominence as an underwriter of high-tech start-ups, said Tuesday that Chairman and co-Chief Executive Gordon S. Macklin, 63, will leave the company April 30. William R. Hambrecht, 56, who co-founded the company in 1968 along with the late George Quist and who now serves as president and co-CEO, will assume the post of chairman. Daniel H. Case III, 34, now head of the firm’s investment banking activities, will become president and co-CEO.

Macklin, former head of the NASDAQ over-the-counter stock exchange, joined Hambrecht & Quist five years ago to revamp the company’s internal operations. He said Tuesday that he had largely achieved his goals and now wanted to be closer to his family in the Washington area. Hambrecht & Quist “is operating like a business now, and that’s what I came here for,” Macklin said. He noted that fixed costs have declined substantially even as business has increased, and the firm’s traditionally high turnover has slowed dramatically.

Hambrecht said Case would initially be responsible mostly for internal operations, as Macklin had been, but was expected eventually to take over as sole chief executive.